Painting Pumpkins With A Toddler In Tow

It is no secret that I consider myself a crafty mom.  Since being laid off, my crafty mom side has shifted into overdrive and waking up to a cool fall morning has pumpkins on my brain. 

 I have been searching for pumpkin ideas and am obsessed with the idea of black and white pumpkins.  I am also searching for a few fun toddler activities to do with the Bean and so today, they came together.  

The pumpkins have been sitting in the garage for over a week as I planned what to do with them.  After strolling through Pinterest, I came across this pumpkin idea and decided to tape off the pumpkin and set the Bean loose with finger paint.  Looking back, I realized that my plan had a few holes. 

 I decided to tape off diamonds around the pumpkin in a slight argyle pattern, and imagined multi-colored handprints covering the pumpkin with the diamond pattern allowing the pumpkin to show through.  I painted my pumpkin a glossy black and decided to glam up the look of Bean’s pumpkin by offering her Black, white and gold finger paint, since the bright primary colors simply would not match my pumpkin. 

 Selfish?  What can I say, I am a type A control freak and while I love finding fun toddler activities, I don’t always love displaying them.  I have spent a lot of time looking for chic ways to display children’s art and this year’s pumpkins were no exception.  

 In retrospect, there was a lot of pumpkin left to cover and the Bean lost interest about half way through.  Essentially she painted the top of the pumpkin, so I painted the base of the pumpkin glossy black.  Of course, the spray paint dripped (my bad) so when I removed the paint it was simply not as glam as I had hoped for.   I re-taped the lines and painted the diamond in with black and this is what I got.  I am in love with it.  The bottom is chic and glossy like my pumpkin and the top is a work of art by my dear Bean.  There are a few more pumpkin treats I am dying to try so check back and feel free to tell me about your favorite pumpkin crafts.

 Bean in her last minute smock (and last years favorite tee shirt)

 Top of the pumpkin-painted by my Bean

 The original diamond pattern showing through

Final: Hand print pumpkin courtesy of Hubby (his our usually more detailed but then he usually pulls out power tools which is difficult to do with a toddler. Black pumpkin with newspaper rosettes (tutorial here) - Mine and finger painted pumpkin- courtesy of my little Bean