DIY Summer Door Decor

Good Evening and Happy Saturday, y'all! Its seriously starting to feel like summer at my house (it reached 89 degrees today!), and when summer comes around, I like to have lots and lots of fun door decor for my front door (hey, I live in an HOA and painting 'Welcome Summer' on my garage door in springy colors is frowned upon... and usually you get fined).

In todays post, Im going to show you how to make this suuuuuuuper cute, fun, watermelon door hanger! Its easy,  I promise!

For this project you will need:

 Sewing Machine

A spool of thread in any color of your choosing (I went with boring beige)

Sewing or Fabric Scissors

1/2 Yard of Burlap

PolyFil Stuffing (Or newspaper if your going for that ultra green vibe)

White Acrylic Paint

Red or Pink Acrylic Paint

Green Acrylic Paint

Black Acrylic Paint

Wire

Wire Cutters 

Pliers 

A cute ribbon (totally optional)

A Large Paint Brush

A Baby (detail) Paint Brush

Something to squirt your paint on to 

Now that you have all your goodies, lets get started. You'll want to make a basic outline of your watermelon onto your burlap. The best way to do this is to fold the burlap in half (so you have 

two pieces when you cut) and draw from corner to corner. I didn't use a template, just my imagination (eep!). I ended up making it look like two bites had been taken out of it. It looked like this: 

After this step, make sure you have two parts! Sew them together! Neat thing about burlap is, its not side specific, so sew on whichever side your heart desires. Make sure you stitch about 3/4" from the edge (burlap frays like a mo-decker!)

BEFORE YOU SEW ALL THE WAY AROUND AND GET MAD AT ME, THINK ABOUT THIS LOGICALLY, YOU ARE ESSENTIALLY MAKING A BURLAP PILLOW AT THIS POINT. SO, DON'T SEW ALL THE WAY AROUND. 

Leave about a 3" gap on one side so you can stuff it. 

All stitched up (MINUS THE 3" I JUST TOLD YOU TO LEAVE OPEN)?

Great, go nuts with your stuffing!

Next up, stitch that sucker up all the way around. So, yeah, you just made a burlap pillow. Congratulations! 

Tuh-Dah! You're done. Just. Kidding. Go get a glass of whatever you're drinking and pick up your white paint and brushes while your up. Im not kidding. Seriously. GO. Get MOVIN'!

Oh, good, you finally moved. Im so glad. I was worried you fell asleep (or worse) on me there. Now, For the next steps you'll need your paint, paint brushes, and your squirt spot (you know, where you squirt your paint). 

Start with your WHITE paint, paint two coats all over the front (you decide whats the front and whats the back!)

You'll notice that I didn't paint all the way out to the edges, thats preference. Personally, I wanted a little bit of burlap to show through, if you don't, paint all the way out to the edges or be prepared to trim later.

Next up, get your green paint out ( I don't have a picture of this one because Im 99% certain we've all seen a freaking watermelon before. If not, google it. Paint the green around the edges (except the top edge!)

After green, get your red and white out (and mix your own pink, like I did) or use a store bought pink! and paint like this: 

I found that two coats of green, and two coats of pink added just the right amount of pop. You be the judge on yours!

After your pink is done, you may want to let it dry for 20-30 minutes (perfect amount of time to go throw another load of laundry in, chase your child around the house, clean up the mess they just made or, catch up on the last DVR episode of Duck Dynasty!)

Once you've gotten your fix of Uncle Si and the guys, come on back and you can put your wire hanger in. To do this, I used 20 gauge wire (any size works), cut about 18" and fed it through each side like so: 

To get the circle at the end, I wrapped the wire around the needlenose of the pliers and smooshed (ultra technical term there) it together so it would lay flat on my melon. This stops it from coming un-strung!

Now, this is where you get to be creative, painting your melon seeds. Maybe you want a lot, maybe you want a seedless melon. Maybe you have a Welcome WaterMelon, maybe it only has seeds. This part is up to you. I chose an off centered 'Welcome' with a bunch of seeds! 

Once you have seeded to your hearts content, make sure you add your (optional) cute ribbon, and hang on your front door for all your neighbors to envy! 

Total Craft Time: 1 Hour. Perfect for afternoon naps! 

Until next time: Happy Crafting!

A.B.