I know it is early and HOT for a DIY chinoiserie pumpkin tutorial, but this little Cricut Joy project of mine got such amazing and positive feedback in my Instagram Stories, so I had to write up a tutorial to share with you all.
Now, I had zero intention of this being a blog tutorial, so I had to work somewhat backwards to create the content for this post, and I also ended up using some of the photos I shared in my stories for this DIY chinoiserie pumpkin tutorial.
Side note: this is not sponsored at all!
In other words, the process photos are kind of put together after the fact, but this is a simple project that is fairly straightforward.
Now, notice I said SIMPLE. I didn’t say quick. This fall decor project did take me longer than I would have thought it would. If you’ve worked with vinyl and spherical/round type objects, you know it can be a little challenging.
I opted to NOT USE transfer paper– it was too hard on this kind of curved surface. I manually treated the decals as stickers essentially and transferred them by hand from the backing sheet to the pumpkin. Hence why I said time consuming.
Add in all the bumps and ridges of a pumpkin, and you’ll understand quickly why this is more time consuming than a flat object. However, I absolutely guarantee it is worth it.
Cricut Joy for Fall Crafts
For this DIY chinoiserie pumpkin craft, I decided to use my Cricut Joy. It is small, sits on my desk almost 99% of the time, and it’s perfect for quick vinyl decals for small home decor projects such as this one.
I used some Cricut metallic vinyl foil cut down to 4.5″ wide by 6.5″ tall and placed on my Cricut Joy standard grip (green) mat. I love that with the Cricut Joy I can use a mat OR I can use their Smart Vinyl which feeds directly into the machine and gives you a ton of extra length options.
I’ve made note cards, placecards, gift tags, storage/pantry labels, vinyl decals and even monograms to iron-on some napkins.
If you love doing simple, quick projects for your home, the Cricut Joy does PLENTY of stuff if the Cricut Maker intimidates you.
Also- for this tutorial I only used ONE image from Design Space. It really shows you how sometimes simple is better.
DIY Chinoiserie Pumpkin: Blue & Gold
I found these ceramic pumpkins in all their orange glory at a Goodwill store in San Antonio recently. I paid a whole $4 total ($2 each) for them, and I knew I’d find a way to make them pretty.
As much as I LOVE blue and white chinoiserie decor, I wanted something a little different. I published a very popular tutorial for how to DIY your own dollar store chinoiserie pumpkins last year.
I wanted them to have gold details, be a really striking design and look beautiful with florals. I had a can of matte navy spray paint in the garage, gold vinyl, a Cricut Joy and thus this all came together beautifully.
I think I can safely say these pumpkins I created look high end, beautiful and will be a wonderful addition to my fall decor this year.
Let’s dive in to this tutorial. If you want to see my Instagram Stories about this, I saved the details as a highlight titled “DIY Pumpkin” in my bio.
DIY Chinoiserie Pumpkins
Create a beautiful chinoiserie inspired pumpkin craft project to add in with your other fall and autumnal home decor.
Materials
Instructions
Take your pumpkin and make sure it is free of dust and sticker residue before spray painting it the MATTE FINISH color of your choice. I used a matte navy spray paint by Rustoleum. - I suggest elevating the pumpkins using plastic cups to get all around the bottom edges. I did two light coats of spray paint with about 10 minutes of time in between coats.
- Let the pumpkins dry at least 2-3 hours (allow 4-6 hours if it is humid).
- While your pumpkins dry, open up Cricut Design Space to a new canvas for whichever machine you're using and search for "Japanese Flowers" (image #M347B2). It is part of Cricut Access if you have a subscription. Insert the image onto the canvas.
- Select the entire image and click "Weld" so it'll become one shape.
- Resize it to 3" tall, then right-click and click "Duplicate". Click on the duplicate shape, then click "Flip" and "Flip Horizontal" in tool bar.
- Select both images together, then right-click and click "Duplicate". With the duplicate shape selected, resize to 2" tall. Here's what your canvas should look like.
- Trim your adhesive vinyl down to 4.5" by 6.5" and adhere to the green standard grip mat making sure it is on there flat and secure.
- Once you're ready, click "Make It" and follow the prompts. Once it is done, weed excess vinyl and trim your decals down to size.
- For each pumpkin, I used 6 large flowers and 6 small flowers, so I had to do steps 8-9 three times for one pumpkin. If you're using the Cricut Maker, you likely could fit all these in one 12x12 sheet.
- To transfer the decals to the pumpkin, I carefully peeled them off the backing paper and placed them by hand and even smoothed them into place by hand versus using a tool. I found transfer paper really challenging to use for this, but it is an option.
- Grab your pumpkin and think of it in halves. I put the large flowers with the branches meeting on one half in the center (see diagram below) and then repeated on the other half/side.At this point you've used 4 of the large size.
- You will end up with gaps at the top and bottom of the pumpkin if looking at it overhead. With the branch towards the rim of the pumpkin, apply the last of the remaining large decals in these spots. Here's a diagram explaining the placement.
- You will end up with gaps around the bottom- fill in with the smaller flowers making sure to alternate between left and right facing.
- Vinyl can be tricky on curved surfaces so cup your hands around the pumpkin to smooth any gaps and you can also use your finger for any smaller gaps in the vinyl and pumpkin.
Fall Chinoiserie Pumpkin DIY Decor
I know this project on the surface seems bananas… WHO THE HELL would transfer intricate vinyl decals like this BY HAND? Well, trust me, I tried the transfer paper and it was just easier this way.
If the decal tore at all, I just overlapped it and you cannot even tell. I think I ended up accidentally tearing 3 of the 24 decals I ended up making for my two pumpkins.
I love the striking contrast between the blue and gold. Using matte spray paint was a great choice for this project- I do not think gloss would look that great with the foil, so definitely go matte or flat for this project, k?
With some faux florals, this whole pumpkin is sophisticated, moody, unexpected and totally chinoiserie chic!
I’d love to hear your thoughts about this! If you decide to try it out, let me know.
JAMALA WALLACE
Sunday 9th of August 2020
You are amazing with that Cricut.. The things you've created are far beyond any thing I can imagine making. These are absolutely beautiful.. It's really making me want to try my luck at it.. (one day)heehee.. but i do love looking at your tutorials..