Welcome to Dollar Store Pumpkin makeover week for 2016! Every year I spend a week making over 5 dollar store pumpkins and this year is no exception.
Today’s project combines two things that I love: Dollar Store pumpkin makeovers and DIY challenges! I have joined with 13 other bloggers to use ROPE to create a fun home decor item. The other participants have some amazing projects too! You can check them out below.
Twelve on Main - DIY Rope Plate Charger
My Life From Home - DIY Sisal Rope Tassel Basket
Green with Decor - DIY Christmas Joy Sign
Our House Now A Home - Storage Box Using Rope and a Cardboard Box
A Shade of Teal - How to Make a Rope Lamp
Pocketful of Posies - DIY Boho Macrame Play Tent
Iris Nacole - Bohemian Wall Hanging
Kim Six Fix - Rope Wrapped Dollar Store Pumpkin
Vintage Romance Style - Easy DIY Barnwood Rope Name Sign
DIY Beautify - How to Make Pedestal Rope Bowl
Farmhouse 40 - DIY Upcycled Bar Stool
Knock It Off Kim - Fall Braided Rope and Burlap Wreath
C'Mon Get Crafty - DIY Rope Wire Basket
As for me.. I obviously have dollar store pumpkins on the brain, so I decided to use my challenge material in another pumpkin makeover.
The supplies for this project are pretty straight forward.
Dollar Store (or other faux pumpkin)
Glue Gun
Jute or Sisal Rope
Craft paint (the same color as the rope)
First you need to paint the entire pumpkin. This is so if you have gaps in the rope, you won’t see the fluorescent orange styrofoam.
I dry my pumpkins on skewers so they don’t stick to the table:
Next, starting at the top (but not including the stem) begin wrapping the pumpkin in rope, using hot glue to secure the rope:
Continue all the way to the bottom. 
After the pumpkin is covered, you can use a second length of rope to cover or create a stem.
You can see I just went around and around and tightened the circle at the top to give it a finished look.
Because I lost a lot of the scalloped features of the pumpkin, I wanted to add a curly vine-like stem to make it more obvious that this is a pumpkin.
And in order to give it a little contrast I painted the stem. (You could also paint the pumpkin itself, but I liked the natural look of the rope.)
So the rope would look more “stained" and less solid, I diluted the paint quite a bit.
This was the final result!
I love how it turned out, and even though it isn’t the most complicated project out there, it still is really cute! Perfect for the rustic farmhouse-y look that is so popular right now! 
