DIY Wood Pumpkins

Add to your fall decor this year by creating your own DIY wood pumpkins!

Are you looking for some wooden pumpkin ideas to add to your current fall decor? If so, then let me be your friendly pumpkin enabler with today’s easy DIY!

Today I will be showing you how to make your own set of wooden pumpkins using some scraps of wood and some craft supplies that you already have on hand! This project was inspired by my DIY Wood Firecrackers and (like that project) is a great way to dress up your outdoor space on a budget. Don’t belive me? Then make sure you scroll down to the bottom of this post to see how I styled these wooden pumpkins to go on my porch! {This post contains affiliate links, which means I will receive a small commission at no additional cost to you.}

WOOD PUMPKIN:

The “how to” of this wood pumpkin gives you lots of options depending on what you’ve already got at home. Don’t have a miter saw? Use a hand saw. Don’t have a Xyron machine? You can paint the circles or stripes on by hand. The possibilities are endless!

SUPPLIES NEEDED:

4×4 lumber (we used one piece but if you want bigger pumpkins then you can use more than one)
measuring tape
miter saw (or hand saw)
painter’s tape
branches or thick sticks
drill
hot glue gun
Rust-Oleum 2x Ultra Cover High Gloss Spray Paint (orange and white)
Rust-Oleum Comfort Grip
Xyron Creative Station (with repositionable adhesive)
circle stencil or circle pattern (I cut mine with a paper punch, but you could also use your Cricut or hand paint the ciricles with acrylic paint)
brown paper or newspaper

HOW TO MAKE WOOD BLOCK PUMPKINS:

1. CREATING PUMPKIN BASE:

1. Using a measuring tape, mark out how tall you want your pumpkins to be. We decided to make four pumpkins out of one piece of wood, so their sizes were 4’’, 6’’, 8’’, and 14’’.

Then using our square tool, we drew out longer lines to help us during the cutting process in step 2.

woman using measuring tape to measure wood blocks

woman using square to make line on wood blocks

2. Cut your lumber using a miter saw or hand saw.

2. CREATING PUMPKIN STEM:

1. Grab a branch and cut it into small pieces using a pruning shear. We cut our stem pieces to be about 4’’ long.

3. CUTTING HOLE FOR STEM:

1. Find the center at one end of each of your lumber pieces and drill a hole. This is where you will place your stem and is the top of the pumpkin.

Drill Tips: To find the right drill bit, simply choose a drill bit that is about the same width as your branch stem. Also, you don’t need to drill down too far into your pumpkin because we will be hot gluing our pumpkin steam into the hole we are creating.

woman holding drill bit for wooden pumpkin project

4. PAINTING PUMPKIN BASE:

1. Paint your pumpkin bases with a coat or two of white spray paint and set them aside to dry.

woman painting wood pumpkin blocks with white paint

Once your pumpkin bases are dry, decide how you want to decorate them! Below is how I made the polka dot and striped pumpkin.

Polka Dot Pumpkin:

To add polka dots to your pumpkins, simply cut out circle shapes using a paper punch and run them through your Xyron Creative Station (using repositionable adhesive) to turn them into stickers. Finally, place your circles onto your pumpkin base.

Also, if you don’t have a Xyron Creative Station, you could always add your circles using vinyl!

woman punching circles out of scrapbooking paper

woman running circles through Xyron Creative Station

adding circle stickers to wood pumpkin block

Striped Pumpkins:

To add stripes to your pumpkin, cut a piece of painter’s tape and wrap it around your pumpkin. Then keep repeating this until you have as many stripes as you like on your pumpkin base.

woman adding painters tape to wood pumpkin block

2. Once you have added your circles or stripes onto your pumpkin base, paint your base with another coat of white paint to seal the edges of your circles or stripes. Then set your bases aside to dry.

woman spraying painting wood pumpkins white

3. Paint your pumpkin bases with a coat or two of orange spray paint and then set them aside to dry.

Once your orange paint is dry, peel off your circles and painter’s tape.

If any paint seeped under the circle or tape, you could always go back with a paintbrush and touch up those areas with white paint.

5. ADDING PUMPKIN STEM:

1. Put some hot glue into the hole you drilled, then place your branch into the hole.

woman hot gluing pumpkin steam into wood block

2. Then to create leaves for your pumpkin, tie some green ribbon around your pumpkin stem.

Note: If your pumpkins are going to be placed outside, then I recommend using sisal instead of ribbon.

Once you have added your ribbon, you are ready to display your wood block pumpkins

Prefer a video tutorial to written instructions? Then head on over to Hometalk for full step by step action! Or how about a reel for an even quicker tutorial?

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Wood Block Pumpkins

Author: Beth Kingston

Materials

4×4 lumber
measuring tape
miter saw (or hand saw)
painter’s tape
branches or thick sticks
drill
hot glue gun
Rust-Oleum 2x Ultra Cover High Gloss Spray Paint (orange and white)
Rust-Oleum Comfort Grip
Xyron Creative Station (with repositionable adhesive)
circle stencil or circle pattern
brown paper or newspaper

Instructions

CREATING PUMPKIN BASE

Using a measuring tape, mark out how tall you want your pumpkins to be. We decided to make four pumpkins out of one piece of wood, so their sizes were 4’’, 6’’, 8’’, and 14’’.
Then using our square tool, we drew out longer lines to help us during the cutting process in step 2.
Cut your lumber using a miter saw or hand saw.

CREATING PUMPKIN STEM

Grab a branch and cut it into small pieces using a pruning shear. We cut our stem pieces to be about 4’’ long.

CUTTING HOLE FOR STEM

Find the center at one end of each of your lumber pieces and drill a hole. This is where you will place your stem and is the “top” of your pumpkin.
Drill Tips: To find the right drill bit, simply choose a drill bit that is about the same width as your branch stem. Also, you don’t need to drill down too far into your pumpkin because we will be hot gluing our pumpkin steam into the hole we are creating.

PAINTING PUMPKIN BASE

Paint your pumpkin bases with a coat or two of white spray paint and set them aside to dry.
Once your pumpkin bases are dry, decide how you want to decorate them! Below is how I made the polka dot and striped pumpkin.
Polka Dot Pumpkin:
To add polka dots to your pumpkins, simply cut out circle shapes using a paper punch and run them through your Xyron Creative Station (using repositionable adhesive) to turn them into stickers. Finally, place your circles onto your pumpkin base.
Also, if you don’t have a Xyron Creative Station, you could always add your circles using vinyl.
Striped Pumpkins:
To add stripes to your pumpkin, cut a piece of painter’s tape and wrap it around your pumpkin. Then keep repeating this until you have as many stripes as you like on your pumpkin base.
Once you have added your circles or stripes onto your pumpkin base, paint your base with another coat of white paint to seal the edges of your circles or stripes. Then set your bases aside to dry.
Paint your pumpkin bases with a coat or two of orange spray paint and set them aside to dry.
Once your orange paint is dry, peel off your circles and painter’s tape.
If any paint seeped under the circle or tape, you could always go back with a paintbrush and touch up those areas with white paint.

ADDING PUMPKIN STEM:

Put some hot glue into the hole you drilled, then place your branch into the hole.
Then to create leaves for your pumpkin, tie some green ribbon around your pumpkin stem.
If your pumpkins are going to be placed outside, then I recommend using sisal instead of ribbon.

WOOD PUMPKIN:

SUPPLIES NEEDED: