Painted gourds @ WBCL

First question "what is a gourd?" The answer is a little pumpkin-like ball that we grow and dry to paint on. The concept that these balls had been grown and even had seed in them seemed to impress some of the students. One of the gourds cracked open and had to be patched with brown paper and glue. All in all everyone had fun painting and decorating them and showing them off. A few of the participants got the long necked gourds when the supply of round ones was depleted.

The Family Arts & Crafts group meets at the Wells Branch Community Library every Wednesday night at 6 pm taught by Dianne Koehler. The program lets us turn donated or recyclable materials and imagination into great projects.

You may also want to take a look at the new Art & crafts database the library recently subscribed to for the patrons. Check  the library website for details. 

Getting ready for Pumpkin painting@wbcl

Taking a look at the Pumpkin Painting books and other websites always puts me in the mood. I found a few more pictures to love--Cheryl Horan's and ones by Rick Buziewicz and a few by Monica Konechne all on Ask.com and of course my favorite books and Better Housekeeping's website and on and on. Best of all, the DecoArt website has 40 great examples of painted pumpkins using the paint that has been donated to us. How cool is that!

I was able to find spiders, spider web, lots of great colors of paint, lots of yarns, fun foam for ears, eye patches and other add-ons and even a site for stencils although the kids have never needed them before. I am on the look-out for glow in the dark paint to finish the pumpkins with and make them even more fun. 

Of course some of them may need a hat or even a bat circling on a wire.

Only 12 more days until painting day.We'll be painting on October 23rd from 10 am until noon at the Wells Branch Community Library. This special event is partially sponsored by our local HEB and the Heart of Texas Tolers who graciously supply paint and other crafts items  for our programs.

Drawing and Painting Pumpkins @ WBCL

What a fun project and everyone was able to draw a grouping of pumpkins and gourds then paint them and take home a finished project. We used cardboard from shipping boxes as our surface and drew with chalk until we had the composition how we wanted it. Amazing that they we quick and great shapes.


Everyone used acrylic paints and a variety of techniques to complete the paintings. It did take a bit longer to complete but was well worth the effort.

The Drawing and Painting group meets at the Wells Branch Community Library every month on the 3rd Sunday and is taught by Dianne Koehler. The program lets teens and adults try out their artistic abilities.

You may also want to take a look at the new Art & crafts database the library recently subscribed to for the patrons. check  the library website for details.

Pumpkin Painting @WBCL

So the pumpkins were not huge but no one seemed to care as they carefully chose just the right pumpkin and just the right colors of paint. There was a bit of a line for some parts of this process--good things sometimes take time. Parents and kids and grandparents and kids were everywhere getting into the project. Some people relied on books for ideas for their designs, others just knew what they wanted to put on the pumpkin. Quite a few incorportated the spiders into the design. Lots used the paper shred to give them hair or a base.


We used a variety of magazines from the last few years--Family Circle, Woman's Day, Country Living, All you--and 3 books I have in my stash--Pumpkin Painting by Dan McKinney, Pumpkin Decorating by Vicki Rhodes, and Haunt your house for Halloween by Cindi Fuller. I picked them up at Michaels a few years back. I think newer ones are available. The library has quite a few fall craft books and stories but most are check out. I'll have some of them out on Wednesday night.


This is the 5th year the Wells Branch Community Library has sponsored this event. In previous years the pumpkins have been sponsored by local realtors--this year we were lucky to get pumpkins reasonably at the HEB with paints donated by the Heart of Texas Tolers and Wendy Watson.

Painting pumpkins 19 and counting

When I volunteered to teach a class on pumpkin painting this spring to my friend's 56ers group, I never thought I would be painting a roomful of pumpkins as well but there you are! They are raising funds for breast cancer treatment in south Texas so how could I say "NO!" I have only 2 left to finish and am ready to give it up until October. They have turned out really great ( if I can compliment my own work.)

Painted pot picks & pumpkins

I have been so busy finishing the classes for the kids at school and getting ready for summer classes at the library and camp. I am teaching a class on making plant markers from broken terracotta pots and have the samples done. They are so quick and easy and fun! The twisted wire accents and glass bugs just make them a whole lot more interesting. We have so many new plants at the library and in my garden that I will need a large pile of broken pots just for that.

This on the heels of teaching a pumpkin painting class for Sheryl's '56ers so they can do a fundraiser for breast cancer treatments. Here are a couple that I did for the club to use. I was so impressed with myself to get the puffy lips right!