I don’t normally decorate for the holidays much. I have a string of jack-o-lantern lights I hang across my front bay window and call that good. This year though, I have a kitten (she’ll be a year old on Halloween) and I don’t know how well the string of lights will fare once I hang them.
Some years I carve pumpkins when I get bored, and as much as I love all things natural, I get very discouraged by how fast they rot once they’ve frozen and sat out on the porch. They usually never make it to Halloween. So this year I decided to get some foam pumpkins to carve up.
Since I’ve been working from home the past two weeks while I recovered from Influenza A I figured carving a Newfie pumpkin would be the perfect crafty task to accomplish while I was on one of my breaks through out the day.
Spoiler, it took more than one break to get it done.
Gather Your Pumpkin Carving Supplies
Supplies Needed for Dog Pumpkin Carving
- Pumpkin(s), real or foam, you can carve or paint as many as you want
- Stencils
- Pen or Marker
- Sewing Pins
- Utility Knife
- Sandpaper
- Candles
Cut out the Dog Stencil and Trace it onto Your Pumpkin
Once you have gathered your supplies and picked the design you want to use, cut the stencil out.
If you choose the standing silhouette, you do not need to cut out every little detail. All you need is the basic shape.
Once the stencil is ready, attach it to your pumpkin using sewing pins and trace around the edge. I used a sewing pen, but you can use any kind of pen you want. A sharpie would probably work best.
Cut Out Your Shape
Now that the shape is traced onto your pumpkin, it’s time to cut it out. I used a utility knife (because that’s all I had) and really struggled to get the shape cut out without it looking like a preschooler did it. I imagine it would be way easier with a pumpkin carving set.
Once I had the shape punched out I was hit by the stank of chemical foam from the interior of my fake pumpkin. It was definitely more than a little bit hard on my lungs while I was sick. If you do choose to use a fake, foam pumpkin, be sure to carve it up in a well ventilated area.
Sand Your Edges and Add a Candle
The edges in the image above look rough. Thankfully I had some sandpaper laying around and was able to smooth them out. Once the edges were smooth, the only thing left to do was wait until it was dark and add the candle. Since I had a fake pumpkin, I used a fake candle. It only made sense.
Get Your Stencils
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