DIY Buffalo Check Pumpkins are the perfect addition to your fall decor. These buffalo plaid pumpkins are made using inexpensive Dollar Tree craft supplies and can be added to your fall wreaths, fall mantle, or anywhere else you need a little extra autumn decor.

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I’m currently in full fall decorating mode here at the lake and loving every second of it. Over the Labor Day weekend, I finished up all my indoor fall decor and I’m now making my way outside to our front door area to continue the fall vibe. 

I always do an awesome fall display using hay bales by our front door and plan to do the same this year once our local feed store gets their decorative hay bales in next week. You can see last year’s fall hay bales here.

While I’m waiting, I decided to use my time wisely and work on some fun DIY fall decor pieces to add to our front door area. I’ve been dying to try my hand at creating black and white buffalo check pumpkins ever since I saw them on Pinterest a few years back.  

I was determined to try my hand at painting my own buffalo check pumpkins this year but I didn’t want to spend a fortune to do so. I already had all the paints and brushes on hand to create the black buffalo plaid design, so I really only needed the pumpkin shape to complete the look. 

Where does one go when they’re on the hunt for some cheap fall decor? If you said, Dollar Tree, you are 100% correct! With a little imagination, you can pretty much find anything you’re looking for in terms of crafting at the Dollar Tree. 

There is so much you can do to repurpose Dollar Tree items into something that meets your needs. For example, I snagged a ton of different-sized pumpkins and didn’t worry one bit about the color of them. Why not? Because you can easily repaint the pumpkins or even cover them with fabric to fit your fall decor. 

As I made my way past the pumpkins, I quickly came to a halt when I spotted all the fall signs. Wouldn’t you know that the Dollar Tree had an entire rack of pumpkin signs for fall! I hit the jackpot, my friend. 

The sign was already decorated for fall on the front, but the back was completely a blank slate. The perfect canvas to create my own black plaid pumpkin! I grabbed two pumpkin signs and added them to my cart. 

Today I finally sat down and got to crafting on these black buffalo pumpkins. I’ve got to tell you, the process was so much easier than I thought it would be. Besides a little bit of the paint bleeding underneath the painter’s tape, I’m overjoyed with the way these black and white buffalo plaid pumpkins turned out!

 

DIY Buffalo Check Pumpkins

To make these black and white buffalo plaid pumpkins, you’ll need the following:

• Dollar Tree pumpkin sign 
• White, light gray, dark gray, and black acrylic paint
• Paintbrush 
• Painter’s tape
• Paper plate 

I began by removing the hanging string and metal leaves from the pumpkin sign. I didn’t want them getting in the way while I was working on creating the buffalo check pattern on the opposite side of the pumpkin. 

Step one is to completely paint your pumpkin white. Depending on your sign, you might need to paint two layers. Once painted, allow your white paint to dry completely before moving on to the next step.

Step two is to start creating horizontal stripes all the way up the pumpkin. The easiest way to do this is to line up a piece of painter’s tape carefully along the base of your pumpkin. Above that piece of tape, add another horizontal piece of painter’s tape. Next, add another horizontal piece of tape leaving you with three horizontal lines stacked on top of one another.

Remove the middle piece of tape to expose the white background and add that piece of tape above the third piece you placed on the pumpkin. Add another piece of tape above that top piece leaving you with another stack of three horizontal tape stripes. Remove the middle piece of tape again and continue the process until you’ve made it all the way to the top of the pumpkin.

Grab your light gray paint and paint the exposed white lines. 

Here’s what it looks like when all the lines are painted.

While the paint is still wet, carefully remove the painter’s tape.

Allow the light gray paint to dry completely before moving onto the next step.

With the light gray paint dried, it’s time to add the next layer of paint. To do so, we need to prep the pumpkin by making vertical stripes along the pumpkin. Just like we did with the horizontal lines, we need to place three pieces of painter’s tape vertically starting on one side of the pumpkin.

Just like we did with the horizontal lines, we must remove the middle piece of tape and add it to the last piece of tape placed on the pumpkin. 

Continue the process until you have placed vertical stripes across the entire pumpkin.

Now grab your dark gray paint and paint the exposed vertical lines.

With all the lines painted, allow them to dry completely before moving on.

With the dark gray paint dried, it’s time to add another set of horizontal lines to your pumpkin. Do not remove the tape you added for the dark gray lines. Simply began adding the horizontal lines right over the paint and tape that is already on the pumpkins. 

You’ll do the same exact process of adding three pieces of horizontal tape side by side and then removing the middle piece of tape to expose part of the pumpkin.

Work your way all the way up to the top of the pumpkin.

Now it’s time to grab your black paint and paint the tiny squares that are exposed on the pumpkin sign. 

Allow the paint to dry completely at this point. 

With all the paint dried, all that is left to do is remove the painter’s tape to expose your buffalo check pattern! Isn’t it beautiful?

If you look closely, you might notice that my lines aren’t exactly perfect. There was some bleeding of the paint underneath the painter’s tape. To avoid this happening to you, make sure that you press the tape down securely. I was working quickly and didn’t do the best job of that and it showed.

What you do with your buffalo check pumpkins from this point is completely up to you. You can keep them as-is and place them somewhere in your home to add to your fall decor. 

I decided to take my buffalo plaid pumpkins a step further and add them to fall wreaths to decorate my front door with. I purchased these two fall wreaths last year from Michael’s and thought they would look even better with my buffalo plaid pumpkins!  

I cut out the words “Happy” and “Fall” in white and black vinyl on my Cricut machine (the black vinyl isn’t pictured). I also made two burlap bows and grabbed some fall leaves as well.

I hot glued the burlap bows and leaves towards the top of the pumpkin. I then layered the two types of vinyl to give a shadowing effect to the lettering so it stood out more.

Last but not least, I hot glued the accessorized buffalo check pumpkins securely to the fall wreaths.

Aren’t they the prettiest things ever! I am literally obsessed with the way they came out.

These DIY buffalo check pumpkins are so easy to make following my step-by-step directions. Once you learn the process, you can pretty much make this buffalo plaid pattern on anything you’d like. The sky’s the limit. Let your creative juices kick in and get to crafting!

Want to remember this? Post My DIY Buffalo Check Pumpkins to your favorite Pinterest board!

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