Sugar String Pumpkins

Lil Luna has the Great Pumpkin going on... have you stopped by?

Last week my family spend fall break in Utah (more on that later) and got to do a guest post for Kristyn at Lil Luna.  In case you missed it, here is the tutorial I shared.

Sugar String Pumpkins!

I was first introduced to sugar string by my sis-in-law Julee a few Easters ago.  They are fun to make and look great!  For the first time, I have Halloweened them up!

To start off, you will need balloons (I got mine from the dollar store), string, sugar and water.  

In a microwave-safe bowl, put 1 cup of water and heat it in the microwave.  Don't boil it, but it does need to be hot.  Then add 2 cups of sugar.  If you use less water, that is OK, just make sure you are using a 2:1 sugar/water ratio.  Stir that sugar in the water until it is dissolved, then let it cool.  You may notice I added a little food coloring to the water to see if it would dye the string.  It didn't.  lol.

The next step is to wrap the string around the balloon.  Note:  We did this OUTSIDE!  It gets MESSY! We tried this a few different ways, but the best was to wrap the string all around the balloon while they are both dry.  Just wrap wrap wrap.

Then, roll it around in the sugar water bowl.  Roll and spread with your hands until the entire thing is wet. All the string must be wet for this to work.

Hang it outside to dry.  Note to Arizona moms:  If it is too hot outside, the balloon will deflate.  We learned the hard way and they looked more like spider sacks than pumpkins.  I dried a few in the house over the sink.  These will drip, though.  So make sure it is over something you can hose off or clean easily.

When they are dry (the next day), pop the balloon and remove.  You will have the cutest pumpkin shape!

Embellish with ribbon or whatever you like.  I used a twig for a stem on one, and an actual pumpkin stem for the other stuck on there with a hot glue gun.  

As you can see, the more string the better!  The black one is a little sad!

But it looks great with your fall decor!  AND if you cut a little hole in the bottom, you can stuff them with white Christmas lights.  Wouldn't that be cute?