Well Hey there (Again)! Sooooo… When I posted this tutorial I was only featuring the fab REAL “Fauxpiaries” you see in EVERY SINGLE PIC below… but here is the deal.. I just made these with Foam FAUX pumpkins… and it was WAY easier!! Plus they will last FOREVER.. which is a total WIN in my book, ya’ll know I LOVE me some ‘Rinse and Repeat’ Decor. The process to make these with Faux pumpkins is relatively the same so, be sure to read through the Tute below to get the details – I have gone through and updated the instructions to also include using these foam pumpkins! Happy Martha Moment my Dears! 
Well HEY there fellow DIYer that is ready to implement some anger management via impaling cute innocent pumpkins! So glad you could make it! So trust me when I say that something is EASY.. because USUALLY it is. The only tricky bit here is needing a bit of elbow grease but you “got this”. Let’s get cracking, eh?
So you want to stack some pumpkins… Right On! I used fresh mini pumpkins in most of these pics but, you can most definitely do this with mini foam ones as well- the process will be similar and the end result obviously more enduring through the seasons. The Foam pumpkins in the first pic were WAY easier to impale so you will have to make the decision of what you want your end result to be.
Everything you need you will see in the picture above.
- Mini Pumpkins
- Small vase(s) or planter(s)
- Oasis (pre-soak)
- Dowels (I actually used the extra long Smores Sticks because I had a ton on hand and they are a good “weight”)
- Pruning Shears
- Cordless Drill with a bit slightly smaller than your dowel width
- Floral Moss
First thing’s first.. Since you already have pre-soaked your oasis you can cut it to fit your vessel of choice. This is an important step. I didn’t use 1 piece of oasis to fit… OH NOOOOOO….. I cut 4 different pieces to fit each planter. Why? Density of course. Standing over your sink, use some serious muscle to press each piece of wet oasis into the planter. I mean REALLY squish it down as hard as you possibly can. You are doing this over your sink because it will spew water everywhere. Keep repeating this process until your planter is packed full almost to the top rim of the planter. This is a great way to (what I did) use up all of those little random trim pieces of oasis that lie around after larger arrangements.
Next… You need to trim off the stem of the pumpkin that you are going to be using on the bottom of this little fauxpiary. This step is key for both the REAL and the FAUX pumpkins. They are stacking on top of eachther and the stem will just get in the way. The Faux Pumpkins are easy- you just pull out or using scissors cut off the little fake stem and you are good to go. For the real pumpkins this proved much harder. Those little stems are hard as a rock! But don’t fear- you don’t need to run completely flush with the pumpkin flesh. The natural indentation of the top of the pumpkin will cover the little nubbin’ left.
Once you are trimmed and ready you can get to stabbing and stacking’. The tom pumpkins are easy to run a skewer through. The little ones I used were from AC MOORE and literally it was as easy as a hot knife through butter. If you are using a dense foam you will probably have to use the same steps as for the real Topiary version and break out the drill. Personally, I love when I get to drill stuff. It’s cheaper than therapy. I digress. So, you are going to VERY CAREFULLY (you should probably be wearing safety glasses or something legal like that) put your pumpkin flat on a surface (scrap wood?) that you don’t care about drilling into some. VERY VERY VERY CAREFULLY you are going to place your drill bit onto the center point of the pumpkin and drill SLOWLY through all the way. I went from the underside once and from the top side once. The underside doesn’t let you see how close to the stem you are getting but for some reason it seemed easier (for me). Be sure to drill ALL THE WAY through this first pumpkin as your dowel will be going all the way through. You will want to repeat the process for the second pumpkin BUT this time you want to start from the underside and STOP before the drill comes out the stem side. This is your top pumpkin and will be visible so you don’t need a hole up there.
After you have your holes drilled you are ready to impale this poor baby. This is where the elbow grease comes in. The faux foam pumpkins (depending on how dense they are should be a lot easier to get your rod through- you may have to twist and turn a bit but it shouldn’t kill ya. The Real pumpkins are shockingly more dense inside than I had imagined and proved very difficult to get the dowel through easily. For the real pumpkins, this is a good thing though as they won’t warp quickly as they start to deteriorate. Which is probably why my little real ones were still alive and kicking after a few weeks.
For the real version- I found that at the end of the day the best way to get this dowel through the pumpkin was to turn the pumpkin stem side DOWN onto the scrap board and standing over the little beast push with all of my might while turning the dowel back and forth until it went all the way through. Since you are going to hit wood on the other side you THEN want to pick up what now looks like a pumpkin on a stick and (holding the pumpkin) carefully pound the bottom of the dowel on a hard flat surface until the top of the dowel pokes through the stem side. Once you get through it is a little easier to hand manipulate until as much as you need is showing through. FYI: You only need to expose enough of the dowel on top to get 3/4 of the way through the (next) top pumpkin.For the faux version- this didn’t take much effort. I twisted a little bit and BAM.. right through.
Once you get to this point you are going to repeat that step (upside-down on a flat surface) and carefully and forcefully press the dowel through the pre-drilled underside hole of your top pumpkin. remember- you are NOT going all the way through this one. Once the stick is where you need it to be push the pumpkins together towards the top pumpkin so that they are as close as possible to each other.
Now you can carefully insert the exposed bottom part of the dowel into the oasis filled planter. Right smack dab in the center. Unless you want a leaning tower of pumpkins DO NOT WIGGLE THE DOWEL AROUND. If you wiggle it then you are loosening the compacted oasis that is acting as your base. No Bueno my dears. Stick it in and leave it. You can even smoosh (it’s a word) the wet oasis right up close to the dowel to make sure it is secure.
Now you can carefully use your pretty bright green moss to fill the space in between the two pumpkins and to cover the oasis base layer. Soooo cute right? OH.. and I painted my stick blue.. you can paint yours, leave it au natural or even wrap it in twine or ribbon.. your call. Mine are blue this time.
So there ya go! A cute Pumpkin Fauxpiary! For the low little stacks I DID spear the Blue and White version due to the shape of the pumpkins and the fact that they wouldn’t behave without a little strong arming (aka a skewer) but the real ones stacked nicely with the moss in-between and no piercing to get them to behave.
Happy Stabbing!
XO
Pippa