Pumpkins art. How to carve, make the animals etc..

It's raining and cold outside, all stores are full of Halloween home decorations, pumpkin markets are everywhere. It's October and it's Halloween time. What is the first thing that your imagination is drawing when you are thinking about October 31? I believe its pumpkin. Its time to carve them and create an exclusive home decoration stuff using them.

Today's how to' post will be not exactly a tutorial. This will be collection of ideas with some how to steps. I hope these ideas will inspire you and your home will be full of fall colors, happiness and beautiful handmade autumn decorations.
Let's start from the beginning. Halloween is not Halloween without scary carved pumpkin.
See the ideas of simplest carving:

We will need the following materials:
1) Pumpkins
2) Marker
3) Knife
4) Plate
5) Spoon
6) Сutting board
7) Tea lights
8) Alcohol
9) Printed picture. This picture will be used as pattern for carving. Like these:

 

Let's go.
Step 1. Wash pumpkin, using some alcohol liquid wipe it. Remove top part of pumpkin (it will be cover with 'tail')
Step 2.  Remove all pulp and seeds. Put them to the plate. You can dry seeds and then eat them - it is tasty and useful.
Step 3. Cut out your pattern from the paper and attach it to the pumpkin using push pins or needles. Outline it using marker (of course you can draw the picture without any template). Remove pattern. Take a knife and cut all the way through the pumpkin follow your pattern. If any remove rest of marker lines using some napkin and alcohol.
Step 4. Left it for 12 hours. It should dry a little bit. Put the tea light inside. Done.

Some tricks: if you pumpkin start to fade - put in in the water for couple hours. In cover of pumpkin do couple holes or else the light will fry your pumpkin. If you put some cinnamon inside or just scented tea light you will have not just excellent romantic light but also tasty smell.
Next step of pumpkin art - create tiger or bear.
Lets start with tiger.

Take small pumpkin or squash for nose. Cut top of medium pumpkin (it will be tiger face), remove seeds and pulp from both. Cut out opposite from face side of medium pumpkin for putting nose and lights there. 

Use marker to draw the tiger face. Follow your pattern cut about half of inch of width of pumpkin skin. Fix the nose in the head using toothpicks. Clean up the big pumpkin. It will be the body. Attach the head to it. Instead of  paws use small pumpkins and toothpicks for fixing it. Put light in medium pumpkin. Tiger is ready! 

Next one in our pumpkin zoo - little bear.

For bear you need pumpkins that have different size. 

For body and head take the biggest ones. To attach head and body you can screw through both pumpkins and put the stick(s) on hole(s) and plant another one to on stick(s).

You need four long pumpkins or squashes. Cut their tops and remove seeds and pulp. Attach them to body definitely in the same way you attached head. 

Ears: you need small pumpkins. Cut them to the half and attach to the head. 

Eyes and nose:  they can be created from the smallest pumpkin using the same technology as for ears. 

I gave you some ideas and the basic steps for simple pumpkin art. You can create much complex pumpkin stuff. Good luck.  

Sources of the materials used for preparing this tutorial: http://home-sweet.ru/; http://www.podelki.lifemammy.ru; http://akak.ru/; http://www.babylessons.ru/; http://women.itop.net; http://pozdravimka.com/