Fall Decorations

Shara and I enjoy decorating the bank foyers for the various holidays.  We are forever trying to come up with creative, yet inexpensive ways to brighten up our workplace.  Last year, Holliann's Great-Great Aunt Barbara gave us the idea to make pumpkins out of paper bags.  Please see the following close-up of the paper bag pumpkins -

This is a simple and super cost-effective craft project.  Supplies include paper bags of various sizes, paint (orange and green, or purple for us Credit Chicks!), brown construction paper, raffia, and newspaper.  Paint the outside of the paper bag orange, excluding the top two inches or so.  The top outside and inside of the bag should be painted green.  After the paint has dried, cut strips along the top part of the bag - each strip should be 3/4 inches wide and should run from the top of the bag to the bottom of the green portion.  Stuff your bag with newspaper, filling your pumpkin out to a nice size.  Use the raffia to tie off the bag just below the green paint.  Bend your green strips down and out around the raffia - these are the vine part of your pumpkin!  Finally, cut a strip of brown construction paper and roll it, inserting the construction paper into the hole left at the top of the pumpkin by your bent green strips.

**Note - We used newspaper to stuff our pumpkins because we wanted to reuse them year after year, but you can also fill the pumpkins with candy for a fun Halloween Treat!**

Here is our completed "Pumpkin Patch" in the foyer of the bank.  We put this up in September, adding Halloween elements in October and Thanksgiving elements in November.