Skip to content

Top Navigation

Midwest Living Midwest Living
  • Travel
  • Food
  • Home
  • Garden
  • Holidays
  • Videos
  • current issue
  • Sweepstakes
  • Road Rally
  • About Us

Profile Menu

Your Account

Account

  • Join Now
  • Newsletters
  • Email Preferences
  • Manage Your Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Help
  • Logout

More

  • Win Your Dream Getaway!
  • Give a Gift Subscription
  • Magazine Issues
  • Destinations
Login
Subscribe
Pin FB

Explore Midwest Living

Midwest Living Midwest Living
  • Explore

    Explore

    • 11 Extraordinary Outdoor Travel Experiences to Try This Year

      11 Extraordinary Outdoor Travel Experiences to Try This Year

      Have you ever slept in a treehouse? Paddled by moonlight? Seen the Milky Way? We challenge you to try one of these activities. Read More
    • Meet Five Midwest Cake Creators (and Try Their Recipes)

      Meet Five Midwest Cake Creators (and Try Their Recipes)

      One has conquered the world of plant-based baking. Another runs a microbakery from her home. Two own businesses with their spouses. And the fifth is a James Beard finalist chef. The common thread? Absolutely delicious cakes. Read More
    • The No-Fail Relish Tray Recipe is Here

      The No-Fail Relish Tray Recipe is Here

      For many Midwesterners, holiday feasting kicks off with a relish tray. We dare not mess with an icon—at least, not too much. Read More
  • Travel

    Travel

    See All Travel
    Des Moines' Hottest Food Neighborhoods You Need to Know About

    Des Moines' Hottest Food Neighborhoods You Need to Know About

    Korean egg sandwiches, Australian baked goods,Southeast Asian bing bing wraps—here’s an in-the-know guide to eating your way through this culinary capital.
    • Weekend Getaways
    • Family Travel
    • Around the Region
    • Beyond the Region
    • Illinois
    • Indiana
    • Iowa
    • Kansas
    • Michigan
    • Minnesota
    • Missouri
    • Nebraska
    • North Dakota
    • Ohio
    • South Dakota
    • Wisconsin
    • Free Travel Info
  • Food

    Food

    See All Food
    The Delicate, Spongy Basic Crepe Recipe You Can Master at Home—Plus 4 Ways to Upgrade It

    The Delicate, Spongy Basic Crepe Recipe You Can Master at Home—Plus 4 Ways to Upgrade It

    With encouragement from the owner of a Kansas City, Missouri, creperie, you’ll perfect these delicate pancakes in no time.
    • Comfort Foods
    • Desserts & Baking
    • Breakfast
    • Quick & Easy
    • Chicken
    • Soups & Stews
    • Midwest Favorites
    • Fruits & Vegetables
    • Fish
    • Grilling
  • Home

    Home

    See All Home
    Boost Your Home's Curb Appeal With These Ideas from a Minneapolis Makeover

    Boost Your Home's Curb Appeal With These Ideas from a Minneapolis Makeover

    With fresh paint and a terraced slope, a Minneapolis stucco goes from mousy to magnetic.
    • Quick Decorating
    • Featured Homes
    • Organizing & Storage
    • Outdoor Living
    • Seasonal Decorating
    • Room Decorating
  • Garden

    Garden

    See All Garden
    How to Plant a Rain Garden

    How to Plant a Rain Garden

    Turn a wet trouble spot into a lush and Earth-friendly oasis by capturing the rain.
    • Container Gardens
    • Flowers
    • Featured Gardens
    • Midwest Gardening Calendar
    • Garden Ideas & Inspiration
  • Holidays

    Holidays

    See All Holidays
    Brighten Your Front Door with This Colorful Easter Egg Wreath

    Brighten Your Front Door with This Colorful Easter Egg Wreath

    For this do-it-yourself spring wreath, we bundled inexpensive paper-mache eggs in fuzzy, vibrant yarn.
    • Easter
    • July 4th
    • Thanksgiving
    • Halloween
    • Christmas
    • Valentine's Day
  • Videos

    Videos

    See All Videos
    Chef Jorge Guzmán's Step-by-Step Guide to Making Tamales

    Chef Jorge Guzmán's Step-by-Step Guide to Making Tamales

    Tamales are a project, but many hands—even tiny ones—make lighter work.
    • Brighten Your Front Door with This Colorful Easter Egg Wreath
    • These DIY Orange Beeswax Candles Will Make Your Home Smell Amazing
    • Ring in the New Year with This Glam Star Garland
    • How to Make a Modern Fruit Cake Box
    • An Eye-Catching Oval Treat Box You Can Make
    • Make a Colorful Paper Raffia Wreath to Welcome Fall
    • How to Make a Dried Floral Arrangement
    • How to Make an Easy Pina Colada
    • How to Make an Amazing Pavlova
    • How to Make Pumpkin-Spice Icebox Cake
    • How to Make an All-Butter Pie Crust
    • DIY Pistachio Wheat Stalks for Fall Decorating
  • current issue

    current issue

    See All current issue
    About Us

    About Us

    • March/April 2022 Issue
    • January/February 2022 Issue
    • November/December 2021 Issue
    • September/October 2021 Issue
    • July/August 2021 Issue
    • May/June 2021 Issue
    • Summer 2022 Issue
    • Fall 2022 Issue
    • Winter 2022 Issue
  • Sweepstakes
  • Road Rally
  • About Us

Profile Menu

Subscribe this link opens in a new tab
Your Account

Account

  • Join Now
  • Newsletters
  • Email Preferences
  • Manage Your Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Help
  • Logout

More

  • Win Your Dream Getaway!
  • Give a Gift Subscription
  • Magazine Issues
  • Destinations
Login
Sweepstakes

Follow Us

  1. Midwest Living
  2. Holidays & Entertaining
  3. Halloween
  4. Easy No-Carve Pumpkin Decorating

Easy No-Carve Pumpkin Decorating

By The editors of MidwestLiving.com Updated June 05, 2021
Skip gallery slides
Pin
No-carve decorating
Credit: Adam Albright

Dress up your pumpkins without the mess of carving with our ideas for painted, glued and draped decorations.

Start Slideshow

1 of 25

Pin
Facebook Tweet Email Send Text Message

Glitter and glam

No-carve decorating
Credit: Adam Albright

Gold shimmers, faux black butterflies and metallic paint transform these pumpkins into eye-catching designs with no carving.

Black and white pumpkins with gold: Apply crafts paint for the background; let dry. Brush or dab on a shiny gold paint for accents. 

Gold pumpkin: Spray-paint a pumpkin with metallic gold. When dry, use adhesive dots to attach black crafts butterflies. (Look for butterflies online or at your local crafts store.) 

1 of 25

Advertisement
Advertisement

2 of 25

Pin
Facebook Tweet Email Send Text Message

Leafy look

Leafy look

For this easy fall craft, glue your favorite dried leaves on pumpkins in a variety of patterns.

2 of 25

3 of 25

Pin
Facebook Tweet Email Send Text Message

Pumpkin spiders

Spider Pumpkin decorating
Credit: David Prince

Paint small or mini pumpkins with black acrylic paint— or leave some unpainted if desired. Using a metal skewer or nail, make four small punctures above the midline on each side of the pumpkin and insert black pipe cleaners. Bend the pipe cleaners to create the look of knee joints and feet. Glue on googly eyes, and you're done! 

3 of 25

Advertisement

4 of 25

Pin
Facebook Tweet Email Send Text Message

Black-and-orange beauties

Black-and-orange beauties

Give a tabletop or mantel some Halloween flair with these stylish pumpkins. For the glitter stripes, glue sequin strips on pumpkins. To get the striated effect, spray pumpkins with glossy black paint (protect stems with tape). When dry, scratch vertical or hotizontal lines in the paint with a paring knife or key.

4 of 25

5 of 25

Pin
Facebook Tweet Email Send Text Message

Spooky string

Spooky String

Jazz up painted pumpkins using crafts nails and string for a spooky spiderweb effect.

5 of 25

6 of 25

Pin
Facebook Tweet Email Send Text Message

Lace works

Lace works

Doilies used as stencils give a lacy look to orange pumpkins in the entry.

6 of 25

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

7 of 25

Pin
Facebook Tweet Email Send Text Message

Keyed pumpkins

Keyed pumpkins

Use antique keys (secured with long straight pins) to create seasonal messages, such as fall or eek, on your pumpkins for an easy DIY fall decoration.

7 of 25

8 of 25

Pin
Facebook Tweet Email Send Text Message

Fanciful pumpkins

Fanciful pumpkins
Credit: Jason Donnelly.

Fluttering butterflies alight on pumpkins in this attractive fall centerpiece. For this easy fall craft, we spray-painted faux butterflies from a crafts store all black for a sophisticated look and then trimmed their wires to press into the pumpkins' skin. A harlequinlike mask adds whimsy.

8 of 25

9 of 25

Pin
Facebook Tweet Email Send Text Message

Gold-leaf pumpkin

Gold-leaf pumpkin

This white-and-gold arrangement dresses up a porch or mantel. Coat real or crafts-store leaves with gold spray paint, then glue them to small white pumpkins (look for varieties such as 'Lumina' or Cotton Candy at your local farmers market or pumpkin patch). Paint small orange gourds gold to match the color scheme.

9 of 25

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

10 of 25

Pin
Facebook Tweet Email Send Text Message

Stenciled still lifes

Stenciled still lifes

Use leaf-shape stencils create to beautiful pumpkin displays. Wash and dry the pumpkins before painting. If overlapping stencil designs, make sure the first layer of paint is completely dry before you paint the next layer.

10 of 25

11 of 25

Pin
Facebook Tweet Email Send Text Message

Caterpillar pumpkins

Caterpillar pumpkins

A curving line of green-painted pumpkins forms a fun caterpillar. Decorate painted pumpkins with adhesive-felt dots, and add googly eyes and pipe cleaner antennae to the head.

11 of 25

12 of 25

Pin
Facebook Tweet Email Send Text Message

Owl mask

Owl mask

Make an owl for a woodland scene with two stacked pumpkins and a mask. Resources Animal Faces: 15 Punch-Out Masks by Pierre-Marie Valat; check on Amazon for availability.

12 of 25

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

13 of 25

Pin
Facebook Tweet Email Send Text Message

Plaid pumpkin

Plaid pumpkin

A pretty painted plaid design gives this pumpkin a rustic look.

13 of 25

14 of 25

Pin
Facebook Tweet Email Send Text Message

That's a wrap

Wrapped pumpkins

Wrapping pumpkins and gourds in yarn gives them a modern, stylish feel.For pumpkins with just yarn, hot-glue ends of yarn and wrap pumpkins in shades desired. For pumpkin with Xs, use a yarn needle and accent yarn to make multiple cross-stich Xs and tuck in the tails. For burlap-wrapped pumpkin, cut a burlap band to fit around pumpkin, pull a few threads to fray the long edges, and use yarn and a yarn needle to make stitches along the length of burlap. Wrap finished piece around pumpkin and hot-glue in place.

14 of 25

15 of 25

Pin
Facebook Tweet Email Send Text Message

Go batty

Go batty

Painted bats (or bats cut from black construction paper) look spooky on your doorstep or inside.

15 of 25

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

16 of 25

Pin
Facebook Tweet Email Send Text Message

Painted squirrel

Painted squirrel

Use our pattern to trace the outline of this bushy-tailed woodland creature, then fill in the shape with black acrylic paint.

16 of 25

17 of 25

Pin
Facebook Tweet Email Send Text Message

Button boo

Button boo

A jarful of black buttons and a bottle of glue can give any pumpkin a ghostly message. Finish with a bow on top.

17 of 25

18 of 25

Pin
Facebook Tweet Email Send Text Message

Painted leaf art

Painted leaf art

Painted designs put the spotlight on your unusual squash or pumpkin cultivars, like this striking blue-green Jarrahdale pumpkin. Start with one that is clean and dry. Lightly sand the surface and apply paint sealer to prevent flaking. Create a design with stencils and acrylic paint, such as the leaf stencil and orange and white paints used here, then finish with a top-coat sealer.

18 of 25

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

19 of 25

Pin
Facebook Tweet Email Send Text Message

Candy corn pumpkins

Candy corn pumpkins

Create these cute, almost-good-enough-to-eat pumpkins with spray paint.

19 of 25

20 of 25

Pin
Facebook Tweet Email Send Text Message

Light touch

Light touch

Just a bit of pattern enhances this white 'Lumina' pumpkin; simple black accents look great on orange pumpkins, too.

20 of 25

21 of 25

Pin
Facebook Tweet Email Send Text Message

Painted mice

Painted mice

Black- or orange-painted mice skitter across pumpkins.

21 of 25

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

22 of 25

Pin
Facebook Tweet Email Send Text Message

Creepy mantel

Creepy mantel

We can't resist a little skin-crawling fun! Plastic spiders wander over pumpkins draped in ripped cheesecloth. "Hairy" cording feels a bit like a spider's trail on another. Add a faux crow, and you've set the proper spooky mood for Halloween.

22 of 25

23 of 25

Pin
Facebook Tweet Email Send Text Message

Raven's place

Raven's place

A raven in a cage sparkling with glued-on and dangling jewels lends an eerie tone to this white pumpkin. We used adhesive-backed vinyl to create the scene, but paint would work, too.

23 of 25

24 of 25

Pin
Facebook Tweet Email Send Text Message

Cool cat

Cool cat

A painted black cat chases three mice on pumpkins lined up atop an outdoor wall. Get shapes from clipartguide.com or another website. Print, cut out, and tape to pumpkin. Trace around shape, remove paper, then paint inside your lines.

24 of 25

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

25 of 25

Pin
Facebook Tweet Email Send Text Message

Construction zone

Construction zone

We created faces with eyes, mouths, noses and eyebrows cut from black construction paper and glued to pumpkins. If you want to make a whole scene, use construction paper to make a fence, moon and crows behind your pumpkins; attach with removable double-side tape or temporary adhesive that won't damage your walls.

25 of 25

Replay gallery

Share the Gallery

Pinterest Facebook

Up Next

By The editors of MidwestLiving.com

    Share the Gallery

    Pinterest Facebook
    Trending Videos
    Advertisement
    Skip slide summaries

    Everything in This Slideshow

    Advertisement

    View All

    1 of 25 Glitter and glam
    2 of 25 Leafy look
    3 of 25 Pumpkin spiders
    4 of 25 Black-and-orange beauties
    5 of 25 Spooky string
    6 of 25 Lace works
    7 of 25 Keyed pumpkins
    8 of 25 Fanciful pumpkins
    9 of 25 Gold-leaf pumpkin
    10 of 25 Stenciled still lifes
    11 of 25 Caterpillar pumpkins
    12 of 25 Owl mask
    13 of 25 Plaid pumpkin
    14 of 25 That's a wrap
    15 of 25 Go batty
    16 of 25 Painted squirrel
    17 of 25 Button boo
    18 of 25 Painted leaf art
    19 of 25 Candy corn pumpkins
    20 of 25 Light touch
    21 of 25 Painted mice
    22 of 25 Creepy mantel
    23 of 25 Raven's place
    24 of 25 Cool cat
    25 of 25 Construction zone

    Share & More

    Facebook Tweet Email Send Text Message
    Midwest Living

    Magazines & More

    Learn More

    • Contact Us
    • Help
    • Free Newsletters this link opens in a new tab
    • Subscribe this link opens in a new tab
    • Customer Service this link opens in a new tab
    • Renew this link opens in a new tab
    • Advertise this link opens in a new tab
    • Affiliate Program
    • Free Travel Info this link opens in a new tab
    • Special Promotions this link opens in a new tab
    • Sweepstakes this link opens in a new tab
    • Video
    • Home Advisor this link opens in a new tab

    Connect

    Subscribe to Our Newsletter
    Sign Up
    MeredithMidwest Living is part of the Meredith Home Group. © Copyright 2023 Meredith Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policythis link opens in a new tab Terms of Servicethis link opens in a new tab Ad Choicesthis link opens in a new tab California Do Not Sellthis link opens a modal window Web Accessibilitythis link opens in a new tab
    © Copyright Midwest Living. All rights reserved. Printed from https://www.midwestliving.com

    Sign in

    View image

    Easy No-Carve Pumpkin Decorating
    this link is to an external site that may or may not meet accessibility guidelines.