OMGourd

I love Halloween. It's my favorite time of year. I think my favorite part (or the part that I look forward to the most) is pumpkin carving.

I'm a little bit obsessed with it. I can carve a pumpkin for hours on end and never get bored. Since I have a passion for movies, I usually wind up carving a favorite scary character from a film. Here are some of the pumpkins I've carved over the last few years:


Ghostbusters logo pumpkin, 2007. And yes, it is sitting on a toilet! I love to play with light with my pumpkins, so every now and then, I have to look at it in the dark so I can see how the image is coming along. The downstairs bathroom has no windows so I usually go in there to check on my pumpkin.

Joker Pumpkin, 2008. There was no contest that year who would be on my pumpkin. I LOVED "The Dark Knight" so Heath Ledger it was. Unfortunately, I made a few mistakes like the jawline. This was the first year I used a Dremel and thankfully, I've gotten better at it. Even though it's pretty dumpy looking, at least you can tell who it is!

Sweeney Todd Pumpkin, 2009. This is by far my favorite out of all of them! This one isn't perfect either, but I couldn't be happier with the face (and what a face you have Johnny Depp! Purrrrr . . . ). To be quite honest, I'd like to think I grew a lot in my carving skillz . . . but part of me thinks this was just pure luck that the pumpkin came out so great! LOL. Not sure if I can do better than this one . . .

I FINALLY got to see this movie on TV last week and I loved it. If you have a problem with blood or cannibalism in general, I would suggest you skip it! :) It's all in dark fun but I can see how a lot of people can't handle it. If you get to ever see the show on stage I would recommend it. It's not as bloody as the movie and the music is amazing.

This year, I caught a pumpkin carving contest on the Food Network. (Click here for the dates and times for other showings of the Challenge--it's really great!) The pumpkins were amazing. I usually do a souped up jack'o lantern, meaning I play with light to make the images. In daylight, you really can't tell what the pumpkin is supposed to be. Well, during this challenge, they had a 3D category where the contestants had to sculpt a pumpkin just like you'd sculpt clay or marble. So, instead of carving the negative of the picture, they were sculpting the thing itself. I was so inspired I decided I'd sculpt one this year.

A few days later, I was driving past a local church and saw they were selling pumpkins. I spotted a white one and instantly had the idea to sculpt Voldemort! How creepy would a white Voldemort pumpkin be? Well, let's find out . . .

I'm pretty happy with it! It was a challenge to figure out how to do it . . . I had to think backwards! I could've done more with it but I was lazy. : )

Someday, when I get better and faster, I'm totally auditioning for that Food Network pumpkin Challenge. I was so excited to see that there was a competition that I actually have a chance of competing in! Someday . . . but for now, I need to practice. Even though I already sculpted a pumpkin I still want to carve one this year.

This week I'm going to work on my "big" pumpkin project. Here's a clue for what I'm up to . . . : )

One final link if you're interested in taking your pumpkin to the next level: Zombie Pumpkins. This website is full of great tips, tools and templates to download. I've never used a template before but I've heard these are the best.

If you want to freehand your own pumpkin, make sure you pick a design that has a lot of contrast (i.e., one that has lots of white and dark spaces). Cut a hole in the bottom (I prefer the bottom because it makes the overall pumpkin look cleaner and no light can escape . . . your design needs all the light it can so it can be nice and bright. Scoop out the guts, then take a scraper (a large, metal kitchen spoon works well) and scrape EVERY last string or seed out. This will keep your pumpkin from rotting faster or catching on fire (if you're using a candle).

Next, I use a Magic Marker and sketch my own design (above is my marker version of the Sweeney Todd one). If I make a mistake, I just wipe it off with a damp cloth. Once I'm happy with it, I go over it with a red Sharpie (black is too dark and will make your pumpkin look messy). Then, I cut away! The lightest parts of the picture require the most light, so you cut deepest in those sections. Carving at various levels of depth provides texture and complexity to the design.

My little one checking out his mommy's work.

In this picture, you can see the different depths I carved into the skin. Even though it doesn't look like much in the light, in the dark, the light shines through and creates all sorts of shadows. Dig deep for the light areas, and leave the skin on for the darkest regions. For shades of gray, use various depths in between.

Happy Carving!

A Very Merry Un(Licensed)Birthday

September is a busy month for my family. We literally have a birthday every week in September. I guess you could say January was the busiest month . . . or the month everyone "got busy" . . . sorry, sorry, couldn't help myself. I celebrated my birthday this past weekend and my little guy's birthday is this weekend. Since I've got birthdays on the brain, I thought I'd share some of the birthday cards I've created. Well, they aren't just any b-day cards . . . they all feature a character from a movie or TV. I love doing something so personal (and technically illegal, I suppose) for somebody . . . especially when it's not likely to find a card with their favorite character on it.

Case and Point #1:


ANTON CHIGURH CARD

I made this card for my older brother Nathan's birthday a few weeks ago (his b-day is the first September birthday). His favorite movie is "No Country For Old Men." I saw it on TV a few months ago and personally I think it's overrated . . . okay, I'm babbling. Anyway, for the uninitiated, Anton Chigurh (played by hot, hot Javier Bardem, only he's not hot in this movie so maybe that's why I didn't love it) is the sociopathic serial killer everyone is trying to catch or run away from. His weapon? An air pistol, usually used to kill cattle. It kills the person instantly without leaving a bullet or any other evidence behind. So, I found this picture online and copied onto Word. I added a "Callout" (what Word calls those little word bubbles) and the text, "Need help blowing out those candles, Friendo?" ("Friendo" is a term Chigurh uses for people he's about to kill . . . which is pretty much everyone he meets) Tee-hee. I love my corny little puns . . . hope you do too, because there are more to come . . . My brother loved it. My family has a sick sense of humor, so a card with a serial killer threatening the recipient is like a bear hug. Warm and fuzzy . . .


HARRY POTTER GOLDEN SNITCH CARD

This is probably the most complicated of the bunch. I made this card for my niece's 8th birthday last year. It's a Harry Potter card and a game. The card is a giant shaker box. I printed off a picture of a Quidditch pitch from the Internet and made that the backdrop for the card. I added some gold glass marbles. Here's the part where I'm insane . . . I made a tiny Golden Snitch. I used a seed bead for the base and threaded a tiny piece of paper through it to make wings. Then, I painted it gold. This Snitch was was maybe the size of an ant. Here's a picture of it:



I sealed the "box" and added a picture of Harry (found online, again) and a scroll that says, "Can you spot the Golden Snitch?" I typed the words and then stamped the scroll stamp over that. So, you shake up the box and try to find the Snitch among the little gold marbles. Fun, no? And yes, I spent waaayyy too much time making this but I'm still really proud of it.



LAW AND ORDER CARD WITH SOUND

My mom is a huge "Law and Order" fan. We all grew up watching it. Last year, I decided to make my mom a special "L&O" card. I wanted to recreate, in card form, the opening moments of an "L&O" episode in it's glory days . . . that is, when Lenny (played by the late Jerry Orbach) was still part of the cast! You all know the formula: someone's dead, the cops show up, Lenny has a sarcastic one-liner and bum-BUM! The theme music starts.

First, I searched for a picture online. I have to say, this picture was the hardest to find. I honestly don't remember where or how I found it but I'm glad I did! I did the same thing I did with the "No Country" card and pasted it in Word.

Next, I tried to find a funny Lenny birthday quote. The guy was on the show for a decade, so I was positive he had at least one one-liner about a birthday. Nope. Not so much. I had no choice but to make up my own:

DET. GREEN: Today was his birthday.

LENNY: Yeah, but somebody else blew out the candles.

It didn't even really make sense, but it was the best I could do. Now, for sound. I can't take credit for this idea . . . my younger brother came up with it first. I used one of those cards you can record your voice on, but instead of saying something, I recorded the "L&O" theme song (I played a clip on YouTube and held the card up to the speaker).

I was so excited to give it to my mom but when she opened it she sort of chuckled and that was it. My mom is super emotional so I was surprised when she didn't offer much of a reaction. Finally, I just flat out said, "Mom, don't you like the card I made?" Come to find out, she thought we bought it! She was much more excited when she realized I had made it. Her initial reaction was disappointment that I hadn't made her a card! That card is over a year old and she still has it displayed in the kitchen.



DARK KNIGHT JOKER CARD

This is probably one of my favorite cards ever. I made it for my younger brother's birthday a year or two ago. He's a Batman fanatic.

At first, the card doesn't look like much, until you turn the Joker's hand, and . . .



This is one of those rare ideas that came together at the last minute. I'm not going to go into details about how I put it together because I haven't been able to pull it off again since! I think it was just luck that the mishmash of glue, foam and a brad came together like this. My brother still has this card on display, too.