Ghostly Gourds

One of my favorite things about fall is the decorating that ensues.  Every year my family and I head to the U-pick pumpkin patch and go hog wild on picking pumpkins.  The fact that the more you buy, the cheaper they become, really just creates an opportunity for me to go insane on the amount of pumpkins we load into the car every year.  Last year we brought home 15, this year it was more like 20.  Throw in some hay bales, stalks of corn, and as many gourds as you can shake a stick at and the Watsons are ready to decorate! 

After last year's pumpkin picking frenzy, my son and I decided to decorate some of our gourds and turn them into ghosts.  I just used some acrylic paint that I had left over from another project and they worked out just fine.  We first painted our gourds a white base coat.  I like to use foam brushes because they are inexpenisve and I don't have to worry about cleaning them--I can just toss them whenever we are done.

After letting that coat dry, we decided they needed another coat to cover up all of the green. 

Did you know that if you use your tongue to help you paint, you get great coverage and a wonderful finish?

Once it was dry, we dabbed on some eyes with the black paint and allowed it to dry.  That's when I sprayed them with a varnish so that the white paint wouldn't turn yellow.

This was really easy and a great way to spend an afternoon making memories with my little guy!