This is a re-post from Halloween of last year. I love these pumpkins so much that we are making them again this year at our house!
As soon as the Halloween-themed Pottery Barn Kids catalog hit our mailbox, Zack got busy pointing out all of the things that he “wished he could have.” Yeah, you and me both, Kid.
One of the things that he kept going back to was the Pirate Build-A-Pumpkin kit.
After looking at the photo in the catalog and reading the description, I figured I could make my own version of the adorable pumpkin accessories. Pottery Barn wants $12 each for the Pirate, Cat, Skull, and Spider sets, but I knew I could make all four of them for half of that.
Wanna know how? Yeah, of course you do.
1. I began by drawing out each of the pieces I wanted to add to each pumpkin.
Don’t fancy yourself an artist? No worries. I did the hard work for you and drew out everything you need for the four pumpkins. Click here to download the .pdf file of the artwork. The artwork is scaled for a medium sized pumpkin, so you will need to enlarge or reduce if you are using a large or small pumpkin.
2. Print out the .pdf and cut out the shapes for the pumpkin(s) you want to put together. For this tutorial, I am showing the Skull accessory kit.
3. At your local craft store, pick up some sheets of sticky-backed felt (about $1 each). You will need white and black for each set. I put all four sets together and only ended up using one sheet of white and two sheets of black.
4. Trace and cut out the shapes on each piece of felt. On the artwork, I labeled each piece with the color and the number of each shape you will need to cut out. Some are labeled front and back, which means you need to trace the front side (the side with the writing on it) and the back side (without the writing), so you’ll have mirror images of each piece.
Note: On the Cat set, you actually need to cut out 4 front and 4 back of the white rectangles, not 2 of each as noted on the artwork.
5. On the pieces that stick out of the pumpkin, I inserted a toothpick in between the front and back shapes to make a little toothpick sandwich. I just left a small portion of the toothpick sticking out to stick into the pumpkin. I had to break a few of the toothpicks in half so that they wouldn’t be too long. Once your little sandwich is put together, you will probably need to trim the edges so that the pieces match up nicely.
The pieces you will need to set up with a toothpick are:
- Pirate – Hat (I put one toothpick in the center and one on each side)
- Cat – Ears, whiskers
- Skull – Bones
- Spider – Legs
6. After assembling the rest of the pieces that layer on top of each other, draw in the faux stitching. On the white pieces, I used a thin black marker. On the black pieces, I used a silver metallic marker I found at the craft store for a few dollars.
Sorry that picture is so oddly lit. I’m not sure what’s going on there.
7. Now, all you have left to do is to peel the backing off of the pieces and stick them directly to your fresh pumpkin or craft pumpkin. The pieces on toothpicks can be easily stuck directly into the pumpkin.
8. Display your new friends proudly!
I can’t believe how much my knock-offs look like the “real” ones!
You can create your own Pottery Barn-inspired pumpkin kits for under $5 for all four of them. The only difference between these knock-offs and the real thing is some polyester stuffing in some of the pieces and actual stitching instead of faux stitching. Oh, and $43.
Zack really wanted his picture taken with his new pumpkins. Here he is posing with his favorite, “Fat Cat.”
Our pumpkins will eventually be carved into Jack-O-Lanterns a few days before Halloween, but until then, we’re going to enjoy Fat Cat and all of his fun little friends.
Will you create a set of your own?
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It’s time to announce the winner of the Heart Break Kids tutu giveaway! Congrats to commenter #3…
…Amy P, who wants a black tutu! Thanks to Holly for the awesome tutorial and giveaway!
Steph says
That’s AWESOME!!! Great job!! My kids are still too little to be into pumpkin decorating (they wouldn’t even put stickers on their pumpkins this year) but I’m totally saving this for the years to come!!
M.O.T.B says
Love these thank you for the tutorial!!!!
Stephanie@Geezees says
Those are adorable!!
Kat says
What a great tutorial and they turned out adorable!!!
Beq says
I wish they celebrated Halloween here in Australia… These fab tutorials are too fun to miss out on.
Diane Pierce says
These are amazing! You are amazing! Thanks so much for sharing and for creating the tutorial. So cute and thrifty, too.
heidi@thecraftmonkey says
oh those turned out great! I can’t even tell the difference between yours & theirs! Great job!
Angie @ The Country Chic Cottage says
Adorable Lindsay!! Hope everything is okay with you and that new baby! 🙂
Amy Dalrymple says
These are soooo cute! reminds me of veggie tales!~
Tara says
I made these last year and the kids loved them! The toothpicks come out for easy storage and they are back in the same foam pumpkins this year- as cute as ever! Thanks for sharing your tutorial!
Lisa says
SUPER cute!! My kids have been dying to carve their pumpkins, so maybe these will keep them going a little longer.
Tricia says
I think yours look better than the PB ones. These are awesome!! I posted the link to this post on my facebook page for my friends.
Debbie says
Those are soo cute!!
Stop by and enter my giveaway when you get the chance!!
haley davis says
You’re so creative! They look wonderful!
Sturgmom says
Oh my goodness- SO cute!!! Thanks for sharing the pdf. Piper’s bday party is on the 30th and I’m totally going to make these for decorations!
Ethan@OPC says
That’s awesome! They look so good. I might have to try this for our pumpkin this year.
Froufroubritches says
Those are adorable!!!! I love them! I didn’t even open my PB catalog with Halloween in it. That’ll teach me! I’ve been missing out! Thanks for sharing!
Keri says
These are so cool and I love that you made them yourself instead of buying the kit!!
Debbi says
Lindsay,
You just out did yourself. Super Fun for my son and makin’ this Mama smile!
Anuja says
Fantastic post ! The pirates look beautiful and so much fun ! I will try it out.
Brook says
I LOVE LOVE LOVE these! I used your tutorial last year and they were a huge hit. I just did them again this year but used glittery felt. It’s a perfect way to make the pumpkins nice and halloweeny without having them rot before the big day. Thanks!
Jess @ Frugal with a Flourish says
Love these! Too cute! 🙂
Merry says
these are really cute–amazing job!
Diana says
Thank you for the templates, these were so fun! Ours turned out great, I liked to your tutorial on my blog 🙂
http://iredoit.blogspot.com/2010/10/pottery-barn-inspired-pumpkins.html
Crystal says
We made these last year from your tutorial and made them again last week! They are so cute and last long, unlike carved pumpkins!
Sharon@thisthriftyhouse.blogspot.com says
Thank you so much for such a great idea and for sharing your patterns with us! My family just made some tonight–and I can’t tell you how much fun we had! I Really hate carving pumpkins (and wasting all the pumpkin when they all go bad!)–so this idea is SO PERFECT!! We can have cute and fun looking pumpkins–AND we can still bake them up after we are done!! THANK YOU!!!!
Jenny @ DIY Newlyweds says
Thanks for this tutorial! I love your pumpkins and think they look even better than the original. Hope you don’t mind, but I’m featuring them on my blog today: http://www.diynewlyweds.com/2010/10/spooktacular-halloween-pumpkin-carving.html
Lee Ann says
I love the pumpkins!! I totally thought you stitched the felt. Good job!!