H is for Holidays: My Little Pony Inspired No-Carve Pumpkin
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Living in a house full of little girls, it should come as no surprise that I am quite well versed in My Little Pony everything. Ava insisted on having a My Little Pony birthday party this year and playtime often revolves around pony figures, pony play dough, pony coloring books or pony stories. Their favorite pony? Pinky Pie, of course! When the girls brought their pumpkins home from school last week for the annual family pumpkin decorating project, Ava insisted that we must make a My Little Pony pumpkin that looks like Pinky Pie. We made fun My Little Pony Inspired Stick Ponies out of pool noodles for her birthday party so I decided we could easily translate that project into pumpkin decorating. Are you ready? Here is what we came up with for a My Little Pony Inspired No-Carve Pumpkin:
Supplies
A small pumpkin
Paintbrush
Felt squares in coordinating colors
Pompom or tissue paper
Straight pins
Scissors
White cardstock
Markers in pink and black
Instructions
Carefully wash your pumpkin to remove any dirt and grime. Wipe with a soft cloth and let dry thoroughly.
The first step is to paint the pumpkin. Ava loves to paint so I gave her a brush and a small container of bright pink acrylic paint and let her go to town. As you can see the artist was very serious about her work! Make sure the pumpkin is thoroughly covered in paint including the stem if you wish.
I helped to remove any extra paint that was pooling around the stem or dripping off the side and we let the paint set up for a few minutes. Next we sprinkled the whole pumpkin with fine pink glitter. The paint was still tacky enough that the glitter stuck to it like a charm. This is a pretty messy endeavor. We placed the pumpkin into an old metal cake pan (that I use for crafting) before adding the glitter. This step made the glitter clean up quite easy. But let’s be real – I’m still finding glitter in the house, in my car, on my face… it is totally worth it in my opinion. Any way, let the glittered pumpkin dry thoroughly before adding the details.
Once your pumpkin is good and dry it is time to start adding the details. I used a dry paint brush to dust off any loose or excess glitter before adding anything. Next, I made simple ears using two shades of pink felt. You can find my full tutorial on how to make the felt ears HERE. It is super easy. I didn’t even sew across the bottom for these little ears – just cut, fold and pin on. I used sewing pins to attach the ears to the pumpkin. You could hot glue them on, but I find that pins hold things in place better.
Next I pinned a tissue paper pom pom to the top of the pumpkin next to the stem to create the mane. I pulled some pompom in front of one ear and let the rest hang down the back. Easy peasey. I found my tissue pom poms pre-made in a garland kit in the party section at Target. Below is a picture of what the package looks like. You can always use plastic pompom or cut your own strips of tissue paper to make the mane.
After the mane is attached to the pumpkin, it is time to add the eyes. I enlarged a My Little Pony graphic and isolated one eye. I then made a mirror image of the eye and printed the pair out on white cardstock using my home color printer. I am attaching my file for the pony eyes as a free printable that you can use if you would like. Be advised that these images are not perfect, but I thought they looked just fine once I cut them out. I attached the pair of eyes to the pumpkin using straight pins once again. Make sure you have the correct eye on each side of the face so that the eyelashes point out to the sides.
Download pony eyes printable HERE.
I drew the simple mouth on a piece of cardstock and cut it out using my scissors. I traced the edge of the mouth with a pink marker and added grid marks for teeth using a fine point black marker. How did I attach the mouth to the pumpkin you ask? You guessed it – straight pins on each side. I finished the pony by drawing some simple lines for nose and nostrils right on the painted surface with a black marker. And there you have it – a My Little Pony Inspired no-carve pumpkin that looks just like Pinky Pie.
Below is the image of Pinky Pie that I used for inspiration along with my finished product. No too bad, huh? The Pinky Pie image below is a fun free printable mask from Oh, My Fiesta! There is also a printable Twilight Sparkle mask on this site. Click HERE or on the image for the link.
Ava is over the moon about her Pinky Pie pumpkin. She can’t wait to bring it to school later this week to put on display until Halloween. She certainly keeps me on my toes. I can only imagine what theme she will have cooked up for next year. Or maybe we will still be into My Little Pony. Perhaps I should start working on a Rainbow Dash version now?!? I hope you found this tutorial on how to make a My Little Pony inspired no-carve pumpkin helpful. As always, I am open to feedback and questions in the comment section. Wishing you and your family a safe and fun Halloween season!
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