Easy No Carve Pumpkin Decorating Ideas for Kids

With Halloween right around the corner as I write this, you might be looking for some ways to decorate pumpkins for kids without carving. Whether you’re doing this as a classroom or at home, there are a lot of fun ways to decorate pumpkins that don’t require sharp instruments.

Painting: A couple of years ago my daughter decided she wanted to paint a scene on our pumpkin instead of carving. She’s a teen and legitimately an artist, so it turned out beautiful, but kids of any age and artistic skill level can paint a pumpkin (and we definitely have had some more chaotic versions over the years). If you’re looking for some specific ideas on painting pumpkins, this post from Parents has a view good ideas. I love the emojis and the mini pumpkins painted as doughnuts, shown above.

Add Accessories: Easy Peasy and Fun has a great collection of (mostly) simple painted pumpkins that are embellished in different ways to make them a little more fun. I love this little bat, which only requires painting the pumpkin black and adding embellishments made with construction paper.

Drawing: If you don’t want to get out the paint, using markers (or paint pens, or oil pastels) to draw on a pumpkin can also be a lot of fun. This is especially effective on a light-colored pumpkin. (The photo above is from Casolia, by the way.)

Stickers: It’s almost universal that kids love sticking stickers to things, so why not give them a pumpkin and whatever stickers you have lying around (seasonally appropriate ones or eyes would be great, but not essential) and let them go to town.

Googly eyes: Speaking of eyes, if you’ve got a supply of peel and stick googly eyes (or the patience to use glue), adding eyes to a pumpkin is a fun and easy way to make a pumpkin spooky with very little work. This version comes from She Wears Many Hats.

You can also combine any of these ideas, so start with painting, then add stickers and/or eyes and just keep building from there. Maybe throw in some feathers and your pumpkin will be all set for Thanksgiving, too.

How do you like to decorate pumpkins with kids? I’d love to hear your ideas!

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Carissa created two beautiful cards with Tropical vibes. First is a bowl of fruit with a pineapple and cut orange in a pink bowl made with dies that have coordinating embossing folders for amazing depth and texture. The other is a bowl of flowers created with layering stencils with some fussy cutting. Watch her video tutorial at the Altenew blog.

Summer is officially here and it’s time to embrace those Tropical Vibes! Even if you don’t live or have a chance to visit some place Tropical, bright flowers, cool drinks and fun beachy prints are something everyone can enjoy during these hot Summertime months. So while your making your handmade cards right now embrace this fun style, it works for so many occasions! So let’s dive in and check out some inspiration for Tropical Card ideas.

Tina’s adorable card has a lovely background created with markers, stenciling and ink blending. But the stars are the digital stamp she used of two cute girls, one looking like a Coconut and the other like a pineapple, so silly and sweet! Take a closer look at the Stampingbella blog.

Dina’s stunning retirement card is ready to head to the beach. She created a tote bag filled with sundries and die cut from pattern paper along with a hat and flipflops with a bit of inking for shading. And notice all that woven looking texture, she used a pattern die on each one for such a realistic feel. There’s also tropical leaves and a postage stamp edge as well. Find more info at the Brass and Bliss blog.

I couldn’t agree more with the sentiment on Jills lovely card, I live in flip flops in the Summer! She’s also used a faux postage edge die, cut from striped paper, with a blue ink blended layer over top. Then she die cut her shells, sun glasses, flip flops (from striped paper) and florals, adding inking for extra color and dimension. Visit the Fastest Turtle blog for all the details.

Amy’s super cute card has two stamped buddies, a cat and a bear, enjoying a trip to the beach with Tropical palm trees stamped in the background and the wavy beach in the foreground. She used Copic markers to color in her scene using white pens for water accents. I love the crab on the bears head! Learn more at the Thousand Sheets of Paper blog.

When you think of Tropical flowers I think most of us think of Hibiscus flowers with their bold colors, they just scream “Tropical”! Caly used them on her infinity shaker card with a stencil floral background in pale shades of inks, filled with tiny flower, leaf and round beads inside and then that big pop of Hibiscus die cut and inked for a gorgeous card. Visit the Pretty Pink Posh blog for more details.

Justine’s amazing card has a rich ink blended sunset background with an adorable Hula scene. There’s a cute Hula girl but also 3 darling penguins who are also dancing with her. She used Tiki Torches and sand to ground the scene and that large Aloha in white really pops! I spotted this card on her Stationary by Justine Instagram page.

Carrianne’s sweet Toucan card has a leafy die cut frame with additional leaves, all inked in green with a pop of yellow die cut flowers too. But the main attraction are the two cute stamped Toucans colored with Copic Markers. When coloring wild life I like to recommend looking at pics on the internet so you can pick realistic colors like she did here. Take a closer peek at the La La Land Crafts blog.

This rich dark blue dry embossed frame card base on Mindy’s card really makes the bright Tropical die cut flowers pop on her design. She included a white heat embossed sentiment and a few white paint splatters that help break up all the dark colors nicely. I spotted her card on her Mindy Crafts Cards Instagram page.

The silly little stamped monkeys on Tina’s cute card are having so much fun sitting in leaves, swinging from a vine and hanging in a branch and were colored with Copic Markers. I love the bright pink and teal color combo she used with cardstock, pattern papers and inking on the card base and the die cut leaves. And the birthday sentiment is so funny! Visit the Sunny Studio blog for more info.

Mindy’s beautiful design has an inviting background with a sunset, mountains and the ocean, created with ink blending and die cutting. The palm tree and bird are stamped as silhouettes in black ink, all inside a trendy arched die cut on a clean white base. There’s also a sweet stamped and die cut sentiment to finish it off perfectly. I came across her idea on the Gina K. Designs Instagram page.

This stunning Hawaiian inspired card has a tiki dry embossed background with a glitter gold frame around the edge. There’s a large die cut “Aloha” in an inked ombre’ blue and loads of colorful die cut Tropical flowers along the bottom and in one corner with a few gold gem scattered around. Take a closer look at the Spellbinders blog.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this Tropical stroll, will you be making some inspired cards soon?

-Heather

Shop here for GinaK. Designs

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