Today I am so excited to be sharing with you all how to make a Dollar Tree Pumpkin Crate Craft. I love finding affordable crafting supplies at my local Dollar Tree because they can be transformed into some of the cutest DIYs, such as this beautiful farmhouse style fall decoration. This creative fall craft was so much fun to make. I think this farmhouse inspired fall décor would look gorgeous sitting alongside your other fall decorations. You could even add some warm fairly lights to this fall décor to really make it pop!

Materials needed:

7 jumbo popsicle sticks
Wood Crate from Dollar Tree
Stain ( I used Minwax in Dark Walnut)
Old rag & gloves for staining
White chalk paint
paint brushes
Sanding block (Click here for sanding block, Affiliate link)
Foam block (Mine came from Dollar Tree)
Wood or Cardboard pumpkin (I pulled mine off of a Dollar Tree fall frame)
Orange & Black acrylic paints ( I like apple barrel paints by PLAID)
Brown craft paper
Twine ( Click here for twine, Affiliate link)
Ultra fine Sharpie marker
Flowers ( I bought mine at Walmart)
Wire cutters to cut flowers down
Hot glue gun & glue sticks
Stick from back yard
raffia or bow (Click here for raffia, Affiliate Link)

Step 1. Using a crate purchased from the Dollar Tree, we are first going to make a “fence” using jumbo popsicle sticks to secure onto the crate. You will need 7 jumbo popsicle sticks total for this project, but 5 will be used to make the front of our “fence.” Using Minwax stain in the color “dark walnut,” stain all 7 of the popsicle sticks, as well as the crate. Be sure to rub stain over the entire crate, except the inside of the crate as that will not be visible, and the popsicle sticks. *Always wear gloves and old clothes when staining projects and stain in a well-ventilated area. Allow to dry completely.

Step 2. Take 5 of your stained jumbo popsicle sticks and line them up beside each other vertically, but at alternating heights to make it look like a fence. Then, place the crate over top of the 5 jumbo popsicle sticks just to see where to trim the bottoms off of each of the 5 popsicle sticks for your “fence.” Once you have your “fence” to your liking, take the 6^th popsicle stick and lay it horizontally across your “fence” towards the bottom so that it is long enough to go across the “fence,” but it does not go over the edges of the “fence.” Then, trim it at both ends to get the right size, and secure it in place using hot glue. Then, take the 7^th jumbo stained popsicle stick and repeat this process, hot gluing the trimmed down 7^th popsicle stick down towards the top of the “fence.” This will secure the fence together. Allow to dry. Then, flip the fence over so that the 2 popsicle sticks used to hold the fence together are at the back and are not visible from the front of the fence.

Step 3. Using white chalk paint, paint the entire crate, you do not need to paint the inside of the crate as that will not be visible. Then, add a second coat of paint to the crate. Allow to dry.

Step 4. Using white chalk paint, paint the front, back, and sides of the “fence.” Apply a second coat of paint to the fence and allow to dry.

Step 5. Take a sanding block and sand over the fence, especially in between each popsicle stick. Sand over the crate as well.

Step 6. Hot glue the crate onto/over the bottom of the fence evenly, so that the crate/project will sit evenly on a surface. Allow to dry.

Step 7. Next, take some foam from the Dollar Tree, you will need to cut this down to size so it fits inside of the crate that’s now secured to the bottom front of the fence. Once your foam is cut to size, secure it down into the crate with hot glue.

Step 8. Using a pumpkin removed from a sign I bought at the Dollar Tree, sand first, and then paint the pumpkin an orange color. If you take a small dot of brown or black paint and mix in with the orange paint it will make a very rustic looking orange color. I had to apply 4 coats of paint to this pumpkin. Allow to dry. Then, cut the stem of the pumpkin off and use a real stick, cut down to size, for the stem. Hot glue the stick stem into place. Then, make a raffia bow and place it over top of the bottom of the stem using hot glue. Allow to dry. Trim away any excess raffia from the bow.

Step 9. Next, using faux fall flowers and greenery of your liking, I purchased mine form Wal-Mart, trim the stems down to size so they fit down into the foam inside of the crate, but still come up to about the middle of the “fence.” Arrange your greenery and flowers to your liking inside of the crate.

Step 10. Take some brown construction paper, fold it into 4, and then cut a small triangle out. This will give you 4 small “flags” to make a banner to hang across the top of your fence.

Step 11. Use an ulta-fine sharpie and spell out the word “Fall,” writing one letter of the word on each of the upside-down triangle/flag piece.

Step 12. Take a piece of twine, be sure to hold it across the top of your fence for sizing, and then trim it down so that it is long enough to go across the top part of the fence and go around to the back of the fence at each end. Next, hot glue each of the upside-down triangle flag pieces onto the twine spaced evenly apart so that the word “Fall” is spelled out. Then, hot glue this banner at each end to the back of the fence. Trim away any excess twine.

Step 13. Hot glue the pumpkin to the front center of the crate. Allow to dry. Then, add some Spanish Moss to the crate going around the stems of the flowers and greenery. Secure in place with hot glue. Allow to dry and enjoy!