DIY Tattoo Pumpkins
Tattoo Pumpkins are an easy and fun DIY, and they look amazing! You can use our free printable tattoo designs on dollar store pumpkins, ceramic pumpkins and even real ones!
After we finished making our DIY Dollar Store Blue & White “Porcelain” Pumpkins, Handan’s brain kicked into overdrive, as she thought of all the possible tattoos she could make and share for tattoo pumpkins.
She already had sugar skulls in mind. In fact, I teased that in the porcelain pumpkins post.
But as we drove to work one morning, she started listing off all the designs she could make.
And she didn’t stop at fall!
Nuh-uh. She yammered on about Christmas tree pumpkins and Rudolph pumpkins and Easter Bunny pumpkins and all sorts of things that had no business on an autumnal pumpkin!
I had to rein her in so she just focused on fall and Halloween again.
We may be the Every Flavor Blog, but we try to keep things somewhat on point.
Well, usually.
Sometimes.
Of course, that doesn’t include our blog post introductions, like the one you’re reading right now.
These rambling screeds scribbled by Yours Truly generally have very little to do with DIY.
In fact, you could be quite forgiven for shouting, “D-I-WHY???” while reading the endless river of nonsense that flows so fluidly from my fingertips to your eyeballs while you slurp your morning coffee.
Anyway, I think we’ve got a little something for everyone now, at least when it comes to tattoo pumpkins.
We gave you those beautiful Blue & White Chinoiserie designs a few weeks ago…
…and now you’re going to get two more florals in different colors, some gorgeous colorful insects and a whole slew of sugar skull / Day of the Dead designs!
And look, if you want to tattoo a menorah or a Christmas goose or even a photograph of your Aunt Edna onto your pumpkin, we won’t judge.
In fact, we encourage it!
Just don’t go asking Handan to make you a batch of Aunt Edna printables! 😀
DIY Tattoo Pumpkins Supplies List
Affiliate links are provided below. Full disclosure here.
- Dollar store pumpkins
- Rust-Oleum Chalked Linen White spray paint
- Temporary tattoo paper – we used Silhouette temporary tattoo paper as it can be used with inkjet printers.
- Watercolor floral, insects or sugar skull tattoo designs (available in The VIP Patch)
- Inkjet printer
- Scissors
- Washcloth or microfiber cloth
- Spray paint of your choice for the stems (optional)
- Rust-Oleum Triple thick glaze
For the full and detailed tutorial on how to make tattoo pumpkins, please see our DIY Dollar Store Blue & White Porcelain Pumpkins post. I’ll just hit the highlights here.
First I cut out my tattoo designs, trimming as close as possible.
Then I placed the temporary tattoo on the pumpkin to see how it would look. (Yep, gonna look awesome.)
I flipped it over and held it against the pumpkin. Then I pressed on it with a damp cloth.
…Until the tattoo paper slid right off.
There are always some areas (usually in the grooves) where the tattoo doesn’t adhere. I gently pressed and smoothed those areas until the tattoo was totally adhered to the pumpkin.
Lather, rinse, repeat until your pumpkins are tattooed to your satisfaction!
For the floral tattoo pumpkins, I painted the stems with Rust-Oleum Metallic Antique Brass, and for the sugar skull pumpkins, I painted the stems red and blue.
The final step was to protect and shine the pumpkins with Rust-Oleum Triple Thick Glaze. Check out our Blue & White Porcelain Pumpkin post for tips on applying the glaze.
These tattoo pumpkins look way classier and upscale than you’d ever guess from their original price!
Depending on how many tattoos you put on your pumpkins, each pack of 2 temporary tattoo papers will make 3-5 pumpkins. We put a lot of temporary tattoos on, so we got 3 pumpkins from 2 sheets.
We love to see our printables out in the wild! If you display our free printables in your home or use our free SVGs in your projects, and take a picture and post it on Instagram, be sure to tag us @TheNavagePatch!
FREE PUMPKIN Tattoo Printables
Now it’s time to check out all four tattoo designs and download the ones you like.
Sugar skulls and watercolor insect designs are in the “Halloween” section, and both watercolor floral designs are in the “Fall” section of The VIP Patch. Don’t forget to click on the button below to download today’s free tattoo pumpkin designs.
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Here are some more easy pumpkin ideas for you!
DIY Sisal Twine Pumpkins
DIY Mesh Pumpkins (A 5-minute DIY)
Pottery Barn Inspired Metal Pumpkins
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All of your Halloween designs and projects are so much fun. Thanks for sharing. Can’t wait to get to some of them.
Thank you, Sandra! We have fun making them, too – especially Handan! She loves this time of year! 🙂
And your minds just keep on going. Did I say “energizer bunny”? So much fun reading your posts!
Thank you, Linda! Oh, yeah, Handan is the original Energizer bunny! LOL, her mind never stops! 😀
These are SO pretty – it amazes me at the variety of images that Handan comes up with! And your blog post intros are at least half the reason I can’t wait to read each post! Love your writing AND your DIY’s!
Awwww, thank you, Dyan! 🙂
I want to try the animal skeleton prints on a black pumpkin and maybe the nevermore on white. Think that would work?
Hi Jayne, the animal skeletons on black won’t work. These tattoos are essentially a clear transfer sheet, so they need something colored to be printed on them. Anything that’s white in the image would just end up being clear on the tattoo paper. So instead of the white skeleton, all you’d see is the black pumpkin showing through. The nevermore on white should be fine though. In general, these tattoos are best suited for application on lighter-colored pieces.
Thanks so much. I love all your stuff and look forward to each newsletter.
Greg/Handan,
Can I use this kind of paper for those kind of projects? It’s on Amazon. Thanks, Kathy
Epoch Paper Waterslide Decal Transfer Paper – 20 Sheets of Clear Premium Inkjet Printable Transparent Transfer Paper A4 Size for DIY Decals Gift Ideas Crafts Wall Decor Ceramics Tattoo Transfers
by Epoch Paper
Hello Kathy, you sure can try Waterslide Decal Transfer Paper with these tattoo designs. But please note the decal paper application is totally different to temporary tattoo papers, and as far as I know they are easier to apply on rather straight or flat surfaces such as mugs, candles, mirrors, glass, plates, etc. So I’m not sure how it would be applied on a pumpkin where it has small ups-n-downs on the surface. But if you want to apply them on a flat surface like a plate or candle, it should definitely work.
Also a little heads up: very soon (within 2 weeks) we’ll be trying decal paper on a candle project – it will be something similar to this post and it will also have free printables like these. If you’d like to wait and let us be the guinea pigs before you give decal paper a try, you’re welcome to do so 🙂
Thank you for taking the time to explain it. I think I’ll wait for your next post. 🙂
I love all of your tattoo designs, especially the floral ones! And thanks again for my purple tattoos! If you’re wondering what I’ve done with them, Handan gave me inspiration to use them on other things besides pumpkins, with her blue and white collection, so I’m going to try them out on glass containers for a thrift store upcycle challenge that I’m participating in next week! Wish me luck that it turns out ok! But I’m sure it will!
Thank you, Gail! We’re looking forward to seeing how you used them! Have a great weekend!
I went out and bought paint, pumpkins and looked and looked for tattoo paper. I had to order some and I don’t know if it is the brand but they do not stick to my pumpkins. I love the new designs and scared to try them. Can you tell me where you got your tattoo paper?
Hi Judi, the link to the exact tattoo paper we used is in the post. Go to the supplies list and click on the link for the tattoo paper there, and it will take you to Amazon.
Hello! I’m totally inspired by this post. I don’t have an ink jet printer. Would a color laser printer work instead?
Hello Charlene, the temporary tattoo paper we’re suggesting in the post is only for inkjet printer, and according to the reviews I read unfortunately it doesn’t work well with a laser printer. But Amazon has other brand temporary tattoo papers for laser printers if you want to try: https://amzn.to/349SN5Q
I hope this info helps! 🙂