Carving Pumpkins 2013: Monograms and Drilling!

All over Pinterest I've seen these pins -

this one from Unskinny Boppy                        Pumpkins carved with a drill
   


So of course I wanted to try my hand at this!  I decided to combine my two favorite ideas, Monograms and the drilled pumpkin pattern.

First, pick out the perfect pumpkins.  I found two small pumpkins for us - they were perfectly round with great stems!

Next, cut the tops off and clean out the guts (save the guts for the pumpkin seeds later!)  With small pumpkins you will have to "thin" out the pumpkin flesh inside the top of the pumpkin to give you room to get in with your spoon and scrape out the guts.  Also if you are doing a carved in design (rather than a cut through) you will need to thin out the flesh on the front side of the pumpkin.  You can do this last or first...whatever is easiest!

 Decide on your design and draw out a template.  Tape it on your pumpkin and trace HARD with a ball point pen.  You will see the indentations on the pumpkin skin when you take your paper off.  Trace again with the pen to make it easier to carve.

Start carving - use whatever "scraping" tools you have on hand.  I used some of my scrapbooking tools from Close To My Heart - the Silent Setter (discontinued now) and the Piercing Tool.  To get the glowing look, the design should be firmly carved into the pumpkin flesh but not cut all the way through.

Take your time and go slow - any place you cut the orange skin of the pumpkin will glow.

Next step was to take your drill and drill holes all the way through.  This was SOOo easy!  Next time I want to make the whole design with the drill!  

The last tip I learned from Martha Stewart's magazine about 8 years ago... cover the exposed pumpkin flesh (our monograms) with petroleum jelly.  This will stop the flesh from molding as quickly and get you a few extra weeks with the pumpkins!  

Don't forget to toast your pumpkin seeds!   Wash them thoroughly and separate the seeds from the pumpkin flesh.  Pat them dry with paper towels and spread out on a cookie sheet.  Salt (or other seasonings) your pumpkin seeds generously and toast at 350 for about 7-10 minutes until lightly golden brown.  YUM!