This is a sponsored post. All opinions are my own.
Fall is the perfect season to cozy up your home with warm colors, glowing lights, and meaningful decorations. From banners that celebrate thankfulness to carved pumpkins that light the way for guests, it doesn’t take much to make your space feel festive and inviting.
This year, I created a simple fall garland that helps our family focus on gratitude and carved foam pumpkins that look beautiful day or night—all without the mess of traditional pumpkins. These DIY fall decorating ideas are easy, fun, and a wonderful way to welcome the season into your home.
Welcome Fall!
A simple fall banner can add warmth to your home. Draped over a mirror in our living room, this garland shows our thankfulness.
Fall Garland Supplies
I found everything I needed at Hobby Lobby.
- clothes pins
- leaf place cards
- acorn floral stem
- burlap pumpkin garland
- glue gun
- glue sticks
- brown Sharpie marker
How to make a fall garland
This fall garland is extra special! It will help our family to be grateful for all our blessings. Homemade acorn clips are a super cute way to clip our thankful place card leaves to the pumpkin garland.
Homemade Acorn Clips
First, carefully remove the acorns from the floral stem by gently pulling them from the plastic stems.
Next, hot glue an acorn to the clothespin.
Write something or someone you are thankful for on one of the leaf place cards.
Use the acorn clip to fasten the leaf to the pumpkin garland.
We are going to add a few leaves every few days until Thanksgiving. What a great way to focus on gratefulness this fall.
Pumpkin Luminaries
Along with our thankfulness banner we are decorating our home with glowing pumpkins this fall. Pumpkins are the heart of fall decorating, but carving real ones can be messy and short-lived. If you love the idea of adding pumpkins to your porch, mantel, or entryway but want something that lasts year after year, foam pumpkins are the perfect solution.
They’re lightweight, reusable, and easy to carve or customize to match any decorating style. In this step-by-step guide, I’ll show you exactly how to carve foam pumpkins—from playful jack-o’-lanterns to elegant designs—that will take your fall decorating to the next level. Best of all, these pumpkins will stay looking fabulous all season long (and beyond).
For years, we carved real pumpkins only to be disappointed when they rotted and had to be tossed away. Then we discovered foam pumpkins—often called “Funkins”—and they’ve been a game-changer for our fall decorating. These lightweight, durable pumpkins can be carved, painted, or customized, and the best part is they’ll last not just through the entire fall season but year after year.
Carving these foam pumpkins was a breeze. From knives to a Dremel too they really are easy to make. The Dremel tool easily cut away the orange skin.
This technique shows up great during the day when the pumpkin isn’t glowing, but still will have a glow at night.
More Foam Pumpkin Carving Ideas
Use a bit of washi tape to mark off the pumpkin to make the design even.
TIP: The funkins are painted so be sure to use painters tape or tape like washi tape that isn’t very sticky.
A drill makes quick work of carving the funkins.
Carefully remove the tape and you have a perfectly carved pumpkin.
An exacto knife also worked great for carving the foam pumpkins.
Add battery operated tea lights and you have an amazing display.
If you wants some more inspiration for pumpkin carving check out these pumpkin carving stencils. I also have some easy pumpkin carving ideas.
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Thanks! I was surprised at how easy the foam pumpkins were to carve! Don’t forget to grab your Hobby Lobby Coupon so you can give them a try!
That looks really great! How welcoming to a front porch