Jack o lantern

This year’s attempt. As M was impressed with the happy face and cat we made last weekend he got us a bigger pumpkin to try one of the difficult pattern (the one on the right. It was more than double the size of the smaller pumpkins). Adi was mighty happy with mommy’s carving skills 😉 … All 3 lanterns are now decorating the living room window.

AT – Here are the steps for you.. (tried my best to take pictures at each step)

Setup the work area with all things needed (tissue roll, a bowl of water to wash hands while scooping and an empty bowl to collect the seeds are missing in the picture). This year we bought the carving kit from Walmart ($5) and took print out of free patterns from web. The pattern we made were chosen by Adi..

1. Cut the top portion like a lid so you can close it later (don’t close when the candle is lighted).

2. Cut the bottom portion to fit the size of candle and scoop out the seeds and strings from inside. Messy job..

3. Draw the selected pattern with a marker on the side of the pumpkin that you choose to carve.

4. Cut along the marker lines (that’s Adi in action :)). She helped me in carving the straight lines.

5. Make fine adjustments if needed and place the pumpkin on top of a lighted candle.

The smaller ones (both) took 1 hour and the bigger one took 1.5 hours including cleaning and picture taking..

Hope this helps…