Spooky Pumpkin Cauldron by Hilary Kanwischer

Halloween Rocks! I absolutely adore all things Halloween, it's by far one of my most favorite holidays. I have always wanted to create a frightfully big, but sweet, pumpkin centerpiece using some of the collections from SVG Cuts, and I couldn't be happier with the result of my Spooky Pumpkin Cauldron. This is one of my most favorite projects, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed creating it.

SVG Collections Used

Haunted Forest SVG Kit
Party on Elm Street SVG Kit
Toil and Trouble SVG Kit
Spooky Silhouettes SVG Collection

Supplies Used

• wooden pedestal
• matte black spraypaint
• black cardstock
• white cardstock
• orange cardstock
• pattern papers, (MME & DCWV)
• vellum
• polka dot ribbon
• black brads
• spanish moss
• vintage silver tinsel rope
• rusty bell
• black ric-rac
• orange button
• small length of black DMC floss
• Black Soot distressing ink
• floral foam
• wooden dowel, (optional)
• battery operated tea lights
• hot glue
• Tombow PowerBond Adhesive

Dimensions

Instructions

Note: This project stands about 17 inches high and about 7 inches wide, just to give you an idea of how big the final project will be.

1. To start this project, first spray paint a wooden pedestal with matte black spray paint, then set aside to dry.
2. Begin by first assembling the Cauldron. Cut out the SVG files from the "Party on Elm Street" collection, per the measurements above. I did not change the size of the cauldron, it's perfectly sized for your project. Lay out all the pieces, making sure you used cardstock for the base of the cauldron and pattern paper for the tops. Form your pieces, by bending and folding at the scored lines, then adhere the pieces of the base together, (I used hot glue for my assembly). Continue assembling until the cauldron is completely adhered, then adhere it to the bottom piece, this will keep the shape of the cauldron. Next, adhere your pattern pieces onto the top, adhering all the way around. At the top of the cauldron, fold the top pieces inward and adhere down, this will give your cauldron a nice finished look. Finally, wrap a piece of ribbon around the cauldron top and tie into a bow on the left side. Set the cauldron aside.
3. Now let's work on the Jack O'Lantern. Cut out the pieces to the Jack O'Lantern using the "Haunted Forest" collection, using orange cardstock for the base and pattern paper for the tops. I did not change the size of the Jack O'Lantern, it's the perfect size for this project. Several of the base pieces are numbered 1, 2, 3 & 4, for the front of the Jack O'Lantern so be sure you keep those pieces together while adhering your panels together. Next, adhere the pattern pieces to the top of the Jack O'Lantern using a good, strong permanent adhesive. Adhere the pumpkin onto the orange base, then adhere the smaller base to the inside of the pumpkin. Cut out small miscellaneous pieces of vellum and adhere around the face of the pumpkin on the inside.
4. For the Jack O'Lantern's hat, cut out the files using black cardstock for the base and pattern papers for the tops. Again, I did not change the size of the hat. Assemble the hat together by adhering the panels, and the rim, then adhere the pattern paper, continuing all the way around. To finish the hat, adhere the two pieces for the brim, then secure by placing the brim over the tabbed pieces that are folded out. Next, finish your hat with a trim of vintage silver tinsel and black ric-rac ribbon. Adhere a rusted bell to the top of the hat, then cut out the flower files, and assemble together by layering the flowers on top of each other, and finish with a button tied with black floss. Adhere the flower to the hat using hot glue.
5. For the smaller embellishing pieces, first open up the "Toil and Trouble" collection, and using the label from the small apothecary jar, cut out the files using the sizes above. I did not change the size of the label, it is already the perfect size for the cauldron. Cut out all the pieces, bottom, middle and top along with the letters. For the black shadow pieces, behind the orange letters, I first "ungrouped" and removed the remaining files, because I only wanted to cut out the word "Poison". I did not change the size of the font, just singled the word out. Assemble the banner, layering the orange bottom, the black middle and the white top, then adhere the letters. I added 4 black brads to the corners. For the ghosts, open up the "Spooky Silhouettes" collection and resize Ghost #1 and Ghost #2 to the sizes shown above, and cut those out using white cardstock. Cut out the Fence using black cardstock using the size above, I did not resize the fence. Lastly, for the skeleton hand, I did resize this to the dimensions listed above, cutting 2 hands using black cardstock, (using a shadow for the bottom hand and the cut out hand for the top), then using white cardstock, cut the bones out and adhere into the open spaces of the black cardstock.
6. Now lets assemble the entire project. First set your painted pedestal down in front of your. Then using floral foam, cut a small piece of foam diagonally, about 1/2" forming a wedge, cutting from one side to the other. Lay the floral foam down on top of the pedestal, and lay your cauldron down on the wedge. Once you have the cauldron tilted to your liking, adhere the foam down onto the pedestal using hot glue. Next, adhere your cauldron down on top of the foam. The next step is to cut a large enough piece of floral foam to fit inside the cauldron and to create a wedge again at the top for the pumpkin to sit tilted in the other direction. Once you have your foam cut to the desired shape and height, adhere the foam to the cauldron. Then I added a wooden dowel for extra support, though you can certainly skip this step if need be. I think the foam is enough, but wanted to mention it since I included one in my project. Okay, once your foam is adhered to the cauldron, adhere the Jack O'Lantern to the wedged foam using hot glue.
7. Once your cauldron and Jack O'Lantern have been adhered, it's time to embellish. Start by adhering spanish moss to pedestal, and to the top of the cauldron, making it look as if it were spilling out and flowing over. Next, adhere the "Poison" label to the front of the cauldron using a bead of hot glue. For the skeleton hand, roll the hand to give it life, then adhere to the spanish moss and floral foam using hot glue, giving it the appearance of coming out of the cauldron. Adhere your ghosts to the back of your cauldron and finally adhere the fence on the right side at the bottom near the pedestal.
8. Finally, it's time for some battery operated tea lights, to bring your Jack O'Lantern to life. Turn them on, place them into the pumpkin then place the hat back on the pumpkin and VOILA! Admire your creation and enjoy it for years to come.

Design Tips

Hilary Kanwischer - Guest Designer

• I am a true believer in hot glue. I use it for most every project and it's my adhesive of choice when adhering the big sections together.
• Using a round object to wrap your skeleton hand around, gives it a realistic look of a hand emerging from the cauldron, as well as life to the pedals on the flowers on Jack's hat.
• Soften up a project by adding a little ribbon, such as the black and white polka dot ribbon I used for the cauldron and the black ric rac I used for the hat.

I really enjoyed creating this project and watching it come to life right in front of me. I cannot wait to display this come Halloween and I hope I've inspired you to create one of your own.