Faux Pallet Pumpkin

I wanted to make something lightweight to hang on the knob of my china cabinet for Thanksgiving.  I like the looks of a wooden pallet project but I know wood would be too heavy.  Plus I don't really have very many decorations for Thanksgiving.

I came up with the idea to use foam core board and cut it to resemble pallet wood.

To begin this project I roughly drew a fat pumpkin and a stem on the form core.  Next I cut both pieces out with a craft knife.

Once I had my pumpkin cut out I marked it into 5 pieces vertically.  I numbered them 1 through 5.

And cut them apart.

I then cut papers to fit each piece of foam core and 6 small tags to stamp the word "Thanks".

I used Mod Podge to glue the strips of alternating orange papers to the pumpkin, let them dry and lightly sanded the edges with fine grit sandpaper.

Next I distressed the edges of each strip.

Then I cut and hot glued three supporting pieces of foam core to the backside of the pumpkin and also glued a piece of twine at the top for hanging.

Then I cut 5 freehand leaves, folded the leaves where the veins are and sanded the veins and edges.

The next step was to distress the veins and edges.

Then stamp the word " thanks" on the tags.

I strung the tags on a piece of twine and hot glued them to the pumpkin.

I curled the ends and hot glued them in place on both ends.

Then covered the stem in burlap, glued that on and glued the leaves to the pumpkin along with a few pieces of twine swirled and glued in place.

It's the perfect weight.  Looks substantial yet it is very, very light for it's size.

Happy Crafting!