Paper Pumpkins

(In this post I've included links to some websites. I am not necesarily partial to the websites, I am just using them to try and show you what I am talking about.)

Here are the original instructions where I learned how to make the pumpkins. She gives them step by step, which is great.
Obviously, you won't be doing a photo, so you don't need to worry about fanning the strips out perfectly in order like she has in her instructions. In fact, when you go to fan out your paper stack, I recommend that you mix up the strips a little so you put some of the top strips next to some of the middle or bottom ones.

The secret to the paper is to buy double sided paper (meaning it has a print on both sides) and is the heaviest paper you can find. Ordinary card stock just won't cut it with the larger pumpkin. We ended up finding a paper called "imaginisce" and FELL IN LOVE. It was the thickest stuff around and hands down the most beautiful. Really, you only need the thickness for the largest pumpkin, the medium and small ones are not as much of an issue. We actually used the imaginisce for the large and small pumpkin and then a "Bo Bunny" paper for the middle sized one. You can have fun with corrdinating papers!

These two were our all time favorites and the ones we used for our pumpkins.

Favorite #1 and Favorite #2


Here are some aditonal paper ideas for you:

Paper oooo!   Paper ahhhh!   Paper la-la-la!

Here is a sampling of Bo Bunny Papers. The one we liked were in the "Beautiful Life" set. Though, I must forewarn you, we discovered Beautiful life papers to be last year's design, so it was a bit difficult to find them. You can still find them on scrapbooking websites if you look around. They are just as pricy as the imaginisce. We ended up finding all our paper in a little scrapbooking store in the middle of Missouri hidden in the back of a pharmacy and Radio Shack. Both inaginisce and Bo Bunny papers you will not be able to find in any Michaels, Robert's or Hobby Lobby.

For the cutting sizes, I cut the large pumpkin using the full 12 inch paper in 1 inch increments. The vine was from the Zooabaloo Cricut Cartridge at 2.5 inches.

The medium size pumpkin I cut at 8.5 inches, then sliced into 1 inch increments. The vine was from the Zooabaloo Cricut Cartridge at 2 inches.

The small pumpkin I cut in half (6 inches), then in 3/4 inch increments. I only used about 8 or 9 of the strips to make this pumpkin. Using more than 9 and you end up with too many strips and things get crammed. The nice part about this is that you can share 1 sheet of paper between almost 3 people! The vine was from the Zooabaloo Cricut Cartridge at 1.5 inches.

(You could do rafia or some other medium instead of cutting out a vine and get a similar look.)

The key to putting these together is using a crop-a-dial. Anything else is not worth your time. I used the smallest hole punch on it. I did not clamp mine together like she shows you in the instructions, but for those who are a bit wobbly with their hands it might be a good idea. I also just used plain, cheap, office brads (100 to a box at Walmart or Staples). I noticed with the decorative brads that often they have short prongs on them and you need longer prongs for grasping all the papers.

So, for supplies, you will need:

Crop-a-dial
12" paper slicer
Brads
Decorative leaves
Paper

Happy crafting!