Jack-o-Lanterns

I love Jack-o-Lanterns. For the last several years I've done scenes or pictures (a cat on a fence, a fireplace, an owl) and so this year I wanted to do something a little more abstract. I picked the prettiest of the pumpkins with some great coloring, and I gave my pumpkin stripes and polka dots :)

 

It looks a little more like a fall home decoration than a jack-o-lantern, huh? So of course it didn't win the competition. You know who did?

 

My silly brother. He won the Gingerbread House competition last year, too! Not fair :(

When he and I were kids, we always used toothpicks to give our Jack-o-Lanterns extra features like noses and ears, and my step dad even did that for his this year (pinning the broken stem in place for the nose-- it was perfect). This year most of us didn't know what we were going to do till we saw our pumpkins, and that's one of the most fun ways to do it. And even little little kids can have fun with the pumpkin goop and baking pumpkin seeds. And I've seen some super cute variations with little pumpkins decorated with paper features!

Go Crazy :)