Sunday Afternoon Project

Sunday afternoon is my diy project time, this past Sunday I decided to carve the pumpkin we picked up  a week ago from our local farm stand. Being 9 months pregnant I wasn't really relishing the idea of grabbing my carving knife and hacking away at slippery pumpkin skin (not that I suggest anyone do this). So I decided to use my etching tools (mine are made by Speedball). I did hollow out the pumpkin and of course made roasted pumpkin seeds, this recipe by the way is great and easy. I like to freehand my stuff so I got a dry erase marker and sketched out the design. The carving was quick and smooth, I think it only took me an hour to do. I was so excited for night to fall so that I could see it lit up, although there were some doubters as to how well it would light up. Here is the owl glowing: 

As you can see it lights up very effectively, but I think I will carve out the moon a bit more. We tried a candle but decided that it was a bit risky, especially because I rubbed this thing with vaseline (this is a good way to preserve the pumpkin for a little longer) and I have heard that it can be flammable. So we stuffed a bunch of old Christmas lights into the pumpkin and cut a hole in the back to thread the plug through. 

My husband got into this project once there was proof that it did in fact light up. I think we are going to do a couple more pumpkins. Maybe a raven? Or just a family of owls? 

I was inspired by this guy, you can check him out here.