Rustic Pumpkin Scrap Wood Block | DIY Fall Decor

Who says you need fancy supplies to make beautiful seasonal décor? Today, we’re turning a simple scrap piece of wood into a super cute rustic pumpkin. This project is quick, beginner-friendly, and perfect for using up those extra craft bits you’ve been saving. With just a little paint, greenery, and embellishment, you can transform plain wood into a cozy farmhouse accent for fall!

Supplies You’ll Need:

• Scrap piece of wood (2×4 inch boards cut to shorter length like THIS work great!)

• Waverly Antique Wax 

• Wax candle

• Acrylic paint: Toasted Terracotta (or your favorite orange color)

• Painter’s tape

• Sanding block and sandpaper

• Small stick or wooden dowel (for pumpkin stem)

• Hot glue gun & glue sticks

• Greenery sprigs

• Fabric scraps 

• Mini pine cones 

• Mini faux flowers 

• Wire (for tendrils) – You can find the wire I used HERE (Affiliate Link) 

• Pencil or paintbrush handle (to curl tendrils)

Step 1: Stain the Wood

The first thing we need to do is stain the wood. I’m using Waverly Antique Wax. Cover it well to get all the sides, top, and the bottom. Once it’s good and covered, let it dry completely before moving on.

Step 2: Add Wax for Distressing

Next, we’re going to use a wax candle to add a slick surface between the stain and the paint. Any piece of wax will work—this is just the cheapest I’ve found. I’m rubbing it over the wood because later when we paint, this will help give that chippy, distressed look.

Step 3: Paint the Pumpkin Base

Next step, it’s time to paint over the block with orange acrylic paint. I love Toasted Terracotta from FolkArt. I get a lot of questions about this paint—it’s one of my favorites for fall projects and I like to get it at Hobby Lobby. Make sure the paint is completely dry before the next step.

Step 4: Create a Chippy Wood Look

Here’s where the fun happens! Take a piece of painter’s tape, stick it onto the painted block, and rip it off. That pulls up some of the paint off and gives the perfect farmhouse style “chippy” look. Then, go over everything lightly with a sanding block to add even more rustic charm.

Step 5: Add the Pumpkin Stem

For the stem, I just grabbed a little stick I had and glued it right at the top of the block. Add lots of hot glue so it was really secure. You don’t want that popping off later. A scrap piece of wooden dowel would work great for this too. 

Step 6: Greenery & Bow Time

Next, we’re going to decorate our pumpkin. Before gluing the bow, I realized I wanted some greenery under there. So I glued the greenery first, then got to work on the bow.

My Bowdabra comes in supper handy—it’s awesome for making fabric bows. I ripped a couple strips of fabric from a bundle I picked up at Hobby Lobby. Their fabric bundles are great because everything already matches, so you know it’ll look good together. I crisscrossed the strips, tied them with twine, fluffed them up, and glued the bow right at the base of the stem.

Step 7: Add Pine Cones & Flowers

I glued down three little pine cones in the center of my bow. These came from a big bag I found at Hobby Lobby. I like to keep these on hand for projects like this—they’re all about the same size and ready to go.

Then I tucked in a few faux flowers for some extra color—white ones and a few red ones, also from Hobby Lobby.

Step 8: Finish our Pumpkin with Wire Tendrils

Last step—we can use wire to make tendrils. Take a little piece of wire and wrap it around the stem. I used a paintbrush handle and wrapped the end of the wire around it to make the wire curly, then pulled the handle out. A pen or pencil would work great too for curling the wire. It’s a fun little detail to finish it off.

And that’s it! This scrap wood pumpkin turned out so stinkin’ cute.  I can’t wait to put it out with the rest of my fall décor. If you give this a try, let me know in the comments—I love hearing from you!

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