I sought out to carve some awesome pumpkins this year. I think I succeeded, but that’s a really subjective opinion.

I wanted to beat my last attempt at actual pumpkin carving back in 2007 when I was serving as Air Force spouse. Here that is here…

Honestly, the ones I carved in 2014 were easier than the ones I handled in 2007. I actually carved both pumpkins in a matter of 2 hours tops, which included finding stuff the kids moved and breaking to help them with their stuff. Here’s the pumpkin carving how to for each pumpkin.

The Decorative Pumpkin

I made a youtube video of this… excuse the cleavage. My melons competitively show up any melon-like objects…

Decorative Pumpkin Carving How To:

1. I purchased Linoleum Carving tools at my craft supply store. I also grabbed some wood carving tools too, but the Linoleum version was easier to work with on the pumpkin itself. I also grabbed the prettiest cheap flowers they had. I think real flowers look better, but I was too lazy to go to a second store.

2. Using the number 2 sized linoleum cutter thing on a pumpkin I already had gutted out, I made a “vine” on the pumpkin, randomly.

3. I scraped a fan like flower outward on the end of the vine with the #2 cutter. I made new vines, and some I scraped more fan like flowers, others I made holes with drill bits and miniature screw drivers. Some I dotted 3 dots around the vine end; others, I did a big hole with the bit and surrounded it with smaller holes. The rounder looking flower scrapes were done using the same method as the fan flowers, but with a wider wood cutting tool.

4. I just kept doodling with the carving tool until the pumpkin was covered.

5. Then I added some electronic tealights inside and topped with the flowers.

Note: The deeper you carve, the better it will look under the glow. You have to get pretty deep for there to be a glow, but be careful, too deep and you cut through too much.

Audrey Hepburn Pumpkin

This one required less creative effort than the decorative pumpkin.

Audrey Hepburn Pumpkin Carving How To

1. Go to Google, and find a photograph of what you want to do. You want something crisp enough to trace, like you could trace it and get what you want.

2. Size it with the pumpkin. Print it up. Fix it up if you have to. On mine, I had to draw the rest of Audrey Hepburn’s cigarette thingy.

3. Color the back of the paper where the photo is (you don’t have to do the whole sheet) in pencil. Get it good. You want the thickest goop of pencil on there. You are turning your paper into a carbon thing you can copy.

4. I honestly suggest this method for transferring images to pumpkins, even simple ones you are completely carving, as opposed to dotting it with a poking device like a nail. Tape the paper (or hold it up) to the pumpkin where you want the carving. Trace the photograph. Color in the dark spots you don’t want to carve. It’s ok if you veer from the original photo a little. A lot of details are supposed to get lost. Remember, you are carving this, so the less detail, the easier it will be. In addition, if you are wanting to add things to the pumpkin, like I was planning with the bling, make sure that spot is darkened and there’s enough room for whatever it is you are adding.

5. Remove the carbon picture, and start scraping with the #2 Linoleum tool on all the white spots. Do not worry yet about depth. Worry most about detail. Making sure you don’t accidentally take out something you wanted to keep on there.

6. Once you’ve removed a good chunk of the pumpkin with a good accuracy tool, then go over it again with a wider tool. In this case, I used a wood carving tool that was super wide. It was easier to work with on pumpkin already carved with the Linoleum tool than straight uncarved pumpkin. For this, I focused on smoothing out the grooves the Linoelum cutter left, and on getting the depth I wanted. I could not quite achieve the depth I wanted overall, but I came close enough.

7. When I finished, I added some bling I bought from the craft store from the wedding aisle. I gave Audrey an earring and a necklace with it.