alternative to pumpkin carving

we made a visit to our favorite pumpkin patch this past weekend to search for the most perfect of pumpkins:




what is it about pumpkin patches that just makes you want to take tons of pictures?


i passed the cam off to my 7 year old…this was the result:

it might’ve been cute :) but at least it proves that i really was present! and with all that blur…i don’t have to do one bit of photoshopping! j/k :)


anyway…we came home with some great picks of the crop:
so that we could boycott pumpkin carving again this year and create our creatures:
in case you missed it or you are new around here, check back on this post to see the full how-to and the link where i originally found this fantastic idea!

i decided last year that i was done with the whole pumpkin carving thing. i was always the one who was left with the dirty work, and cleaning out that darn pumpkin always made me gag big time! so i found this alternative, and i was instantly smitten. i mean come on…i think they are cuter than any carving i could muster up…and a double plus is that our pumpkins last a whole heck of a lot longer…long enough even to double as Thanksgiving decor! (minus the faces)

this year was especially easy, because i stored all our pieces from last year so all we had to do was just re-stick all our pieces on!
the felt was actually still very sticky even after being stored for a year, but we did have to use some double sided tape on a few pieces to keep them in place:
the crazies got right to work:

and this project went so quickly that they didn’t even have time to lose interest, which typically happens whenever i try to include them in a craft project, after say…oh…2 seconds 5 minutes!
i had to take this picture because Bella kept telling the Pirate to smile and say “cheese” and, as you can see, he happily obliged:

our pumpkin friends:

go try it out for yourselves!

my goal for the rest of the night is to finish making the crazies Halloween costumes. here’s a little peek at my supplies. i’m taking guesses as to what you think we came up with for this year. (and if you are my friend/fam and know…shhhh…don’t give it away!!)

leave your guesses in the comments section…this should be fun!!


ps: if you have any interest and would like to view our past Halloween costumes, see here and here :)