Autumnal Decor Pumpkin Vase Tutorial

This year my autumn decor is sadly lacking. I just can’t seem to be bothered to do anything! We haven’t even got an autumn wreath or leaf garland. I have however now got a pumpkin vase, and it was so easy to do I thought I’d share this Autumnal Decor Pumpkin Vase Tutorial with you.

 

 

Last year Hols and I painted some pumpkins, which she LOVED. We painted them black and carved the Deathly Hallows symbol (quite shoddily) on the front. It was great, but carving out pumpkins isn’t really much fun. Holly starts out with good intentions but is bored after precisely 32 seconds of carving and scooping out the guts. This year I said I wanted to just paint them. It’s so much easier!

 

 

We set to work painting them, but she typically lost interest after we gave the pumpkins their first coat of paint and left me to finish off.

 

As Holly had decided she wasn’t involved in the pumpkins any more, I decided to make what I wanted out of them. I ordered some dahlias from my florist friend Liz (I would have used ones from the garden, had I not left them in the ground to die last winter). I foraged some bits from the garden and the lane, and came up with this!

 

 

It’s really easy to do. The first step is to carve the pumpkin. I cut a lid and scooped out all the guts. I put these on some tin foil and toasted them. I’ll leave them out for the squirrel when they’ve cooled down – we love our squirrel!

 

The next step is to grab a jar and fill it with water, then place it in the middle of the pumpkin.

 

Now it’s a case of arranging your sticks/twigs/offcuts/flowers in a way that you like! I used bracken, hawthorn, ivy flowers, dried allium heads, nigella seed heads, some fluffy weed (no idea what it’s called, but it’s lovely), some twisted willow and a couple of Cafe au Lait dahlias.

 

 

Remove all the leaves to the lower part of the stems, as they’ll likely rot in the water.

 

I’m really pleased with how the arrangement has turned out. I may even make some more!

Thank you so much for reading my pumpkin vase tutorial! If you end up making one, I’d love to see! Tag me in your pictures on Instagram @life_with_holly.