Lintini, I did Indiana Jones last year:

Jersey, we’ve got all of 6 houses on our street, lol.  I think we had about 35 kids last year which is a lot more than I was expecting, but it was our first year here so I wasn’t sure what we’d get.  This year the high for the day is supposed to be really, cold…. 3C (37F) so I’m not sure how many we’ll get.

For anyone wanting to try this, I get most of my patterns from The Pumpkin Wizard site, at http://www.carvingpumpkins.com which right now has had to go to members-only because of the huge amount of traffic that they get.  But membership is something like $8 a year and theres over 1000 patterns on there so it’s pretty darn cheap!  I actually find this method of carving to be easier than doing the cut-through stuff (this is just scraping the skin off to various depths) because when I’m cutting into the pumpkins I’m always sure I’m going to slice off something I shouldn’t, either on the pumpkin or on me!

What’s scaring me right now is that the final 3 patterns I have planned are all ones I’ve made myself and I have absolutely no idea how they’re going to turn out.

– Annette

The 2 main tools I”m using: Dremel and wood carving tools. On the wish list for next year: clay loops and a flex shaft for the dremel.
– Annette

Teach?!  I’m still learning!!  lol.  Everything I’ve learned so far has been either from the tutorial at http://www.carvingpumpkins.com or from the amazing people on the forum there.  For the past 2 year I’ve watched the Food Network pumpkin challenges and been able to say “Oh hey I know him from the forum!” about at least one of the contestants.  Nothing like learning from the pros!

If you want to see some really amazing pumpkins you can check out http://www.villafanestudios.com/pumpkins.htm.  The Pumpkin Wizard at carvingpumpkins has some great carves in his gallery (he’s contracted to the Grand Old Opry every year), The Pumpkin Geek (http://www.thepumpkingeek.com/) is on the pumpkin forum although he’s pretty busy this time of year, and Noel does some great stuff including a Deathstar every year (http://www.fantasypumpkins.com)

– Annette

Yesterday’s 2 didn’t turn out nearly as well as I would have liked – I think I should stick to patterns others have made rather than doing them myself!

House looks way wrong to me.  He looks bloated, and a little demented.  Like he’s hosting House’s House of Horrors or something.  But I’m thinking I might need to thin his beard a litte because his 5’oclock shadow is looking more like a full beard to me.

– Annette

My semi-final pumpkin for the year (I want to add some heiroglyphs to Tut later):

– Annette

I think I could probably leave these ones in the garage until spring and they wouldn’t rot! I’ve been really worried about them lasting until tonight and the recommendations on the pumpkin forum are to do things like wrap it in plastic and put it in a fridge but there’s no way I have enough room in my fridge for these things. And then I realized wait a minute my garage (where I’ve been doing the carvings) is about 3C anyway right now, it’s basically a giant fridge! Now all I need to do is get the rest of the decorations up, figure out what I’m wearing to answer the door, and I’m set
– Annette