Monogrammed Pumpkin

I am a bridesmaid for my bff from high school (and junior high), Chelsey. She is getting married Saturday in a town next to the one we grew up in. I came back home (parent's house) last night and will be staying through the weekend. I wanted to carve a pumpkin with the monogram they used on their invitations. I went to Wal-Mart and picked out what I thought was the perfect pumpkin. This is very hard to do! I changed my mind a million times and kept sitting them all out in a row. There is NO such thing as the perfect pumpkin. Finally, I just grabbed one and checked out.
I was relying on the parentals to actually be able to carve the pumpkin. They both thought that the monogram would be really difficult, so I decided to paint it on instead. My mom had black and brown paint for me to choose from. It was the little acrylic bottles from Hob Lob. I decided to go with brown because I wanted it to look more fallish and not halloweenish.
In case you get a hankering to paint your monogram on a pumpkin for your doorstep here are the easy step-by-step instructions. I would love to have one sitting on my doorstep!

Start with a clean pumpkin.

Luckily, Chelsey had e-mailed me invitation proofs and monograms to help her choose, so I had her monogram. (This is a surprise, so I didn't want to have to ask her for it!) I just printed it out from My Pictures on a full sheet option.

To transfer this image onto the pumpkin, you will need to turn the paper over and trace over it with pencil. I taped mine to a window so I could see what I was tracing. The light coming through it made it easier to see. Make sure you color in all of the monogram.

Then tape your monogram onto your pumpkin. You want the side that you just colored in with pencil to touch the pumpkin. Then just scribble over the computer printed image of the monogram. It will transfer the pencil outline on the other side of the paper to your pumpkin.

Ta-da!

Next, select your paint and get to painting! It is hard to get the paint to stick to the pumpkin so I had to do 2 coats. Maybe someone knows of a certain type of paint that will stick to pumpkins??

I think it turned out great! It might need a little bow to tie around the top but that will be up to Chelsey. I will give you all an update if this actually gets used somewhere at the wedding. Even if it doesn't it will make for a good prop for their photographer to use in pictures. I'm off to get ready for a day full of wedding stuff and rehearsal dinner tonight. I LOVE weddings!!