No Knife Needed: Make Picasso-Inspired Pumpkin People This Halloween

We like to imagine that if Picasso decorated more jack-o’lanterns, they’d look a little something like this. To collage your own pumpkin person, just cut out facial features from magazine clippings and decoupage them onto a real gourd or a last-forever Fun-Kin. This has got to be the easiest jack-o’lantern ever.

• Magazines
• Pumpkin, or Fun-Kin, from $20 (fake pumpkins you can keep forever!)
• Matte decoupage medium, like ModPodge, $1.50 for 2 oz., from Michaels

For optional 3D parts:

• Cardstock
• X-acto knife
• Craft glue

1. Cut out interesting eyes, lips, noses, hair, hats, and other details from magazines. If you want to make the images bigger to fit your pumpkin, use a photocopier to enlarge them, and then cut them out.

2. Decide how you’d like to arrange all of the pieces, playing with the placement of features to create a Picasso-esque face. Before committing to an arrangement, we tested out a couple of different options by sticking the pieces on lightly with double-sided tape.

3. Brush the back of each piece with a thin coat of decoupage medium, then smooth it onto the pumpkin surface.

4. Attach 3D features, like ears or a streaming ponytail, by first glueing the feature to card stock and cutting out. Cut a small slit into the pumpkin and insert the edge of the feature, securing with a drop of glue.

Note: These fantastical fashion plates are best displayed indoors or on a covered porch. If you’d like them to brave the elements, brush several coats of decoupage medium over the pumpkin surface, allowing time to dry between coats.

Many thanks to Spoonflower for the amazing eyes backdrop, which is available as wallpaper, gift wrap & fabric from Hollyce Jeffriess’ shop.