10 Ways to Decorate Pumpkins (without carving them)

I dont know about you, but I am awful at carving pumpkins! I love doing it- but I can never make it look good. I've kind of decided to start painting mine or using modge podge and glitter to decorate it. That way it doesn't rot or wither. Here's my top 10 fave ways to decorate your pumpkins this season!

**side note**

These pictures are not mine. I took them from the website that they were made/or the idea was found on. Click on the 'click here for details' to see how it was made and where it came from! 

Cover pumpkin with a vinyl monogram (or paint the monogram on it)

This is classy, easy, and simple. Perfect for Halloween OR Thanksgiving. 

click here for details

Buttons and Ribbon

This one is really cute. Buttons are cheap and can be bought by the color. I buy grab bags of buttons off amazon, ebay, or at hobby lobby. So you really could do any word or color! 

click here for details

Glittered Pumpkin

This one is super fun. Everyone likes a little sparkle. I did this one year with modge podge and it was messy. But I hear if you use spray adhesive instead its a lot easier. I will try it again this year. 

click here for details

Lace Covered Pumpkin

This kind of reminds me of a spooky/darker type of decoration. One with spiders, cobwebs, old books, etc. You could use an old pair of tights for this maybe..? Most likely it was done by some fabric though. Would be cute on orange or white pumpkins. 

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Confetti Pumpkins

This one is really easy too! I love confetti. 

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Bat Flying Pumpkin

This is such a fun one. Using your digital cutting machine (silhouette or cricut) would make this project really quick. 

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Spray Paint and Polka Dots

Almost everyone has a can of black spray paint lying around. Stick some yard sale round stickers on it, spray paint, let it dry, then take the dots off! Look how easy that would be. 

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A Witch Hat and Rhinestones

I think this one is my favorite. I LOVE it. 

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Simple Bow

This is one that could also be used for Halloween or Thanksgiving. Classic, cheap, easy. 

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Mummified Pumpkins

This is a fun one for kids. Get some medical gauze and googly eyes and you're set!

click here for details

I hope you enjoyed those 10 carve-less pumpkins! Make sure to visit the sites for all the details on how they are done. Happy decorating! 

Halloween Printables (FREE!)

I LOVE Halloween!! It's most definitely my favorite time of year. The decorations are so fun. As you know I love creating printables.. So here are 3 for you to download, FREE! Download, print, and frame them for your decorations. I want to see how you use them in your home. Email me at themohlmans@live.com and I might just feature your decor :) 

Feel free to download as much as you want and share. Just don't forget to give credit where it's deserved! (in other words please don't steal the images as your own!)

individual strawberry shortcake cups

I am definitely NOT a great baker, or cook. In fact, I really don't even enjoy it! But, it's what you do when you are a wife and mom, so I do it. :) For a recent family dinner we had with my husband's side of the family, they asked me to bring the dessert. Lets be honest- I had no idea what I was going to make! My brother in law owns a catering business (Utah Custom Catering) and my sister in law makes cakes and cupcakes. And they wanted me to bring the dessert? Yikes! I thought about bringing a poke cake, or store bought cookies. I really wanted to do something yummy though, so I came up with this fun and easy dessert- Strawberry Shortcake Cups! It was a hit, and everyone was asking for more. I will definitely be making these again. 

Here is what you will need: 

Angel Food Cake

Strawberries

Cool Whip

Vanilla Pudding 

Normally with Strawberry Shortcake you don't use pudding. But I thought adding pudding would make it a little more exciting. 

All I did was take the shortcake and break it up in little pieces. I layered the cake first, then the vanilla pudding, strawberries, more cake, cool whip, and a few strawberries on top. 

I used clear plastic cups so you could see inside of it and to make it look like a trifle. This would also be delicious with chocolate pudding, chocolate cake, oreos, and cherries... That is what I will have to try next. 

Make it and enjoy it! 

mini paper bag scrapbook

Have you ever seen these cute paper bag scrapbooks? They are so much fun to make! I'm not huge on scrapbooking unless it's digital, but these are different. They are smaller, don't have to be as elaborate, and take much less time! Unfortunately, I do not have a tutorial at this moment- but here is a great one I found online- http://www.scrap-a-little.com/2010/04/paper-bag-album-tutorial-by-kristie.html. 

Hopefully I can get a tutorial on here soon! 

Now, lets talk about the one I made. Like I mentioned in the past post, I was part of an instagram swap and the theme was "rise and shine". I decided to make this little scrapbook for my swap partner to put pictures of her kids in it. I used bright, fun colors, and kept it simple so she could customize it however she wanted! 

Things you will need for this project are paper, glue stick or hot glue, embellishments, paper bags, a hole punch, and some yarn. I got my paper at Pebbles in my Pocket here in Orem. (FAVORITE store ever). I chose coordinating papers from the same line. Makes it much easier. Some of the things I used to decorate the pages are stamps, stickers, and other paper embellishments. 

I love making these. The first one I ever made was for my husband Kevin. We were dating- it was our first Valentines together. We had been together for 6 months and had talked about getting married. I printed pictures out from our 6 months of dating and on every page I wrote dating stories, how we met, our first kiss story, etc. I gave it to him for Valentines Day. Although he didn't really appreciate it, I am glad I made it for him because now we can both enjoy it :) 

These scrapbooks are the perfect gift for anyone and can be done while sitting down watching a movie. The fun thing with this is that you can staple it, use eyelets, hole punch it and use yarn or ribbon, and you can cut the bags in any shape! If you want some more fun ideas of paper bag scrapbooks, check out my pinterest board!

I hope you enjoyed my project! 

rise and shine

This last month I participated in an instagram swap. It was so fun- I am sending my package off tomorrow and am SO excited to get my package any day  now! I've enjoyed getting to know my swap partner (Alicia) and love that I've made a new friend. The theme of the swap was rise and shine.We had to put together a package full of things that had to do with that theme. Let me tell you a little about that phrase... It's not my favorite phrase. Ha. I am not a morning person. Having children has forced me to be a morning person, but I still dread the sound of my alarm (my kids crying or telling me to wake up). I can rise just fine but shining is a little harder ;) 

The things that help me rise and shine are: smiling faces on my kids, a bowl of cereal, a kiss from my husband, and time to get ready for the day without interruptions. It's nearly impossible to wake up to a stress free morning it seems- getting everyone fed, diapers changed, people dressed, keeping kids happy, (and quiet while my husband sleeps since he works grave yard shifts...) BUT- this theme has really been on my mind lately and I'm trying to go with the flow. Everything doesn't have to be perfect. Kids dont have to be out of their pajamas at a certain time, I dont have to always wear makeup, having a bowl of cereal and not something like eggs or french toast every day isn't the end of the world, it's okay if I feel like I need a diet coke to get through my day... I can go with the flow! Yes it's good to have routines but with this theme on my mind I have been able to focus on just rising and SHINING (meaning being happy in my mind) with life. 

So, I made this printable to print out 8x10 or 11x14 for a frame in my bedroom. Hopefully it will be a reminder of why I wakeup every day- and why it's important to wake up happy for my kids. (and me, lets be honest). The way my morning goes usually sets the tone of how the day goes. So- this is my morning mantra! Go ahead and right click and save- print out, and use if you would like! (please just give credit if you share it). 

How do you rise and shine?