Cuttin' Up.

A couple weeks ago I went pumpkin picking with a bunch of my friends. I snagged two smaller pumpkins for baking purposes, and a biggun' for carving

..and after a week of letting them sit on the dining room table, I finally got around to carving the big pumpkin.

At first I was going to do the normal jack-o-lantern, scary face look.  But then I thought on the off chance these gourds lasted into November, I wouldn't want some freak show faces hanging out giving thanks and eating turkey.  So I decided to go a little more practical.  Our apartment number.

Somewhere among the interweb, I read about a great way to create a stencil (because, I'll be honest-- my freehand sucks), so I decided to give it a whirl.

First I created an outline of the numbers in Photoshop and printed them out.

In order the transfer the stencil, I flipped the paper over and rubbed a regular pencil along the back

Next, I taped the template on the pumpkin and used a pencil with a good amount of pressure to trace along the outline of the number.  The numbers lightly transferred to the pumpkin, so I darkened the outline with a regular ballpoint pen.

I'll spare you the actual carving pictures.  It was mostly me complaining to JEGs how much I dislike pumpkin guts while he watched the Phillies game.  The final product was kind of awesome, however:

In order to keep the triangle in the middle of the 4, I didn't completely carve the bottom part; I just scraped a couple layers off  to give the illusion it was carved out.

Now, not only are we festive for the upcoming holidays, but our guests can find our apartment a little easier!

How about you?  Have you carved any jack-o-laterns this year?  Or maybe hosted a pumpkin carving party like I did last year?


Always & Forever,
  ME