Perfect Pumpkins or Pinterest Fail?

Do not be embarrassed by your failures, learn from them and start again.

Richard Branson

Summer is without a doubt my favourite season. I love the heat, the sunshine, the warm nights, swimming, I love everything about it. Fall is a close second for me because I love “sweata weatha,” fall clothes and the beautiful colours that come with the changing of the leaves. Now that October is upon us, I’ve been feeling inspired by all the fall décor that I see people posting on their social media accounts.

When the boys were young, I was a bit of a “Pinterest mom”. I made crafts all the time, special treats for their class to commemorate Valentine’s Day, Halloween, Christmas and other occasions, I made my own cards and churned my own butter.  OK, so not that last part. But I was super crafty.

I would post pictures of my creations online and people would be so complimentary with their comments. The odd person would muse about how did I possibly have the time to do all these things and the truth is that I loved doing it so I made the time. As the boys have gotten bigger, my craftiness has gone by the wayside. But once in a while, I find something that inspires me to get back to my crafty roots. That’s what happened with my painted pumpkin project.

I saw the idea posted by one of my favourite Instagram accounts and thought it looked easy enough. All I needed were some plastic dollar store pumpkins and some paint and I, too, could create a beautiful centrepiece. So off I went to Dollarama to find little plastic pumpkins, paint brushes and acrylic paint. I found the pumpkins and brushes but apparently COVID has inspired other people to channel their inner Martha Stewart so there was no paint to be found. This meant I needed to venture into risky territory. Yep…I had to go to Michael’s. Armed with a coupon and tunnel vision to avoid buying things that I would leave in the bag with plans to one day craft something amazing out of it, off I went.

I found the paint colours I was looking for and headed home to start my first project in what felt like forever. I got all set up at the kitchen table and started to work on my pumpkin painting.  Things started a little rough. The tips I was following were simple enough but there was also a bonus tip or as we crafters call it “a technique”. I soon discovered this was intended for more experienced crafters (as well as the Instagrammer’s 6 year old daughter but I digress). Mistakenly thinking that applied to me, I went all out. I put my paint on a paper plate and added baking soda to it so my pumpkin would come out with a concrete looking finish to it. Well, that did not happen. The pumpkin I was attempting to paint a beautiful soft gray turned out lumpy and bumpy with orange showing through everywhere. And I ruined a paintbrush.

Not to be discouraged, I decided to keep things simple and stick to strictly painting those little suckers in the blush pink and white colours I’d picked out. Things were going along ok when all of a sudden, a stem snapped off one of the pumpkins. But don’t worry, I was able to catch it. With my shirt. Like a wide receiver catching a long pass, I hugged that painted wet pumpkin right to me. And then promptly spiked it back onto the table as if I was celebrating a touchdown in the endzone.

Now the tutorial I watched recommended 2 coats of paint for best results. Lies. All lies. If there is 1 coat of paint on my pumpkins, there are at least 17. I just kept reapplying and reapplying until I couldn’t see the orange anymore. Guaranteed those pumpkins are fatter now than when I started because of all the paint I added to them.

The picture below is the finished product.  Are they perfect? Nope. In fact, they look good from far but far from good. But I think this is a perfect metaphor for so many other things. People post the highlight reels of their lives online and we fall into the trap of thinking they must be happier, more fit, better cooks or better parents than we are. But that’s because we haven’t seen their attempts at adding baking soda to their paint or catching a pumpkin wet with paint against their shirt. Chances are their kids were complaining about having their happy family photo taken. Or they burned the first round of delicious cookies they posted about. Or they are sad and lonely and just really need to hear some kind words from people and that need is met through Facebook likes or Instagram comments.

So after 17 coats of paint and 1 wardrobe change, will I post this picture online for people to see my attempt at craftiness? Yep. There’s nothing wrong with being proud of your efforts and enjoying a little positive feedback and acknowledgement from others. Will I attempt similar crafts again even if this one didn’t go exactly as I had envisioned? Also yep. I learned a thing or 2 with this attempt and it will help me to improve on my next go-round.  But next time, I will change my shirt first.