Ella's first pumpkins

The artists are hard at work

John and I take our Halloween pumpkins very seriously, trying to increase difficulty with each pattern we do every year.  However, I think last year we reached our pinnacle on finely detailed patterns.  I'm pretty sure that we would have needed to take artistic sculpting classes in order to continue with the extra-hard patterns!  This year, we took a break and didn't follow traditional patterns for carving -- John picked out a gourd, but changed his mind on his original idea.  He was going to carve it, but once he cut the end off, we all decided that it was clearly a carnivorous gourd eating the tiny pumpkin.  From there, it was a group effort to make his angler fish.  I think it turned out wonderfully!

Ella's and Dad's pumpkins together. Cute side by side with scary

I painted Ella's pumpkin for her, but she did sign her work when it was all done.  We were going for a handprint or two, but she was not cooperating with that idea, so I stuck out a foot for stamping.  Ella looks so confused at what we had done to her, but she really needs to understand that as my daughter, this will not be the last time she is involved in a messy craft project!

I also went with a new design this year.  After everyone had finished their pumpkins, I just didn't have the energy to start hollowing out my own pumpkin.  I picked a simple painted pattern that wouldn't stress out my tired mom-brain, but I think I might tinker with it over the week.  Maybe add a little to it.  Not sure yet. You know me, rarely satisfied with a craft project.