One of my favorite things about October is carving pumpkins. Yet, as the years continue to pass I find myself more reluctant to cut the pumpkins open, scoop their guts out, and get down to carving and lighting them. What is this blasphemy?
Recently, I've begun to look for alternative methods and I've seen quite a few that satisfy my new needs. If you've found yourself in a similar nature lately, you share my conundrum. I'm not sure if it's the time or the effort that has been killing my mood but thank goodness for Pinterest, am I right? If you'd like to see these ideas in-depth, visit my Pinterest board Other Ways To Carve.
And without further ado, here are my top five alternative carving methods:
Drilling
Drilling pumpkins involves using tools to drill holes and patterns into the pumpkin, instead of "carving" them. There are kits available, though I know people who also just like to use their own tools.
Word for the wise: drilling can be a bit dangerous so this is not suggested for little kids or people like me, who are very clumsy ;)
Painting
Painting is thekid-friendly option to carving as there are no sharp tools or mess (if you can help it) to clean up. Plus, pumpkins are a cool and unique canvas.
Word for the wise: get pumpkin friendly paint at a craft store. Kid's paint won't show up as well and make sure you place the pumpkins in a place they won't get wet or you'll lose your masterpiece for late fall rain and snow storms.
Fabric
Either you can make fabric pumpkins from scratch, or as i've seen more lately, you can take plastic, cement, and real pumpkins and glue or cover them with fabric.
Word for the wise: you will need to purchase glue and fabric or other additional supplies so it could be more costly.
Stickers
This is something very new to me. I found a kit at Hobby Lobby and decided to give it a try.
Word for the wise: stickers are more simple but getting them to line up perfectly as they were on the plastic is near impossible and probably not a good idea for perfectionists like me.
Scratching the Surface
My mother bought me this kit, it is similar to carving but instead of going all the way through you scratch your pattern into the surface of the pumpkin so that the lighter skin underneath shows up better than the darker orange of the outside.
Word for the wise: these are much more fun than carving in my opinion, but they don't last nearly as long and you can't illuminate them.
Do you do something cool with your pumpkins? Let us know in the comments on the main "lifestyle" page!
