Make Colorful “Paper Mache” Glittered Halloween Decor with Dollar Store Foam Pumpkins

I adore paper mache, folk art items, and styrofoam shapes! So now that the Dollar Tree Stores have their styrofoam pumpkins in stock, I had to buy a batch. This tissue paper and glue technique is easy and makes your holiday decor look handmade and special. Super fun for kiddos to do too!

Supplies (for each pumpkin):

1 Foam Pumpkin (get ‘em at the Dollar Store while you can)
1 Cheap Knife for Carving (I bought a 4 pack of steak knives at the Dollar Store)
Assorted Acrylic Paints (used here Folk Art and Martha Stewart Paints both by Plaid)
Glitter (Used here Martha Stewart Glitters)
Craft Glue (with a fine tip, for applying glitter)
Mod Podge (optional, I used this to apply the tissue paper, can use craft glue)
Paint Brushes of Various Sizes
Paint Brush to Use for Mod Podge/Glue (make it a cruddy brush)
Toothpicks
Tissue Paper (purchase from Dollar Store)
*Cover your working surface with a cloth or plastic sheet

Draw right on the pumpkin the shapes that you want to cut out (use pencil or a marker, you’ll be covering the pumpkin anyway). Use the cheap craft knife to cut out pieces (be careful). Also cut the top (you can put a battery candle in these guys).

Next cover the pumpkin totally with tissue paper using the Mod Podge/craft glue to paste it on. Cover underneath and the top of the paper with glue (make sure all the paper is covered with glue, this adds the stiffness, texture, and keeps it on the pumpkin). Continue until entire pumpkin is covered, including covering tissue paper inside cut out areas.

Let tissue covered pumpkins dry for at least a couple of hours.

Now the painting. For the black pumpkin, greens, golds, and yellows are used to add dimension. Brown circles with gold accents are painted around eyes and nose, and a bright yellow mouth is painted on. Once the paint is dry, glitter (using your fine tip craft glue dispenser and loose glitter) is added.

For the green monster skeleton pumpkin, use lovely greens, teals, and metallic gold with black accents. The scars are painted on using toothpicks. Using the craft glue, gold and teal/blue glitter are added.