Instructions

1. Watch the Video Tutorial. Watch the video tutorial to see how I made each pumpkin and assembled the finished stack.
2. Make the Faux Tin Tile Pumpkin. Start with a jack-o’-lantern wood cutout and flip it over so you have a plain pumpkin shape. Remove all of the adhesive backing from a faux tin wall tile, including the sticky material around the edges. Trace the pumpkin onto the tile with a Sharpie, then cut just inside the marker line for the most accurate fit. Attach the tile to the pumpkin with E6000 or tacky glue. I also added four tiny dots of hot glue to hold everything in place while the stronger glue dried. Be careful not to use too much hot glue, because the plastic tile can melt.
3. Prepare the Top Pumpkin. For the smallest pumpkin, I used one of the little metal pumpkin stakes from Dollar Tree. I removed the metal stand so I could use just the pumpkin shape. Be a little more careful than I was here! I ended up making a hole in mine while removing the stake, but it was nothing a little ribbon couldn’t cover. It all worked out.
4. Paint the Base Pumpkin. My largest pumpkin came from the Dollar Tree Plus section. It had a “thankful” detail at the bottom, but I wasn’t loving the bright orange color, so I gave it a makeover.
   Because the pressed-cardboard material absorbs quite a bit of paint, I started with a coat of white Rust-Oleum chalk paint. Once that dried, I added a coat of DecoArt Home Decor Chalk Paint in Sage Shadow. Finally, use a fine-point paintbrush and taupe craft paint to fill in the recessed lines.
5. Make the Ribbon and Greenery Accents. Make three simple bows using wide tan and white buffalo check ribbon. Trim the ends at a 45-degree angle. If your ribbon is synthetic, you can carefully heat-seal the ends with a lighter to prevent fraying. For each pumpkin, layer a little faux greenery, a short twig or birch craft stick, and a ribbon bow.
6. Assemble the Pumpkin Stack. Here’s where I learned my lesson! You want the middle pumpkin to sit behind the bottom pumpkin, not in front of it. Otherwise, the stems and bows end up looking like they’re in the middle of the pumpkins instead of at the top. Add glue to the bottom of the middle pumpkin and position the large base pumpkin over it. Then glue the smallest pumpkin to the top of the middle pumpkin. Once everything is positioned correctly, attach your greenery, twig, and bow accents to each pumpkin.
7. Reinforce the Back. Flip the entire pumpkin stack over and attach a jumbo paint stir stick to the back. I’m talking about the extra-large stir sticks made for five-gallon paint buckets, not the regular little ones. Use hot glue or a combination of hot glue and a stronger adhesive to secure the stick across the pumpkin pieces. This helps keep the entire stack together and upright. The base pumpkin is wide enough that mine stands on its own when placed against a wall, making it perfect for a mantel or shelf.