I’m always stuck between a rock and a hard place when it comes to the difficult decision between pretty holiday decor and fun kid centric Halloween decor, or any holiday decor for that matter. For those of you with kids, you know what I mean… it’s definitely a tricky balance. On the one hand I want to see the look on their faces when the excitement takes over, and they get to help decorate for an occasion, but on the other hand there is a very fine line between chic and tacky when it comes to holiday decor, and finding the right side of that line isn’t always easy.
For my one single solitary ‘blogged about’ DIY project for this Halloween, I bring you: The Best of Both Worlds! Pretty white pumpkin decor by day, and glowing jack-o-lantern faces by night. And might I add how easy this project is? Super duper easy. This tutorial is not the first of it’s kind, in fact our good friend Martha has a similar project, but… the differences between the two are vast, like the ocean my friends.. like the ocean…
The first major diff is that these babies aren’t in jack-o-lantern face mode all day. Their faces are hidden during the day. The second major diff is simply in the product used to create the glow. I chose an easy spray can of glow in the dark paint from Rust-oleum rather than glow in the dark powder, which to me seemed tricky and perhaps a bit messy (read… super messy and easy to get everywhere, not to mention easy to screw up). Also the glow in the dark paint works by absorbing the light during the day so that it glows at night or in the dark. The powder, to my understanding, requires a black light to work, which again sounds like one extra thing to deal with.
So let’s get started so you can see for yourselves just how easy and fast this project is!
Here are the supplies you will need:
- Pumpkins – real or fake
- White Paint or Spray Paint – if your pumpkins are another color than white (though this would work with colored pumpkins too, completely your choice)
- Painter’s Tape – low stick
- Pencil
- Scissors
- Rust-oleum Glow In The Dark Spray Paint
I used real pumpkins because they were much cheaper than the fake ones and frankly I haven’t yet dug my fall decor out from the pit that is my garage. But, if you have white fake pumpkins or white real pumpkins then this project will be even easier and faster, if that’s possible. If you are like me and your cuties are orange, paint those suckers white with any white house paint or acrylic craft paint. I left my stems unpainted but you can do as you wish for that portion. Just make sure your white is pretty solid and you have nice coverage, this might mean 2 coats of paint…
To create your face, use blue painters tape (or green) and trace the parts onto the tape and then cut out. For larger pumpkin faces, it works best to lay out a couple of overlapping (lay horizontally but stacked on top of one another) pieces of tape onto a surface and then trace and cut. This gives you a wider surface area to make things like your mouth piece.
Behold…our crying baby, as my monster mash kindergartner lovingly calls this little fellow above.
Once all of your pumpkin faces are in place, you are ready to spray these mothers down! Again, this step is far easier than a powder application or even a small craft bottle of glowy paint. All you need to do is lightly spray at least 2 coats over the entire surface, to ensure even coverage, and let it dry. Peel your painters tape off carfeully and let your pumpkins absorb the light during the day for a glowing fun time once night falls!
A shot of the pumpkins at night, in the light… you can see how subtle the faces are in full bright light and they are even more subtle in daylight, which is perfect for satisfying your inner decor freak. And as the darkness sets… let the scary begin!
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