Easy Pumpkin Crafts

This is the time of year I get two combine two of my favorite things: Autumn and crafting. I know not everyone has Pintrest-worthy craft skills, so here are a two (easy) great ones that anyone can do to curb restless hands this month.

Paper Plate Jack-O-Lantern

What you need:

Orange paper plate

Black construction paper

Scissors

Glue stick or Scotch tape

Optional: Glitter glue, googly eyes, colored tape, etc.

1. Cut out the jack-o-lantern eyes, nose and mouth using the construction paper. You can do something traditional or use your own style to create something unique. Make sure you keep them to a comparable size of the plate. Glue the eyes, nose and mouth to the plate. To take the craft to the next level, use glitter glue (shown), colored pencils, markers, and other crafting items to enhance your jack-o-lantern.

2. You can attach a popsicle stick to the back and use it as a mask (cut out  holes for the eyes and mouth  so no one gets hurt), put double-stick tape on the back and post it on a wall somewhere, or use a paper punch to punch one hole on the paper rim directly above the eyes, run some string through the holes and hang it on a door instead of a wreath.

Paper Strip Pumpkin

What you need:

Orange and green construction paper

Toilet paper roll

Scotch tape

Scissors

1. Cut the toilet paper roll in half for a short, fat pumpkin or leave alone for a tall, narrow pumpkin. NOTE: Make a whole patch of pumpkins by varying  the length of the rolls.

2. Cut a strip of orange construction paper that will wrap around the toilet paper roll completely, hiding the roll.  Wrap it around the roll and tape the paper into place.

3. Cut the orange construction paper vertically into 8 strips that are approximately 1 inch wide, and then cut about 1 inch off of the length of each strip.

4. Working  with one end of the toilet paper roll,  tape the end of an orange strip inside. Do not bend the orange paper. Repeat with three more pieces of paper, so you have strips at 12, 3, 6, and 9 o’clock.

5.  Once you have the initial 4 strips down, add the other 4 strips of paper to the opposite end of the roll (at 2, 5, 8, and 10 o’clock).

6.  Work in a circle and attach the loose end to the opposite end.

7. Once you have all of the orange strips of paper taped into place, cut a leaf out of green paper and tape it into the hole to complete your pumpkin.

Comment below if you have any fun pumpkin craft ideas to share.