Amazing Pumpkins!

Well it’s getting to that time of year again when the pumpkin carving kit comes out. As i am still trying to decide what to carve this year i have been searching the internet for ideas. Last year i did this spongebob pumpkin that won me a huge bag of Halloween goodies courtesy of Asda as previously shown here in last years Halloween antics post. This year i am just so undecided on what to do so if anyone has any ideas of what i should attempt to carve on my pumpkin this year please feel free to leave me a comment below.

Anyway before i get side tracked and start babbling on even more, i will get back on track now, where was i…oh yes that’s right. I was searching the internet for ideas when i came across some of the most amazing pumpkin carving i have even seen in my life. So although this post is not cake related i thought i would share with you all anyway so you can appreciate the amazing skills of this very talented artist.

Master Pumpkin Carver Ray Villafane brings his skills to The New York Botanical Gardens, October 21, 2012.

Food Network Challenge winner Zombie pumpkin carving by Ray Villafane

Here are a few more of my favourite pumpkin carvings by Ray Villafane.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/53074154@N00/5122573290/

If you would like to see more out of this world and truly amazing pumpkin carving designs from the brilliantly talented Ray Villafane

Check out the gallery on his website villafanestudios.com

Just be prepared to be amazed!!

A very crafty gift.

I can honestly say that i was truly delighted by the gift my sister-in-law gave me. I excitedly removed the wrapping  to uncover these handmade beauties.

A personalised very much-needed 2011 diary.

and an ever so cute mobile phone holder.

I love, love, love them and how cute do those cupcakes look. Thanks once again Lyndsey they are fabulous.

All things Gingerbread part 1

One thing that i automatically think about at this time of year is Gingerbread. I love the taste of it and even more i love the aroma that wafts through the house as it is baking. Infact you could say that i love all things Gingerbread.

The other day as i was taking a peek at other WordPress blogs i found one that had a picture of this fantastic Gingerbread village.

This beautiful Gingerbread village was made by Veronikas mother and it looks like a huge amount of work went into it. For more images and information of this stunning village, take a look at Veronikas interesting blog Lalomino.

If you like to be creative and want to have a bit of fun, without the mess or even keep the kids occupied whilst you construct your own Gingerbread house.

Take a look at these fun, virtual Gingerbread decorating sites.

Home sweet home.

Highlightskids

Or if you would rather decorate your own virtual Gingerbread man then you need look no further than this site.

Sprint Sweets.

After all, everyone loves a Gingerbread man and how could you not like these cute little guys.

Here are some of my favourite and very amazing Gingerbread creations. These definitely have the wow factor.

Sheratonpk

Sheratonpk

The next one looks like somewhere i could see myself living, it looks so warm and inviting, oh so cosy.

ijosefsen

Watch the construction of the Ginormous Gingerbread house at Walt Disney.

Pumpkin Carving….the first attempt.

Well after making those deliciously scrummy Pumpkin and Ginger cupcakes the other day, I decided i wanted to make use of all of the pumpkin. First i put the pumpkin seeds to one side ( I have plans for these but that will be in another post, sometime soon). I then turned my attention to the pumpkin and decided instead of throwing it away, it might be fun to have a go at carving it. This also doubled up as a good excuse to have a practice before Halloween aswell ( I won’t tell anybody if you don’t). I didn’t want to do the usual face on a pumpkin and i wanted to try something different. After finding some really cool sites on the internet with fantastic pumpkins that really are out of this world, I decided to do my favourite *cough* err i mean my children’s favourite cartoon character. Yes you guessed it, he lives in a pineapple under the sea, so why not also be carved out of a pumpkin……Spongebob. This was my first time carving a pumpkin in this way, usually I just cut out triangles for eyes, a triangle nose and a mouth, not very imaginative I know but hey. So as you can see this was going to be a lot different to norm and quite a challenge, although I always love a challenge. I think it took somewhere around 1 1/2 to 2 hours to complete but i am happy with the result. It is a little bit rough here and there (which probably comes from not having the proper equipment and having to improvise by using a chopping knife). Also i made a few mistakes but on the whole i love it…….I think i may have just found myself another hobby!

This is the finished carved pumpkin.

and this is the effect with a tea light placed inside, then lit and the lights turned off.

Here are some interesting pumpkin related websites that you may wish to visit.

http://www.pumpkincarving101.com

This next site is called Extreme Pumpkins and is one of my favourite sites and not a cute pumpkin to be seen anywhere. You have been warned. It was here at extreme pumpkins that i first saw my all time favourite…..the pukin pumpkin designed by Tom Nardone who is also the creator of the extreme pumpkins website.

Since creating the website Tom has also written 3 books, head on over to the extreme pumpkin website and take a look for yourselves.

http://www.extremepumpkins.com

Here is a site that has some free pumpkins carving patterns

http://www.ehow.com/halloween/templates.html