Introduction: Pumpkin Photo Place Holders

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Back when I was a little kid, my mom made "pumpkin" placeholders out of walnuts, with written labels for family members. Those walnuts came out every Thanksgiving for years, but have been missing from our family get-togethers for quite a few years now. I thought I'd ressurect the tradition this year, with a slightly new spin.

Here's what I used for this project:
  • Bag of mixed nuts (including walnuts and hazel nuts)
  • whole cloves
  • paint/brushes
  • craft glue
  • glue gun
  • Scrap cardboard/matte board
  • Clips (mine were 50 cents each from the container store)
  • Leaf wire trim (got this from the container store many years ago for another project)
  • Fujifilm instant camera

These are fairly straightforward to put together:

  1. Using acrylic paint, color the walnuts and hazelnuts to look like pumpkins and acorn squash.
  2. Attach the whole clove "stems" with craft glue.
  3. Cut out half-ovals from leftover cardboard or matte board.
  4. Attach the nuts to the board with a glue gun.
  5. Attach the decorative leaf trim along the curved edge of the board with a glue gun.
  6. Attach a clip to the back of the pumpkin/walnut with a glue gun.

    Now you're done, until the event! This is the fun part...
  7. As guests arrive, take their photos with an instant camera.
  8. Put the photo in the clips.
  9. Set the table.
  10. Sit at your places and eat!
Of course, you could also just pick photos out ahead of time, or write out names. (Not quite as fun maybe, but it still works!)