She Cut the Top Off a Faux Pumpkin and Turned It Into a Fall Flower Vase
A plain faux pumpkin does not need to stay intact to work as fall decor. Debbie of Debbiedoo’s cut an opening around the stem, turning the hollow decoration into a container for a full arrangement of flowers, berries, leaves, branches, and small pumpkins.
The project came from a reader who asked whether Debbie’s farmhouse cow stencil could work across the grooves of a pumpkin. She tested the idea on a medium-size faux pumpkin, then went beyond the stencil by opening the top and using the pumpkin as the base for a table centerpiece.
Cut Around the Stem to Open the Pumpkin
A hot knife made for faux pumpkins was used to cut a wide circle around the stem. Instead of removing a small cap as you might when carving a jack-o’-lantern, the opening takes up much of the top.
The cut exposes the hollow interior and leaves enough of the pumpkin intact to support the arrangement. Since the pumpkin is faux, the same container can come back out for another fall season.
Spray Adhesive Keeps the Stencil Against the Grooves
The curved, ribbed surface created the harder part of the project. A flat stencil cannot sit against every section of a pumpkin at once, so Debbie coated the back with craft spray adhesive and held sections against the surface as she painted.
She also skipped the smallest lettering from the original stencil because it would not transfer well across the grooves. The parts that remained create the black “MARKET” lettering and cow graphic across the front.
Add a Second Stencil Instead of Extending the Main Design
A separate branch and pine cone stencil fills part of the pumpkin beside the black cow design. Yellow paint separates it from the larger graphic rather than making the entire surface look like one continuous stencil.
Leaving sections of the white pumpkin exposed also keeps the ribs visible. The decoration follows the pumpkin’s shape instead of covering it with paint.
The Finished Pumpkin Works as the Vase
From the front, the opening disappears beneath the foliage. The white pumpkin reads as the vessel, with the black market graphic and yellow botanical stencil visible below the flowers.
A turquoise cow creamer filled with cinnamon sticks sits beside it, picking up the farm-market theme without changing the centerpiece itself. The project gets two uses from one faux pumpkin: its exterior carries the stencil, while its hollow interior holds the fall arrangement.