Posts Tagged ‘Halloween’

Non-Ghoulish Pumpkins

Tuesday, October 26th, 2010

We’re coming up on Halloween and most years I like to try out a new technique with my pumpkin carving and decorating. I’ve seen ton’s of scary faces, black cats, and ghouls in the past, so this year I’m ready to go non-ghoulish with my pumpkins. I’m in love with the non-traditional white and colored pumpkins for this years decor and can’t wait to try out some new tricks this Fall. Today I’ve put together a collection of great new pumpkin decorating and carving ideas to get your creative juices pumping for the upcoming holiday:

Mum Flower Pumpkin
Begin carving as you would with a jack-o-lantern. Carefully cut a lid (keep the stem!) and remove the seeds and pulp. Using a drill or nail, poke small holes around the shell, just wide enough to insert flower stems. Select mums in oranges, reds and golds. Cut the stems about a half inch from the flower head, long enough to poke into the hole. Space holes so adjoining flowers cover the pumpkin flesh. Start at the top, and work your way down until the pumpkin is covered. The number of mums you need depends on the sizes of the blooms and your pumpkin. Keep the inside of the pumpkin moist; flowers will last two or three days.

Nail Head Pumpkin
Use white, gray or spray painted pumpkins. Make dots on your pumpkin where you would like your nail heads to be in the pattern of your choice. Push in your decorative nails or tacks. Decorative nails available at DIY Upholstery.

House Number Pumpkin
Stack small, medium and large pumpkins (remove stems, except for the top one). Then use a stencil and crafts knife to trace the outlines of your address numbers. Scrape the pumpkin skin out of the stenciled numbers, revealing the lighter pumpkin flesh underneath.

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Get yer mask on

Monday, November 2nd, 2009

Picture 1What were you for Halloween this year? Greg went as Zombie Steve Jobs, mock turtleneck and all,  and Corrina rocked a Medusa costume. I didn’t dress up, but saw a lot of great costumes around Portland and on Twitter. Via @rainnwilson, check out this photo of a little girl dressed as Dwight from The Office. Cute!

The notorious balloon boy from Colorado was a popular costume, but Swine Flu easily took the number one spot. Word is, area costume shops sold out of pig masks weeks ago.

As seen on BrandFreak.com:

Billy Mays tops list of brand-spokesman costumes for Halloween

Other than selling us a bunch of crap, infomercial king Billy Mays left an indelible impression on some us. So much so that he was voted the brand spokesman most likely to win a costume contest this year. The Geico caveman was second, and the Geico gecko was third, according to a poll from First Call, Octagon’s celebrity and acquisition division. (As AdFreak mentioned earlier, Billy Mays’s son will support you if you want to go as his dad. He even wants pictures.) Kayne West was voted the celebrity whose mistake could make him a popular costume this year. (One would assume a Taylor Swift would have to be in tow.) Second and third in that category were Michael Jackson and Jon and Kate Gosselin (in Jackson’s case, that’s a weird use of the word “mistake”). For the kids, Hannah Montana was voted the licensed character that will most likely be popular this year. Dora the Explorer and characters from Where the Wild Things Are were a distant second and third.


Happy Halloween from the Dev team.

Thursday, October 29th, 2009

Here are a nice couple of pumpkin things we made in blender. Feel free to download the blend files and see how we made these happen!

Here is this .blend file


Wicked Designs

Wednesday, October 21st, 2009

Let me tell you, the designer in me loves Halloween! I don’t know what I like more, the costume creation or the pumpkin decoration. When it comes to pumpkins, I love to go beyond the traditional jack-o-lantern and experiment with new designs, techniques and pumpkin varieties. Here is a little inspiration:

Pumpkins

Check out these links to try some of these for yourself.
Monogramed Pumpkins
Etched Pumpkins
Pumpkin Carving with Cookie Cutters
Stenciled Pumpkins