DIY Raffia Pumpkins
I am over the moon excited about my latest Fall project. Today I am sharing these darling DIY raffia pumpkins and how to make them. The best part is that they were so cheap and easy to make!
DIY Raffia Pumpkins
Ok, so I have to be honest with you. These pumpkins took me way longer to make than I ever imagined. Thank goodness I have tons of patience (it’s the kindergarten teacher in me) because these darling little pumpkins took me over an hour to make! The big one took me an hour and the small one took about 40 minutes. I wish you could have seen me sitting at my kitchen table at 11 pm the other night trying to finish these babies up.
It wasn’t pretty, just ask my husband.
But I am a girl who won’t quit and I wanted some inexpensive raffia pumpkins so gosh darn it I kept hot gluing the raffia until I couldn’t keep my eyes open. Just keeping it real for you guys! It was really hard to cover every little nook and cranny of each pumpkin. I feel that since the little pumpkin was white it hid the imperfections but the bigger one was a burnt orange and you can see little bits of the color popping through.
Thankfully they turned out beautiful. I didn’t know how beautiful until the next morning because it was so darn dark when I finished, but remember, I have the patience of a rock star! 😉
The Supplies
Here is what you will need if you want to try making these raffia pumpkins even after my confession above:
- Dollar Store Raffia (one bag per pumpkin)
- Scissors
- Hot glue gun and glue
- Inexpensive plastic pumpkins
The Steps
I found this raffia at the Dollar Store and these pumpkins at the grocery store. They were 50% and all together this project cost me only $10! I started by removing them stems from both pumpkins.
Next…
I glued strips of the raffia in the crevices of the pumpkins. I even tried wrapping the longer strips of raffia around the pumpkin. This helped a bit but really the glue was more necessary than I was prepared for.
Cutting the Raffia
After the first few strips were glued on I measured from the top of the pumpkin to the bottom and cut several pieces the same length. My plan was to glue at the top and the bottom of each strip. This didn’t work so well and I had to add more glue along each strip of raffia to secure it to the pumpkin. This is what took me so long. As well as the fact that I didn’t want any of the pumpkin to show through so I loaded up the raffia on the small pumpkin.
Carve Out Some Time for This DIY
After wrapping and gluing the raffia for what seemed like forever I was happy with the outcome of my first pumpkin. I reattached the stem to the pumpkin and filled in areas with raffia that I had missed. There was a lot of hot glue used and my poor fingers were not happy with me.
Natural Looking DIY Raffia Pumpkins
The little guy above was the first of my DIY raffia pumpkins and after this one I needed to rest a bit. I tackled the next one but as you can see I stopped at 2. 🙂 Thankfully I absolutely love them! The natural look is what I was in search of and I found it…it just took me awhile! Also, a special thanks to my friend Brooke from Brooklyn Finds for gifting me these gorgeous pampas grasses!
Have you ever had a love hate relationship with a project?! I know I’m not the only one! Right?!
Thanks for stopping by today. Come on over to my blog, The Tattered Pew, for more fun projects!
xoxo,
Kelly
Enjoyed the project?
Suggested materials:
- Raffia (Dollar Store)
- Pumpkins (Dollar Store)
Comments
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The Tattered Pew on Sep 30, 2021
You know what! Yes…it probably would have worked 10 times better! Ha!
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Mga34416343 on Oct 01, 2022
yes.but i will try the dollar hula skirts that look like raffia.covers easier
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Frequently asked questions
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I to go for the au natural look… I admire your tenacity to follow through to the end …some projects just be that way 😉
I just wonder if modge podge would have worked instead of glue??
Did you know there was a less painful way to work with hot glue? Use a wet, not dripping, paper towel to hold anything in place. It does not stick to the work. Learned this in a wreath making class many years ago. Saves your fingers!