If you love fall craft projects and love a look of calligraphy – but don’t feel like this is your wheelhouse, this faux calligraphy technique is a great way to decorate a pumpkin to add to your fall home decor! Learn how to make a DIY hand-lettered pumpkin that celebrates this popular favorite season! Easy hack for beginners!

Easy DIY Hand-Lettered Pumpkins for Fall Decor

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I’m probably an outlier when I say this, but I don’t love Halloween decor.

I love real pumpkins, I love the fall and harvest themes, but Halloween decor just isn’t my thing.

My sons love to carve pumpkins, which is fine and I can mix them into the whole pumpkin motif on our porch, but I’m always at a bit of a loss for what to do with my pumpkin that I get at the pumpkin patch.

This year, I did a lot of research on non-Halloween painted pumpkin ideas (because I’ve had enough of the pumpkin guts after my sons carve theirs) and decided I was going to give pumpkin painting a try.

As someone who creates printable wall art, I love all the signs and designs for each season.

This year, I just didn’t have any specific inspiration for a fall sign I could put on my pumpkin and I didn’t have the time to create one.

Luckily, I found a great option on Etsy for just a $1 and my pumpkin idea was born.

I’ve used this same technique on other projects like signs and mugs and have done previous posts on them, but wasn’t sure how well it would work on a pumpkin.

To be honest, this was a last minute project, so I just wanted something I could do quickly while my sons carved their pumpkins.

If I had more time, I might have used a larger faux pumpkin instead of a real one? I might have used white paint or spray paint to create a clean, uniform base?

But since I was using a white real pumpkin for this project, I just jumped right in and took a chance, hoping I could create some quick, easy, fall decor.

Well, it worked and I’m going to show you how I did created some cute pumpkin decor and had a lot of fun with my kids doing it!

Materials You’ll Need for a DIY Hand Lettered Painted Pumpkin

I’m going to share what I did as well as include some options I ‘**think** will work though I haven’t tried them personally. Next year, I plan to test them out and I’ll update this post as that time.

You’ll need:

Pumpkin large enough to draw on (real or faux)

Acrylic Paint or Spray Paint or Chalk Paint (if you want a solid color background besides pumpkin color)

Design of your choice printed on printer paper

Pencil (or white chalk if you’re using a dark colored pumpkin)

Ballpoint Pen

Tape (any tape is fine if you’re using a real pumpkin; painter’s tape is recommended for painted pumpkins)

Paint Pens or Sharpies (I used Sharpies because I couldn’t find my paint pen. I told you it was last minute! Chalk markers can be used for dark colors also)

Clear Spray Sealer

Where to Get Supplies

You can get supplies very inexpensively at in the craft section of Walmart, Hobby Lobby, or even some of them at the dollar store! You can also order from Amazon. No need to go to any kind of specialty craft store.

Instructions for DIY Hand-Lettered Pumpkins

(If you need to paint your pumpkin, do this first, making sure it dries between layers of paint. Don’t forget to paint the bottom of the pumpkin as well! Using faux white pumpkins can also help to save you a step!)

1| Choose your design & download/save

The first step is to decide on what you want to put on your pumpkin. If you don’t have a design in mind, I recommend searching Pinterest for ‘free fall printables’ or ‘free fall SVGs’.

That’s a great place to start. If you don’t find anything there, you can head to Etsy to see if there’s a design you want to purchase.

In my experience with using this technique, it’s easier to use designs with curvy letters or a pretty floral pattern rather than straight lines.

Keep in mind that you’ll be tracing and then coloring in with a paint marker. So, have that in mind as you make your choice.

If this is your first time doing a project like this, I suggest an easy hand lettering design.

You even can come up with your own design in Canva or Microsoft Word!

2| Print out your design (and resize if necessary)

Once you decide on your design and download it, it’s time to print it out.

There’s a chance that the design in it’s original form might be too big (or too small, if you have a large area on the pumpkin that needs filling). In that case, you might need to resize it.

I found it easier to reduce the size on my printer/copy machine than trying to resize a JPG or PDF of PNG.

It may take a few printouts to get the size that will fit on the pumpkin you chose.

For my pumpkin, which is probably a little smaller than medium sized, I had to reduce my design to 65% on my printer.

And, since you’re using it for tracing it, there’s no need to print it out in color (unless you want a color guide next to you. But you can also just use your phone and pull up the image as well).

3| Trim design and decide on the placement of your design

Once you’re nailed down the size and scale, scope out your pumpkin and choose the best spot to create your design.

I didn’t look over the entire pumpkin first, and my initial go was on a bumpy and chipped surface, and I had to do it again.

So, find the most flat surface of the pumpkin, the one without imperfections or bumps or chips. If you’re using a faux pumpkin, that should be much easier!

Then, consider how high or how low you want it on your pumpkin. Dead center might be perfect in relation to height, but I actually had to bring mine up just above center.

So, cut off the excess paper, hold the design to your pumpkin, and test it out a little first.

4| Color in the backside of the paper with pencil

Basically, what you’re doing is almost making your own carbon paper by coloring with pencil on the back of your design.

There’s no right or wrong way to do this.

Press down firmly with your pencil and color over the entire design on the back of the paper, making sure it accounts for the whole design on the other side.

If you are using a dark colored pumpkin, complete this step with white chalk instead of pencil.

5| Tape the top of your design to the pumpkin and trace/fill in the letters and images.

Once your design is taped down, you can start tracing the letters with a pen to create a template on the pumpkin that you’ll fill in later.

The lead from the pencil should leave an outline you’ll be able to go over with paint pens or sharpies.

If your letters are thick, you can trace the outline.

Or, you can just trace the letters and thicken them up with paint pens once you’re hand lettering on the pumpkin.

Or, you can trace the outer edge and then color in the entire letter to have a nice, thick lines on your pumpkin, which is what I did. I just found that the easiest thing to do.

Remember that you’re only taping the top of the piece of paper down, not every side because you may need to maneuver it a little as you work your way down the curved surface of the pumpkin.

Be sure to do a little check on the pumpkin to make sure that the impression of pencil lines is showing up. You may need to press a little harder or make your letters thicker if it’s not showing up clearly.

When you’re finished, you should have a solid pencil outline (or chalk outline) of your design.

6| Fill in your designs using paint pens or Sharpies (a chalk marker can also be used for dark pumpkins)

Now, you’re going to retrace and fill in the pencil outline you created on your pumpkin. You’ll want to make sure you think through your color choices before you commit the pen to the pumpkin!

I found Sharpies to be very easy to use since there wasn’t any kind of continuous paint flow that could come out too heavy; they were very easy to control.

Paint pens can be a little temperamental sometimes. Be sure to shake each color well first and do a test on a separate piece of paper to make sure the paint is flowing evenly.

If you have colors that will be touching each other or very intricate designs, be sure to let one paint color dry before adding in a second color (another reason why I like Sharpies!)

** I didn’t wash or prep my pumpkin first, and I found that the Sharpies felt a little ‘slippery’ on the pumpkin at different times. However, once I let it dry for a minute, I went over the Sharpie lines again and they were much more solid.

Washing my pumpkin first might have helped? But even with the slippery Sharpies, a second coat worked just fine.

7| Seal your pumpkin with clear spray

Full disclosure – this was an ‘end of the season’ project on a real pumpkin, so I knew I didn’t need my pumpkin to last more than a week or so. It was going on our porch, so rain wasn’t an issue.

If you want to protect your pumpkin from the elements or if it’s a faux pumpkin you want to use year after year, give it a coat of a clear spray sealer.

I always like to use matte, so it’s pretty much invisible. If you like a shine, try a glossy sheen.

The End Result: Adorable Homemade Pumpkins on Our Fall Porch

I thought this was such a fun way to decorate and paint a pumpkin! I loved that this didn’t take a long time to complete (maybe an hour-ish?), and I had something fun to do with my sons while they carved their pumpkins.

We put all of our pumpkin hoard together on the porch, and I love the fun mix of pumpkin babies!

If you love an easy project for fall, give this one a try! You can grab a printable & succinct version of the instructions below!

DIY Hand Lettered Painted Pumpkins

Materials

Pumpkin large enough to draw on (real or faux)
Paint of your choice (acrylic, chalk, spray - if you want a solid color background besides pumpkin color)
Design of your choice printed on printer paper
Pencil (or white chalk if you're using a dark colored pumpkin)
Ballpoint Pen
Tape (any is fine for real pumpkins; painter's tape is recommended for painted pumpkins)
Paint Pens or Sharpies (or chalk markers for a dark pumpkin)
Clear Spray Sealer

Instructions

1| Choose your design and download

2| Print out your design and resize if necessary

3| Trim and decide on the placement of your design. Choose the flattest, cleanest part of the pumpkin and check the height.

4| Color in the backside of your design with pencil (or chalk). Make sure every part of the design is colored - a large square, circle, or rectangle should do it!

5| Tape the top edge of your design to the pumpkin and trace/fill in the letters and images. Be sure to check that your design is transferring to the pumpkin.

6| Fill in your design on the pumpkin with paint pens or Sharpies (chalk markers can be used if you're using a dark pumpkin).

7| Seal your pumpkin with clear spray sealer.

Enjoy!

And if you love fall crafts, be sure to check out these amazing 40+ Fall DIY Projects and also these gorgeous DIY Fall Wreaths!

If you try this, I’d love to see how it turned out! Tag me on Instagram @100affections, and I’ll share in my stories!

Other thoughts? I’d love to hear them! Leave a comment below!