Paper Mache Fun

WOYWW? My work area has expanded to my kitchen table & our guest room. This is the last project for the engagement party this Saturday. Since the theme is "Fall in Love", I needed some fall items. I bought a package of leaves from the dollar store and white washed them with paint. I went out to buy foam pumpkins, but they were super expensive even when 60% off.  So...if you can't find an affordable option for what you need, you make it yourself! The answer...Paper Mache!

I grabbed a bag of shredded paper from my work shredder and stuffed some plastic grocery bags until I got the size pumpkin that I wanted. Once I did that, I wrapped string around them until it looked pumpkin shaped. I used some masking tape to help with that as well.

Then I mixed flour & water to create my paste. Talk about "Back to Elementary School"! Cut strips of newspaper and had at it! Ooey Gooey fun!

Here are three of them. The smaller one is actually a Styrofoam pumpkin that I purchased from The Dollar Tree. I bought six of these. I made four larger ones - two tall and two round pumpkins.

Normally I would add at least two layers of the paper strips, but I was in a little of a time crunch! So after the first layer dried, I painted them white and then decorated.

Here are some of them:

and some close ups:

Others have been completely covered in glitter, decopauged in French script paper or painted in teal w/silver highlights.

I'm so happy how they turned out!

Click on over to the Stamping Ground blog to join the WOYWW linkage or check out other desks.  It's a lot of fun!