Supplies:
- Wood backing. I just used some crap wood I had on hand.
- Paint
- Paint brushes
- Glue. I used Elmer’s glue, but wood glue would also work well
- Painter’s tape
- My pumpkin SVG file, which you can find here (you can cut them out of vinyl or wood)
- Black permanent vinyl (or you could make a stencil)
- Cutting machine to cut the vinyl (I used a Cricut Maker, but others will work as well)
- Optional: twine for bows on pumpkins
If your piece of wood needs to be sanded down and smoothed, then start with that. I probably should have sanded mine down a little more, but I was excited to get started. Once you piece is smooth, take a large paint brush and paint the wood backing white. Depending on the paint you use and your wood, you may need a few coats of paint. Wood tends to absorb paint.
While the wood backing was drying, I cut out my wood pumpkins. I used my Gloweforge to do this. Glowforge discount if you click here. Just click buy Glowforge in the upper right hand corner of the page to see discounts. You could also buy the wood pumpkin cutouts, or cut the pumpkins out of vinyl instead. You could also cut the words out of wood as well if you like. I decided to use vinyl for my words. For the words I used the font Arrafah. Depending how you decide to do your pumpkins and words will depend on what materials you will need and how you make them. There are a lot of options. You could even cut the thin lines out of vinyl for an even cleaner look. I chose to paint my lines for a more handmade look.
If any of your words or pumpkins are cut out of wood to give the piece more depth, then you will want to paint them now. For my pumpkins I decided to make them all a slightly different shade of orange. I them placed them in order so they gradually got darker. If you are not good at mixing colors, then you could paint them all the same shade of orange or whatever color you like. Once I got my starting color, I just added a little brown and even some red to darken up my shade of orange till I was happy with it for the next pumpkin. You can check out my YouTube video to see how I mixed my colors and how much of each color I added.
I decided to also add my pumpkin stem, leaf, and vine, which comes in my pumpkin SVG file. I thought about painting both of these pieces all brown, or all green. In the end I decided to paint the stem brown, and the leaf and vine green. You could add these extras if you want.
Once everything was dry, it was time to assemble. I used my words to help me decide where to place my lines. I needed to make sure I had enough space for my words to fit. I used the lines on my self healing mat, and a ruler to help with spacing and keeping my lines straight, when placing my painters’ tape. I did one line at a time. Once my painter’s tape was down and pretty straight, I painted my gray line. I probably could have made my lines a little thicker. Once one line was finished, I removed the tape and did the next line. If any gray paint seeped through, then I covered it up with a little white paint.
If a surface is not completely smooth, then some paint will seep through the painter’s paint, because it cannot lay completely flat. I had heard you can first apply a layer of paint in the color of your background, in my case white, then apply your other color, in my case gray, and only the first color will seep through, thus giving you cleaner lines. I forgot to do this. If you try this, then you will want to apply the painter’s tape first, then the white paint and let it dry. Once the white paint is dry, apply your gray paint, and remove the painter’s tape.
Once my lines were done, I applied my vinyl words. I cut my vinyl down to a smaller more manageable size. I then weeded out the areas I did not want (the background). I then used transfer tape, and placed my vinyl on my wood sign. I used a scraper to help ensure the vinyl adhered to each step of the way. You could measure this, but I just eye bawled it. I am bad about measuring things.
Next, I placed my wood pumpkins roughly where I wanted them to go. I suggest laying them out first to make sure your spacing is good. Once they were laid out, I applied a little Elmer’s glue and glued each one down. Wood glue would also work well. There are a lot of little pieces to these pumpkins, so just start with the bigger pieces first. I put my Elmer’s glue in a thin tip glue bottle to help control the amount of glue that came out. I also used my ruler to help keep my pumpkins straight.
You could be finished here, but I decided to add a little twine bow to each of my pumpkins. I did a simple bow, like you make when you tie your shoes. I decided to make a bow for all four of my pumpkins. Just something simple, but more texture and dimension to look at.
How it would look if you decide not to add the bows. 
Deciding between raffia (left) or twine bow (right).
This piece is not perfect, but I am still very happy with how it turned out. If you wish to hang this piece on the wall, then you can also glue a hanging hook to the back of the piece. If you just want to lean it against something, then the hook is not needed. You could also glue wood blocks, like Jenga blocks, to the back of the piece to help it stand up on its own. You can also make this piece as big or small as you like. You could make more or less pumpkins for this sign as well. There are a lot of possibilities and variations you can do. So, make it your own, and happy crafting.
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