Halloween Projects

Here’s a couple of Halloween projects I’ve been working on:

Jack-o-lantern Carving

I love cutting into a fresh pumpkin, inhaling the rich tangy smell, and getting my hands sticky gooey scooping out the guts. Without pumpkin carving, Halloween just wouldn’t be the same. This year I decided to get a bit more creative when carving (I have owls on the brain!). I used wood carving tool instead of the typical too…my knife. Using the u shapped blades made carving easy and gave the pumpkin a cool texture. And I gotta say, it’s much easier carving a pumpkin than wood. I once took a woodblock class and had blisters on my hands for a couple of weeks after some serious carving. The wood carving set cut the pumpkin like butter and I was able to controll the cutting easily. If you don’t have a wood carving set you can pick one up at your local hardware store or harbor freight (I got mine there). Or even better, use some other tools you have around the house. Drill holes in your pumpkin in a fun pattern to make your jack-o-lantern look more like a luminary. Or use cookie cutters to make cool patterns in your pumpkin (you could always carve out the shapes too). Let me know if you have other tips to create neat jack-o-lanterns with non typical tools.

Sugar Cookies

Usually we Boo our neighbors and friends and surprise them with yummy sugar cookies. This month has been sort of a mess (car accident, the other car wouldn’t start, flooded basement, broken washer, and leak in house (coming from who knows where?)). So I didn’t boo this Halloween. But we did whip up some sugar cookies for teachers and school staff. I used this recipe for the sugar cookie glaze on the spider web. Then I piped on some black outlines and then took a tooth pick to drag the pipped icing into the glaze. I also picked up some black sprinkles from one of my most favorite stores, Confectionately Yours.