Rustic Pallet Pumpkin ~ Her Tool Belt guest post

Howdy! I’m super excited to be with you today. I’m Amy from Hertoolbelt, I like to build furniture, crafts and fix things up around my house. I’m a big fan of One Krieger Chick’s style, Ariean definitely has a gift. I still can’t get over the awesomeness of her tub turned into an outdoor sofa – amazing. When I do crafty things, I like to use pallets because they are generally free and the rough wood adds fun character to the project. Since it’s Fall I decided to create a rustic pumpkin made from pallet wood.

Step 1

Download and print the following pattern pieces. When printing make sure the print settings are at 100%, not ‘fit to page’. outer pumpkin-1, outer pumpkin-2, outer pumpkin-3, outer pumpkin-4, leaf. Line up the pumpkin pieces and tape the pattern together. Cut out the pumpkin pattern, and the leaf pattern.

Step 2

Grab a few pallet slats, reclaimed wood or new wood. Trace the pumpkin pattern onto the wood. If you are using wood with nails, arrange the wood so you won’t be trying to cut through nails. Trace a couple of leafs too.

Use a jig saw, band saw or scroll saw to cut out the pumpkin pieces and leafs. I used a jig saw for the pumpkin and a scroll saw for the leafs.

Step 3

I used a fun paint layering technique that I learned here. First I spray painted the pumpkin wood slats a dark redish orange color (Rustoleum Paprika). After letting that paint dry, I used an orange acrylic paint to paint over the paprika.

Once the paint dried, I sanded the edges of each piece and lightly sanded the face until I achieved a rustic look with bits of the paprika color showing.

Finally, I brushed on a coat of Minwax dark walnut. I let the stain soak in for a minute or so and wiped it off. For the leafs, I painted them a dark green and applied a second coat of lime green color. After the paint dried, I roughed up the edges and face with sand paper.

Step 4

Drill holes in the slats near each other to tie together with wire.

Thread wire in the holes and twist it together until tight. Drill a couple of holes at the top to attach the leafs. You can curl your wire by wrapping it around something round, like a dowel.

If you want the pumpkin to be a door hanger, drill a couple of holes near the top and run a wire or ribbon to hang your pumpkin.

Enjoy your Rustic Pallet Pumpkin! Thanks for letting me hang out with you for the day.