Pumpkin Carving, Part 7: This Year’s Carves

UPDATE September 19, 2015: Want to learn how to carve pumpkins like these? I’m creating a set of step-by-step video tutorials. Check out Carve Awesome Pumpkins for more info!

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Welcome to seventh and final post of my Carving Pumpkins series for 2012.  I can’t believe Halloween is over already.  Sometimes I wonder why I put so many hours into creating these pumpkins for just a few hours of display one night of the year. Then I look at them all lit up and smile. 🙂

This week I’m just going to post pictures of the pumpkins I’ve carved this year. Some you’ve already seen, some you haven’t. I did take pictures of my progress while carving the real pumpkins, but I’ll save them for a How-To/Tips post for next Halloween. They probably won’t do you any good now.

In case you missed any of my previous posts in this series:

Foam Pumpkins for 2012

 YA Book Covers

Paper Towns Pumpkin Divergent Pumpkin Divergent pumpkin

These Paper Towns and Divergent patterns were created by Kate Hart and are available for free download. (Yes, I carved 2 different Divergent pumpkins.)  All 3 of these pumpkins were given away as part of contests.

 

Beautiful Creatures Pumpkin

This pumpkin was also given away as part of a contest. I created the pattern and it’s available for free download on my FREEBIES page.

Harry Potter

 Dumbledore Pumpkin

Both of these patterns are from Stoneykins.  The Harry Potter pattern is free for download, and the Dumbledore pattern must be purchased.

Hunger Games

My favorite carve of the season! This is the most intricate pattern I’ve carved so far, but the effort was so worth it.  Pattern from Stoneykins.

You Can’t See Me

You Can't See Me pumpkin

Although I carve mostly for me, I try to do at least one pumpkin for everyone in my family each year.  (Sadly, my husband got left out this year because I ran out of time, but he can appreciate the Hunger Games and Harry Potter pumpkins. 😉 )

This one I did for my son, who is a fan of WWE Wrestler John Cena.  “You Can’t See Me” is Cena’s catch phrase and this is the logo on the hat he wears.

I created the pattern by hand. If I had a digital file for it, I would share it for free download. It’s a simple pattern to make yourself, though. You can find an image of the logo on the internet to use as a basis for the pattern.  Cut out the letters and shade the circle crossing out the “C”.

Vampire Diaries

I’m a huge fan of Damon on Vampire Diaries (I’ve loved Ian Somerhalder for a long time…since he was a “freak of the week” on Smallville way back in Season 1 or 2) and really wanted to carve a Damon pumpkin last year but couldn’t find any patterns.

So I was really excited when I saw that Ultimate Pumpkin Stencils added a Vampire Diaries set to their store this year!

 

 Real Pumpkins for 2012

Elmo

Elmo Pumpkin

This is the pumpkin I did for my daughter who is 2.  She would have loved a Caillou pumpkin, but I couldn’t find a pattern and didn’t have the time/energy to make my own.  Elmo was the next best thing. 🙂

This pattern is from Ultimate Pumpkin Stencils’ Sesame Street set. The characters are also available separately.

General Halloween

Trick or Treat pumpkin

Usually one of the real pumpkins I carve has something that represents the year for our family.  For example, last year I did a Mickey and Minnie pumpkin because we took the kids to Disney for the first time.  This year, I couldn’t think of anything that really symbolized “2012” for us, so I went with a generic Halloween pattern. I’m really pleased with how it came out.

The pattern is from Stoneykins, and warning: I did leave off part of the pattern to make it more family-friendly. 😉

Breaking Dawn Part II

Breaking Dawn Part II pumpkin

I have carved a Twilight pumpkin every year since 2008. I have done a pumpkin for the movie poster of each Twilight movie, but when I saw the poster for Breaking Dawn Part II, I was too busy laughing to try to make a pattern from it.  (Seriously, what were they thinking?!)

Still, the night before Halloween I was feeling sad that I wouldn’t have a Twilight pumpkin this year.  Then I saw this pumpkin from the Miller Tree Inn and was inspired to carve one myself.

(Side note: in less than 2 weeks I’m going to visit a friend in Seattle for the Breaking Dawn Part II premiere. We’ll be spending one night in Forks, staying at the Miller Tree Inn aka “the Cullen House.” Very excited!)

 

The Best Part of Pumpkin Carving!

Okay, here’s the REAL reason I carve real pumpkins! 😉

I made two batches:

Toasted Pumpkin Seeds with Sugar and Spice (very yummy, but too sweet. Cut down the sugar.)

Spiced Pumpkin Seeds (yummy!)

 

 

ONE MORE WEEK! The Vampire Diaries Season 4 Begins October 11, 2012

Who else is excited for The Vampire Diaries‘ return next week? It’s the only TV show I watch anymore (aside from the 5 last episodes of Smallville I still have yet to see) and I can’t wait.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1HAb34nBKI&rel=0

What do you think? Will Elena become a vampire? Will her friends be able to find a loophole and save her?

I’m not sure what to think.  TVD is known for its plot twists, so I could definitely see an 11th hour save preventing her transition and turning her back to human.  But I could also see a little “Vizzini logic” happening — “The audience will be expecting a loophole, so we won’t give them one!”  What I’m hoping for? Something completely new and different — Elena becomes something that is neither human nor vampire.

(If you didn’t get the “Vizzini” reference, why have you not seen Princess Bride yet?)

Pumpkin Carving Part 2: Young Adult Themed Patterns

Divergent Pumpkin

UPDATE September 19, 2015: Want to learn how to carve pumpkins like these? I’m creating a set of step-by-step video tutorials. Check out Carve Awesome Pumpkins for more info!

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Welcome to week 2 of my Pumpkin Carving series.  Last week, I shared tips for carving great pumpkins.  This week, I’m sharing some pumpkin carving patterns based on young adult book covers and characters.

But First — TWO Contests!

 Win a pumpkin carved with your choice of book cover! Contest ends October 15, 2012.

If you came here from Novel Novice to enter for the Paper Towns pumpkin or Divergent pumpkin, all you need to do is leave a comment on this post!

Pumpkins I’ve Carved

FREE Pumpkin Patterns

A friend asked about a pumpkin carving pattern featuring the Beautiful Creatures series by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl.  I couldn’t find one, so I made one myself. The lettering on the book is beautiful!  You can see a pumpkin carved with it a above.  I’m offering the pattern FREE from my blog.   Enjoy!

I found a great collection of patterns on Kate Hart’s blog.  She has a total of 20 book cover patterns available for FREE.  Some of the patterns include:

divergent pumpkin

Divergent

hush hush pumpkin

Hush Hush

anna and the french kiss pumpkin

Anna and the French Kiss

hourglass pumpkin

Hourglass

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think that Anna and the French Kiss pumpkin is calling my name… 😉

 

Vampire Diaries Pumpkin Carving Patterns

I’m updating this blog post to add these new Vampire Diaries patterns from Ultimate Pumpkin Stencils:

I’ve wanted a Damon pumpkin for a while now. It’s definitely on my carving list!

 

Check Out This Carving Master!

Alex the Pumpkin Geek is a professional pumpkin carver. He does some really awesome work — both in the carving and in the creation of the patterns.  If you’re interested in having Alex carve you a pumpkin, you can contact him through his website.

Next Week?

Part 3 of my Pumpkin Carving series will feature Twilight pumpkins. Check back next Sunday!