Oh-My-Gourdness! A Cute and Easy 99 Cent DIY Pumpkin Patch

Happy October!

This is such a fun time of year for creating cute (or spooky!) upcycled holiday decor. And Goodwill is my favorite place to look for inspiration and supplies. I have a theory that pretty much anything round that you find in the Goodwill Housewares section can be painted orange and transformed into a pumpkin.

Or an entire pumpkin patch like this muffin tin I painted last Halloween. Here’s a link to the tutorial.

I decided to expand my little upcycled pumpkin patch this year when I found this candleholder at the Annandale, Va. Goodwill store. It only cost 99 cents!

This is an easy project that doesn’t take a lot of time, artistic experience or expensive art supplies. I started by painting the metal sections orange.

Painting metal takes a little bit of patience. Don’t worry if the first coat of paint doesn’t look good. In fact, it probably won’t look good. That’s OK. Here’s my project after the first coat of paint. It doesn’t look good … yet.

It is important to let the paint dry thoroughly before applying a second coat, especially when painting metal. If you are impatient and paint the second coat too soon, you run the risk of pulling off the first coat of paint because it hasn’t had enough time to dry all the way and stick properly. I know this because I am impatient and have had this happen many, many times!

When the paint is completely dry, come back and add a second coat. This is when the project starts looking good. In this photo you can see the difference between the first coat of paint (bottom) and the second coat (top). You might even need to add a third coat, but again, wait patiently until the second coat dries completely.

Once the orange paint dries completely, it’s time for the fun part. I used a black Sharpie pen plus white and green Posca paint pens to create the funny faces for my pumpkin patch.

HERE’S ANOTHER IDEA: Instead of a pumpkin patch, you could paint the circles white and create little ghost faces.

Finally, I’m a little obsessed with puns lately. So I searched for pumpkin puns, found one I liked and wrote it with the Sharpie. Easy peasy.

I also added a hook from the hardware store to the back so I can hang my upcycled pumpkin patch on the wall. The wood is also thick enough to stand up on its own so there’s more versatility in how I decorate with it.