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Rocks that have been painted to look like pumpkins
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5 from 3 votes

Pumpkin Painted Rocks

Turn round river rocks into adorable pumpkin painted rocks with this easy Halloween craft for kids and adults.
Prep Time45 minutes

Ingredients

  • Smooth River Rocks roundish if possible
  • Orange Paint acrylic craft paint or spray paint
  • Foam Paintbrush if using acrylic paint
  • Green and Black Paint pens
  • UltraFine Black Sharpie
  • Clear Sealer like Krylon Matte Finish, see note below

Instructions

  • Rinse the river rocks to remove any dust and allow to dry completely.
  • Paint rocks orange and allow to dry. You can paint both sides or just the side you plan to decorate. You can use acrylic craft paint and a foam paintbrush, although if you are making lots of rocks spray paint with be faster. Two coats may be needed.
    White rocks; paintbrush and orange paint; orange rocks
  • If desired, use the ultrafine Sharpie to add curved lines down the front of the pumpkin. See note for tip about using circle templates here.
    Rock painted orange with card stock circle templates and paint pens
  • To decorate the pumpkin rocks, start by using the green paint pen to draw a stem near the top of the rock. Add curled vines if desired.
    Rock painted orange with stem drawn and green paint pen
  • Use the black paint pen to draw a Jack-o-lantern face on the pumpkin. Search online for jack-o-lantern clip art to get ideas.
    Pumpkin painted rock and paint pen
  • When all the paint is fully dry, seal the pumpkin rocks with a clear spray.

Notes

To make it easy to draw curved lines on your rocks, you can cut some circles out of card stock in a variety of sizes from about 1.5 inches to 3.5 inches (use a circle cutter or trace various small circular object like lids). Then trace around the edge of a circle to get nicer lines than you'll be able to draw freehand. 
Please note that some sealant sprays can cause Sharpie to feather or bleed a little, so if you used a Sharpie to create lines you will want to test your spray on one rock first. I used Krylon Matte Finish spray and it did not cause the Sharpie to run. When sealing, use a couple very light coats instead of one heavy coat to help ensure the Sharpie lines stay crisp. If you have trouble with the Sharpie running, you can try using Krylon Kamar varnish (which is supposed to be safe for Sharpie art) or seal your rocks with Mod Podge instead.