Gelie Beans and Sparkly Things: pumpkin carving for city folk.

since Halloween is upon us i though I'd share my Halloween craft of the year! vampire pumpkins! i originally saw the idea on pinterest and thought 'ooh' that would be fun! and easy! well fun it is, and easy, well I'll let you be the judge! here are the step by step directions to make your own vampire pumpkins!

here's what you need:

-small pumpkins

-fake vampire teeth

- a dremmel (make it SO much easier) or a really sharp knife

-a fork and spoon

-a black and red sharpie

-plastic bag for easy mess clean up

(beer isn't necessary unless you were doing this by trial and error like i was... haha)

first cut out the bottom of the pumpkin. use the dremmel (or knife) to cut a 2" diameter circle out of the bottom. you want it large enough to fit the spoon in there to get the pumpkin guts out.

use the fork to pull the bottom out.

once you clean the pumpkin out with the spoon, wash out and dry your pumpkin.

once you have a clean, dry pumpkin, you are ready to mark where you will cut the 'mouth' out.

start in the lower part of the pumpkin and find a good starting point. use your finger to mark the vertical length. the size of the vampire teeth vary, so use yours to measure. mine was about the size of my middle part of my finger. make a mark.

mark the horizontal spacing the same way. again, my vampire teeth were about the length of my finger from tip to knuckle, but yours may vary.

once you have all your marks, dremmel away! be careful as it will definitely spit out hot pumpkin mush all over the place, hence the bag.

once you have your mouth cut out, pull out the piece with the fork. you may have to go back and "sand" the edges back. it took a couple passes to get my opening clean.

once you have your clean opening, its time for teeth! simply place the teeth in the opening like you would your mouth.

bend them in half so when they open it will settle snugly!

voila!

now all you have left to do is draw in some eyes! i added some drips of blood too! this is the part where you can be super creative! we went for a spooky vampire look!