You may or may not have seen the whimsical MacKenzie Childs designs that are SO popular right now? They’re quirky, they’re different and I LOVE them! What I’m not so crazy about is the fairly hefty price tag that comes with them!
So when I saw this £3.99 ceramic pumpkin at The Range, you know EXACTLY what went through my mind! You know me so well!
I’m so pleased with how it’s turned out and will definitely be adding it to my Halloween decor this year! Not into Halloween? Don’t worry – it’ll look great anywhere else too!
what you need for a Mackenzie Childs inspired pumpkin
One ceramic pumpkin – I got this one from The Range and Hobbycraft do one too
Some masking tape
White paint – I used chalk paint, but you can use white acrylic paint too
Black acrylic paint
A pencil
A flat headed brush
Some gold paint
A stencil (optional)
Clear varnish or wax (I used furniture wax to finish mine)
creating your design
Because the pumpkin was a very slight off white colour I used some white chalk paint to make it completely white. You can also use some white acrylic paint for this if you prefer!
I took a small bit of masking tape and started by taping off the very top of the pumpkin on one section only. Draw a pencil line.
Move the masking tape just underneath the pencil line and draw the next line. Follow this process until you’ve completed the lines on this one segment of your pumpkin.
Follow the same process on the whole of the pumpkin
Here’s where the fun starts! With some black acrylic paint and a flat edged brush start filling in the segments in a checked pattern. You can get rid of the pencil marks by going right up to the edges. Touch up any small bits with paint.
Because my pumpkin had an uneven amount of segments, the checked pattern didn’t work out. EEK!! Which meant I had to get creative and ended up painting one of the segments completely black. I figured I could do something with some writing. Stay tuned!
By the way, if you’re loving the checked pattern, you’re to bound to LOVE my Range tinsel Halloween wreath makeover! Check out how I transformed it here!
Let’s add some gold
To add some glam to my pumpkin I figured gold would be the way forward. Besides, I still had some of this gorgeous paint left over from a previous project.
It’s a great paint to work with, and gives brilliant coverage. I just added some gold paint to the very stem of the pumpkin. Don’t worry – this was a progress photo – it looked MUCH better once I had finished! But look at that shine!
I also decided to add small dots on each crossing of the checks. I used the back of a brush to create some dots. Depending on the size of the dots you want, you could use a match stick, or cotton wool bud. Try out the technique and size on a piece of paper first before you add them to your design.
P.S. – there’s a photo of the dots a bit later!
adding some working to my pumpkin
Remember that completely black segment I was telling you about? I cut a small stencil with my Silhouette Cameo vinyl cutter, but you can easily use a letter stencil for this part. Or even write something free hand!
Add your stencil to the pumpkin. Did you know that you can avoid “bleeding” of paint by painting your design in the base colour first? I gave it a light layer of black paint with a little make-up sponge. Go light and build up the colour!
Once that was dry I took the gold paint, loaded a make-up sponge, dab off any excess paint and carefully stenciled the design in gold. Build up the layers, leaving them to dry in between.
Once all the paint has dried, gently peel away the stencil to reveal the wording. This is ALWAYS the most exciting and satisfying moment!
I gave my Mackenzie Childs pumpkin a coat of clear wax. Follow the instructions on the tin for best results. Alternatively use a clear varnish to project your project!
The results are in!
Of course it’s not 100% the real deal, but it’s MUCH better for my bank balance! 😉
I’m still playing around with styling the tray, trying to figure out my favourite display!
See the glitter pumpkin picks in the plant? You can check out how to make them here!
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Want some more Halloween projects?
Here you go!!
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Pinned! I have a white painted faux pumpkin. And I’m looking for decorating ideas.