I was inspired by some painted pumpkins I saw a couple years back in an issue of Country Living, and I had to try it out! That same fall when my mom and I visited a local decor boutique, I fell in love with the way the shop owner stacked her pumpkins from small to large, creating a topiary effect. So… I combined the two ideas and voila… pumpkin topiaries were made! Here they sit on our front porch, along with some other fall decor:

And here is how to recreate these pumpkin topiaries:

– I purchased (2) small, (2) medium and (2) large orange artificial pumpkins from my local craft store.

– I used a small utility knife to cut a hole on the top and bottom of all pumpkins, except the tops of the 2 small pumpkins. Those decorative stems had to stay in tact for appearance purposes.

– I bought some spray paint and craft paint to decorate my pumpkins. I used black spray paint for the two bottom pumkins and silver and gold craft paint for the others. I wanted to give them different looks, so some had stripes applied with a brush, while others I applied polka dots with a flat, circle craft sponge. To apply the stripes and dots, I used craft paint. In order for the design to last and not wash off with the rain and harsh weather, I applied a shiny clear coat of spray paint to all pumpkins.

– To keep the pumkpins connected and not fall off, I purchased a dowel (craft stick) from the craft store and cut it to size. I wanted to make sure that the dowel would go to (at least) the middle of the smallest pumpkin, for stability and also leave room on the bottom, for the dowel to stand in the planter. I placed the dowel in a planter half filled with dirt, to stay in place. I then stacked my pumpkins in their topiary shape!

What fall ideas do you have up your sleeve??

I am linking this post up to the wonderful blog, Savvy Southern Style: