So for those of you who know me well this will not need to be said but for those of you who don't here it is....
"I LOVE HALLOWEEN!!!!"
Sorry about the shouting but I get a little excited!
Anyways.... with my love of all things Halloweeny I thought I would show you all some of my past favourites. If you want to see some of this years Halloween treats be sure to follow me on Instagram @ allthingsuniqueuk and on Facebook @ All Things Unique
So where to start?!
Well I think I'll start with the absolute essential - Pumpkins!
It all started when I was about ten and my mum was fed up of all the moaning about having to do our turnies for brownies (there was tears, blood, tantrums and more tears!). For anyone who doesn't know what a turnie is it is the original Celtic version of a pumpkin made by hollowing out a Scottish turnip hence the name (although they tend to call them swedes in stores as they aren't the same as turnips apparently!). If you're still not sure what I'm talking about here's a little picture...
Image courtesy of google... Pretty isn't it?!
So as you can imagine a turnie is a million times harder than a pumpkin and doesn't come with a conveniently hollow middle. I think you can imagine the effort it would take but let me tell you there's no way to imagine the pain of the blisters you get from the metal spoons whilst trying to hollow it out! I think I still have scars! So with this in mind when my mum came across a pumpkin carving set a few months later she decided to snap it up so we would never have to endure the pain of turnies again!
Well that little carving set was amazing! I still have all the tools (although they are starting to show signs of their age so I did buy a back up set last year just incase... Always be prepared and all that!) and the book of patterns it came with and they are still some if my favourite patterns to carve.
This is from the book of ideas and was actually carved by my sister but I thought I would let you guys see how good she is too!
Anyways... after spending about 7 years perfecting my carving skills and practicing my favourite patterns a competition at work was organised and I decided to enter. For some odd reason I can't find a picture of my pumpkin lot up (I think it was on my bebo page... Gosh that seems like a life time ago!) but I do have this unlit picture that I found in a box of Halloween stuff.
I know these are a little more difficult to see but my pumpkin on the left is a witch on a broomstick and the witches face on the right was for my brother to take to school. For the competition I put black card inside so the image stood out but it looks amazing when lit because the light looks like an eerie moon!
So my little pumpkin went all the way to work with me to join the other entries: some of which were super inspired! For example Ashley's little disco pumpkin complete with its own dance box and glitter ball was way ahead of its time! Others however didn't seem to get the memo about having to hollow them out first... Yes you know who you are!
After the competition was over I thought to myself "what if they do this again next year?! I just submitted my best design!" So that's when I started to branch out and try some new things... Thankfully having practiced my carving skills my adventure into the unknown went pretty well and I only had maybe 1pumpkin that didn't turn out as I had hoped... It was meant to be a scary face but I just couldn't get it to work! Go figure... Pumpkin 101 and I find it the hardest to do! Anyway he is hiding in 1 or 2 of the photos but ssshhh lets just not mention it ok?
First up was this cute little number... Cause who hasn't loved hello kitty at some point?!
This was actually super easy to do and I used a small culinary pumpkin to make it even cuter! My advice to anyone wanting to give it a go is to draw a thin line for the out line and start by cutting the middle whiskers then the others, followed by the middle of the bow then the outer parts and then do the outline. That way if your bow or whiskers end up bigge than planned you can change the outline before cutting!
After that little cutie I followed up the next year with a slightly over the top number of pumpkins...
As you can see I had a little bit of pumpkin fever back in 2010! I wasn't making a costume that year so I had extra time on my hands: I think I used it productively!
First up in this crazy collection is actually the last pumpkin I did... I wanted to keep the traditional carved pumpkin until last: cause they are my favourite! So here's a few before and after shots to help you see how I do things.
As you can see I just draw my design on first and then cut it out. As the meerkat says "simples!"
My tip for anyone wanting to try this one is to start with the inside of the letters with hollows... O, R, A... And then start from the middle and work your way out. It helps keep support in the pumpkin and should help stop letters snapping but you do still need to have a gentle touch.
Up next came a floor vase, 3 small pumpkins, drawing pins, nail polish, some knitting needles and a small rope light... Can you guess what it is yet?! No? Well here's the answer...
This was super easy and quick to do. If you are going to try it out make sure and pre screw holes for the knitting needles or garden stake, I used a corkscrew which worked well for the size of knitting needles I used. Without the stake running through them the pumpkins won't sit vertically so this fiddly part is most definitely worth the effort.
And last but not least in 2010 was the giant spider!
Again I used a stake to keep the head and the body together and cut a small slice off the bottom of the head so it lay flat. The legs are just long fluffy pipe cleaners twisted together and glued in to corkscrew holes. You can see in the picture below the tops of the legs are slightly thicker and that's where they were twisted together.
The are simply black pearly beads, some super glue and some sewing pins to hold them in place and the fangs (which you can see in the pic below) are simply 2 pumpkin seeds glued on!
This makes a fabulous outdoor pumpkin during the day and at night can be simply lit up by candles in jars. The flickering candles outdoors make it almost look like it's moving! Soooo sooooo creepy!! *shudder*
So all together in the dark the 2010 collection looked a little something like this...
(PS - The pumpkin lanterns are from partylite)
For 2011 I was asked by the produce department to do a little display pumpkin which had to last for 4 weeks! Yip 4 weeks in an air conditioned store... If that's not a difficult challenge then I don't know what is! So as carved pumpkins were a big no go this is what I came up with:
I ordered different coloured duck tape - white, yellow, orange, red and black - and cut out tiny squares to make a chequered circle to represent the moon and then matched the edges with a mix of all the colours to make almost a diamond shape of colour so that the moon stood out but the pumpkin could still be seen from the back and sides.
The trickiest part was out lining the moon in black and the silhouette of the witch but I just took my time and did a piece at a time. This was time consume but well worth the effort. Oh and in order to hang it I used the trusty old cork screw and made two holes and pushed the trusty knitting needle through and then ran a straw over it, glued the staw in place with hot glue and removed the kitting needle before threading string through the straw.
Oh I should probably have said this at the start but always start by washing down your pumpkins with a mild bleach solution or dettol spray and be sure to dry them properly to stop any undue rotting.
I know this has been a super long post but I just have one last pumpkin experience to share with you...
The pumpkin patch! Oh yes!
Now if like me you didn't grow up in the states pumpkin patches were the thing of legends until Cairnie farm in Fife started to grow them a few years ago. Naturally I was one of the first ones there! My pumpkins weren't that experimental that year but I had so much fun at the farm I wanted to go back to basics... Not turnies! Just pumpkin basics and carving! So here are a few pics of my first day at the pumpkin patch -
Note - you will need a strong BF to pull the cart!
And don't forget to pick up a teeny tiny cutey pie pumpkin before heading home to put your pyjamas on and carve...
So that's the mega post finally finished... Phew! I hope you managed to find some inspiration for your own pumpkins in amongst my excited ramblings and if so I'd love to see what you do!
And as for my creations this year...? Well you'll just have to wait and see... Make sure and follow me on Instagram and Facebook for sneak peeks and of course images of the final creations!
I hope you all have a hauntingly good time over the next week and remember to stay safe and be seen when out and about... Because we wouldn't want it to be you that goes bump in the night!
Love always
L x
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