Halloween Mantel Metallic Pumpkin Makeover

I got a little crafty this week and did a mini-makeover on my old plastic pumpkins. It's officially Halloween at our house now - my dear sweet husband pulled down my bins of decorations a few weeks ago, but I didn't make my lazy self put any of it up until this weekend. One of the big delays was that I've been intending to throw some fresh paint on my old pumpkins. I have these faux Mercury glass bottles that I snagged at TJMaxx last year, and I kept thinking that metallics would be a nice look. Well, fast forward an entire year, and I finally made it happen.

Previously, I'd painted black designs on white plastic pumpkins from Michaels. They were fun, very punchy and cute especially with orange berry picks behind them. Here is our Halloween mantel from 2009:

Anyway, after six years of display and storage, the white has started yellowing, and the black paint is looking scratched and faded. I took them out in the front yard and spray painted them mostly silver, plus a few gold.

After they dried, I drew on some simple designs with white glue and sprinkled on silver and gold glitter. It was super messy and pretty fantastic. (I like to use old, unwanted giftwrap as a protective surface on the living room floor to do things like this. When I'm done, I just wad up the whole thing.)

When that was done, I overcrowded them on my mantel, and interspersed some of my other favorite Halloween decorations (the giant black metal spiders that I got on clearance from Pottery Barn several years back). I love it.

I'm guessing these repainted pumpkins will last maybe a couple years before they, too, start to look scratched and yucky; and at that point, I'll probably just scrape off the glue and glitter and layer something else on top. Considering that I got them all half price at the craft store for much cheaper than they cost these days, I'd say I'm getting my money's worth out of 'em.

Happy Halloween!