Designer Pumpkins

Have you seen all those fancy pumpkins all over Facebook and Pinterest and thought that you couldn't duplicate the finished product? Well, YOU CAN!!

One year, I really wanted a Tinker Bell jack-o-lantern. This was before fancy templates, Pinterest, and digital cameras. So not only did I have no guide for what I wanted to accomplish, but I have no proof that it turned out amazing.

I will give a disclaimer that I have a strange ability to look at something and replicate it pretty closely. I have several coffee mugs from my college internship at Walt Disney World and loved one of Tinker Bell stuck in the keyhole of a door. I thought it would be pretty cute if she was pushing out of a pumpkin instead.

I took out my trusty sketch book and went to work. After sketching the image I went back in with a sharpie to make sure that I had sections left intact so as to not have a giant hole instead of a Tinker Bell outline. It was adorable and reminded me of the scene from Peter Pan where she is actually trapped by Captain Hook in a lantern.

To transfer the image, you simply tape it onto the pumpkin and mark the outline like you would a store-bought stencil - with a poking instrument of some kind to form a dotted line. You make cuts with a small carving saw to make sure you get the intricate design you are aiming for.

Since the advent of foam pumpkins you really can make just about any design a jack-o-lantern. Do your kids have a favorite character? Check out some of their coloring book images, or try an Internet search of a coloring sheet.

For my wedding I even created a monogram pumpkin with a design that I used as the seal on our invitations.

Looking for something special for your office during the fall? Print your company logo on an 8 1/2" x 11" or 11" x 17" sheet and have your own branded fall decor.

Not one for carving? You can use the same process to create monograms or designs that you can fill in with paint, glitter or even thumbtacks! Maybe add some stripes or a edging effect with duct tape, ribbon, or scrapbooking embellishments. The sky is the limit.

Need help with your Halloween or fall pumpkin design? I'm going to give away one small foam pumpkin design (US only) and one template design (downloadable). Just comment with your pumpkin design idea below by midnight ET on 10/10 to be entered to win.