The Manly Dad: Adventures of a Stay at Home Dad: Jack-O-Lantern Door Hanger

It's that time of year. The weather is cooler, the leaves are turning and most importantly playoff baseball. All this can only mean it's fall and time to start getting ready for Halloween. Over the course of the next couple posts I'll show some crafts ranging from slightly difficult and time consuming to some that take only minutes. We have spent minimal money creating all of these out of stuff we had around the house. The door hanger cost less than $1 since I had everything else needed already. I'm starting with the hardest because it does take some time to do. Once done the results were great, and my wife whom is a closet trinket lover was very happy to have another seasonal decoration.

The door hanger I'll show you today was more time consuming than difficult. This can be made with any good sized piece of scrap wood you can dig up. Ours was made from a firewood round I had recently cut in the forest. I cut an evenish round approx 1in thick. Now the thickness is not terribly important and neither is the size. You will see no dimensional measurements on this guide. Last time I saw a pumpkin patch no two were alike so make yours whatever shape fits you fancy. There are many steps that the kids can help with. Our 4 year old helped with the sanding and painting.

Items needed

1 Piece of scrap wood (14x14 might be the smallest you want but i promised no measurements)
Orange paint
Black paint
Spray sealant (enamel or lacquer)
Wire (coat hanger will work if that's all you have)
2 eyelet hooks
Masking tape

Tools needed

Jigsaw
Sander, hand sanding will also work
C clamps
Pencil

Let Get Started

Draw out the design you intend to cut. I would suggest pencil instead of pen. We did not use any pattern and don't forget the stem.
Cut out your pattern with a jigsaw. Use a fine saw blade if possible
Shape and sand. If you have a wood rasp you can shape further at this point, flatten high spots and get those curves just like you want. Since ours was cut with a chainsaw it took quite a bit of sanding to get smooth. Commercially cut wood will be far easier.