DIY Log Pumpkin a Different Style Rustic Wood Pumpkin

Are you looking for a unique and fun Fall pumpkin craft? You can make this inexpensive DIY wooden pumpkin using a log or piece of firewood, a mason jar ring, and scrap fabric. Every year I look for autumn decor that can be made on the cheap without looking that way. Making a couple of cute wooden pumpkins is a great way to spend some time being creative while still saving for Christmas.

Thankfully, Fall decor lends itself to rustic woods and natural elements, making finding inexpensive supplies as easy as taking a walk in the woods or digging through a wood scrap pile.

The inspiration for this log pumpkin came from helping Hubs split and stack wood, he found a cottonwood log in the mix and I hopped on it. Check out the gorgeous deep ridges in the bark, Fall decor is always about adding texture, and this log pumpkin certainly has lots of that. Mature cottonwood tree bark is rougher with a deeply rugged texture. The bark is deeply furrowed with beautiful pronounced rivers and valleys it can have some scaly or flaky spots but not like you see with spruce bark for example. So when I saw the piece of cottonwood I snagged it up. The second type of wood bark I love decorating for Fall with is white birch bark.

White birch bark can be quite smooth and is often a gorgeous white color, making it distinctive and different. The bark has a thin text that peels off naturally in thin strips. It has dark shiny horizontal lines, that contrast with the white bark making it beautiful for decorating. I wrote a whole post about collecting white birch bark you can read it here.

These rustic wooden pumpkins are made from a cottonwood log, but you can do something similar with a birch log or even a scrap piece of fence post.

How to Make a DIY Wooden Pumpkin

Supplies and Materials Needed

The Wood Pumpkin Supplies

Mason Jar Rag Flower and Embellishments

This wooden pumpkin DIY is rustic and I purposely created ultra-feminine homespun decor embellishments on top, to add contrast. You can use any colors of fabric you have on hand that match your fall decor color scheme. My theme uses non-traditional colors in soft greens browns and creams. But traditional oranges, rusts, brown, bright neutral whites, and grain sack fabric, will work well too. If you don’t have scrap fabric I highly suggest a trip to Dollar Tree and grab two bundles of coordinating fabric in their craft section.

The mason jar ring and lid don’t need to be new, but if you don’t have them grab a mason jar from Dollar Tree and use the top.

If you’re using a 6 by 6 post for this you can stain it, add color instead of texture using orange paint, white paint, or brown paint, or simply varathane it like I did the cottonwood log. It all depends on the look you want.

For the remaining embellishments try and use what you already have on hand, I managed to make these pumpkins for free as everything came from my stash, and I didn’t want to drive 30 miles to the nearest Dollar Tree. I didn’t have a wired ribbon, so I cut burlap ribbon and used that, I picked the grain stalks, and you could use small faux flowers.

Enough talking about all the various supply possibilities and let’s get to the step-by-step tutorial. I will show you how to make the same DIY wooden pumpkin using a log exactly like these.

Instructions for DIY Wood Pumpkins

Hubs cut the one cottonwood log into two 8-inch thick wood slices for me. You can use a large blade miter saw, or a power saw to do this. Then using the drill and a one-inch drill bit he carved out a 1/2 inch deep hole in the top of each pumpkin. The round log cut so that it’s almost as tall as it is wide provides the basic pumpkin shape you need. The pumpkin stem does the rest.

Make the Stem of the Pumpkin

To make the pumpkin stems grab a tree branch about an inch in circumference and carefully peel of the bark using a box cutter. To avoid getting cut gloves and push the box cutter away from yourself. Once peeled cut the branch into 2-inch pieces, one for each pumpkin. I used a small hand saw for this.

Once most of the bark is removed from the pumpkin stems, add wood glue into the predrilled hole. Place the pumpkin stem into the hole and hammer into place. Let dry.

Finish the Scrap Wood Pumpkins

These are easy wood pumpkins to finish and decorate, as they aren’t painted at all to allow the beautiful bark to show. Using a sander with 120 grit sandpaper sand the rough edges from the the top of the pumpkin and the stem. Then sand the bottom of the bottom of each pumpkin body to remove all the slivers. To clean the natural bark use a cloth and gently rub the outside to get rid of any dirt clumps, and icky spiderwebs it may have from being outside forever.

Once the pumpkin body is finished use the sander to remove as much of the remaining bark as possible from the stems.

Seal with Varathane

I considered staining the top of my DIY wooden pumpkins but decided to skip it as most of the top will be covered with the mason jar fabric flower. So we will skip the stain and go straight into adding varathane. Start at the top of the pumpkin and use a clean paintbrush or sponge brush, give the entire pumpkin a thick coat of glossy Varethane.

You need to add a thick layer of Varethane to the bark, beginning by brushing it into all the deep rivers in the bark. You will find that the Varethane bubbles and is quite purplish. Once all the bark is covered, clean the brush or sponge off with a cloth. Then spread and work the Varethane into the bark. Keep doing this until every bit of the bark is covered and there is minimal frothy purply Varethane left. Set it aside to dry in the sunshine for at least a couple of hours. Every half hour or so I went out and checked my bark. It eventually dried clear and glossy just the way I wanted it.

Because these easy wooden pumpkins are so very rustic I spent a few minutes making a mason jar fabric flower to embellish mine.

Make the Mason Jar Fabric Flower.

I recently refinished a vintage cheesebox and styled it with a quick fabric flower and wreath. So I used more of the same fabric leftovers to make the mason jar lid flowers for the pumpkin. There are all kinds of mason jar lid flowers on Pinterest right now, not sure who first created them but I decided to make some for these pumpkins.

Step One – Cut the Fabric

Iron the fabric first.

Cut the fabric into one piece 9 by 24 inches, then using a wheel and cutting mat cut the fabric into 1 inch-wide strips each 9 inches long.

Fold the second piece in half trace print the quick pattern and cut out two circles.

Step Two – Tie Fabric Strips to Mason Jar Ring

Take each strip, fold it in half, wrong sides together. Pass the looped end through the topside of the ring, Then open the loop and pass the cut ends through the loop. Pull tight. You want to do it this way so the knots are on the top side. Repeat with the remaining fabric strips, I used 22 strips on my flower. Pull the rags ties upwards.

Step 3 – Make the Center

Place one circle wrong side up cover it with the mason jar lid and a small amount of fiberfill. Glue the fiberfill in place, then run a thin circle of hot glue around the outside edge of the circle. Cover with the second piece of fabric. press to seat and let it cool.

Step 4 – Make the Flower

The fabric ties make the ring smaller than it was initially, and the fabric circle makes the ring a bit larger than it was originally. Because of this snug fit, I didn’t bother gluing mine together. Just place the lid inside the ring and push around the outer side until it fits inside. The lid may bow out a bit when you push it in, but the stuffing keeps the top smooth.

Step 5 – Add a Hanger

Tie a small piece of twine or ribbon to the flower, long enough you can use it to tie the fabric flower to the stem of the pumpkin.

Decorating the Top of the Pumpkin

You can use whatever embellishments you have on hand. My stash is getting pretty small so I did some digging to find my embellishments. I used a cut burlap ribbon, went and picked some fresh wheat, and the fabric flower. You could add a Dollar Store burlap pumpkin leaf as well.

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Other Wooden Pumpkin Decor Ideas for Fall

I very much enjoy making scrap wood pumpkins of all kinds. Here are several more Wooden Pumpkin Ideas I have created. There are so many different and easy diy scrap wood pumpkin ideas online, but here are some of mine.