Pumpkin Patch Sign

• 1). Paint or stain a wood plaque or scrap piece of wood. Use a wood stain or dark paint. Use a long, thin plaque or a broken fence picket or wood scrap. Size the plaque to fit the area of your pumpkin patch. For a full-sized patch, the sign can be a few feet wide. For a tabletop display, keep it to about 1 foot wide or less.
  
  
• 2). Paint a greeting on the sign with acrylic paints. Add your family name to the sign to personalize it. Make the sign read "Welcome to the Smith family Pumpkin Patch" or "Pumpkins for Sale" or any greeting you like. Paint the letters with white or yellow paint to show up on the dark sign.
  
  
• 3). Sand the edges of the sign with sandpaper to give it an aged and weathered look.
  
  
• 4). Nail the finished sign to a wood dowel or thin scrap of wood. Make it tall enough to stand higher than the rest of the display.
  
  
• 5). Position the dowel in the hay bale or in the ground around the pumpkin patch.
  
  

Scarecrow

• 1). Staple a wire coat hanger to a wooden dowel or scrap of wood. Attach it so that the hooked hanger is above the dowel.
  
  
• 2). Stuff a plastic grocery bag with additional bags and tie it closed with twine to form a head, then cover the head with the piece of muslin and tie it closed with twine.
  
  
• 3). Hang an old shirt on the hanger. Pin a pair of old jeans to the shirt. For a small display, use doll or baby clothes. Then place the opening of the head you created over the top of the hanger and tie in place with a piece of twine or rope.
  
  
• 4). Poke the dowel end into the neck of the shirt and down into one pants leg. Position the dowel in the yard or hay bale.
  
  
• 5). Stuff the arms and legs with a few plastic bags. Pull some hay from the hay bale and stick it into the openings of the arms and legs. Tuck some into the neck area to cover the face. Tie closed with twine. Place an old straw or other hat on the head to cover the blank face, or paint a face using acrylic paints. Paint simple round black eyes, a red triangle nose and black smile for the face, if desired.