This Halloween, we decided to carve our pumpkin into an owl (you know…as a nod to Will). So a few weeks back, we went to our local pumpkin patch and picked out the perfect pumpkin. And of course worked in a photo shoot of our little guy while we were there. of course.
Soon after we got it home, I brought up the Martha Stewart website and was completely inspired by this owl tutorial. So I went to work cleaning out the innerds.
Will was my assistant. And of course, I worked in another photo shoot. of course.
This is his first experience with leaves. He loved em. And can you believe it was 80 degrees out just a week before Halloween? Crazy warm weather here in the south.
As Will was attempting to eat all the rotten leaves, I had a lightbulb moment. The pumpkin was big enough to fit Will inside. Enter a very smiley Katie here. But the hole I cut in the top was too small for his little potbelly. So I just cut another…bigger….hole. And of course, squeezed in another photoshoot. of course.
He didn’t really like it. But such is the sacrifice for his mother dearest’s photo album 🙂
Back to the carving…
Jeremy was excited about this ‘family fun activity’ because it involved power tools. Maybe next time we go for family fun time, I’ll just tell him to bring the drill. Apparently it puts the ‘fun’ in ‘family fun’. As a note…we drilled much bigger holes than Martha calls for.
Will was being a camera hog. Sometimes I can’t get the little buggar to want to look at the camera but others…well….he can’t stand not being the center of attention. his face is hilarious.
Ok…so I just sort of went with the inspiration. Except we didn’t have a way to carve those little feather chest curves…until I pulled out my melon baller. And we didn’t do the ears (I just realized) but since ours has it’s stem, I feel like he’s a wise old owl that is wearing a hat. Because obviously all wise old owls have headware.
And we didn’t carve out a hole in the mini pumpkin eyes…we just cut them in half before toothpicking them to the face.
And here he is all lit up. Cute, huh? I also just want to take this time to say, I will forever love the whole let’s-use-christmas-lights-inside-the-pumpkin idea. You can use toothpicks or bobby pins to ‘pin’ the lights whereever you want them. That’s how the lights are so bright at the top of the pumpkin….oh the things you can’t do with a standard ole candle.
Yeah. It’s cute. The owl really needs to have it’s own photoshoot. Of course, Will would be involved. of course.
So did you carve something this year? What or whoooo was it?
Very cute owl! Here’s a tip we learned when carving pumpkins. If you cut the hole out on the bottom of the pumpkin instead of the top, you have much easier access for candle lighting, and we like the way the top looks when it remains uncut. You can get a leaning pumpkin to sit flat this way, and it’s easier to cut the bottom flat so that the candle will sit well. Candle wax leakage is an issue though, we always set ours on something.
Happy Halloween,
I’ve loved your Halloween Spooktacular photos. Will looks so cute in all of them. Great tip about the Christmas lights. I use the store bought light packs that can either be strobe or natural candle flicker. I like not having to worry about the candle blowing out or kids costumes catching fire. I also love the idea of taking a picture inside a pumpkin. I wish I had thought of that too.
Take care,
Lisa
Great idea!! I will try that next time! 🙂 🙂 Thanks!
Love the pictures! He’s so cute!!!! 🙂 The pumpkin looks great! We carved pumpkins…I have a pic on facebook so I will add it to your wall to see. LOL
that’s amazing!! definitely saving this idea for next year!
ps – you have sooo many amazing shots of your baby! what do you do with all of the photos (besides put them here!) i would feel the need to print and frame every one! photobook?
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the Owl pumpkin, such a great idea! Will looks so cute in that pumkin with his little hat!
Um, that’s incredible!
I couldn’t believe that 80 degrees last week. The 175% humidity made it missssserable. Here’s to hoping fall has finally fallen in Atlanta!
That is one awesome owl pumpkin! Very impressive. How do you think to do that???? Love the pics of Will in the pumpkin too 🙂
Will in the pumpkin is too cute! If we have kids, I’m so going to mimic that! And next year, I am so trying the pumpkin owl. It’s awesome.
Love this owl – I made have to steal this (if you don’t mind) for next year!
Love the owl pumpkin!!!!!
Those pictures of Will are absolutely adorable and I LOVE the owl pumpkin!
I actually just wrote about carving my first pumpkin – not as cool as an owl, but still – so much fun!
Hi there! Love the photos! And Will is just adorable. I was wondering if you had ever read a blog by a mom/photographer from Florida- Enjoying the Small Things http://www.kelliehamptom.com. If not, you should check it out. Your photos remind me of hers.
Love your blog!!
Megan
Hi Claire,
I’m still figuring that out. I do have a BUNCH of photo albums but I am contemplating the idea of creating photobooks for each year. Just seems like a whole lotta work 🙂
xo- kb
That’s how we always did it growing up Holly…but since I was contemplating using the giant pumpkin as a planter (you know…if I ran outta time to carve and wanted to still get the spirit of fall on our front porch!), I just carved the hole outta the top…good thing too because that is what inspired me to put my baby inside. Those photos are now priceless to me…so it was definitely a happy accident 🙂
xo – kb
Very happy accident! The photos are darling…you really have a gift!
Sooo cute, Katie! I love your pumpkins– both Will & the owl!
& that blurry picture of Will made me laugh! Very cute! 🙂
Love your owl! So cool.
These are our masterpieces – proud of them I must admit!
http://styleandcentsability.wordpress.com/2010/11/01/idea-gallery-halloween-decor-last-of-the-year/
You are a creative genius! Those photos of Will are absolutely beautiful 🙂
No way! I actually carved an owl in my pumpkin, since my boy is loving owls! How funny! (haven’t put a photo yet though) – I love how you did the feathers!
Gorgeous pictures!! What a little model Will is 🙂
oh my gosh, that owl pumpkin is soooooo cute! seriously, you are like the mini-martha! well done, my friend! 🙂
That picture of Will inside the pumpkin is adorable! What a great picture that is!
oh my gosh, you are so creative!! my mouth dropped when I saw that precious pumpkin (Will and the owl)… so cute!!!
It was McClain’s, our baby, 1st Halloween too! I was telling friends how great it is to relive the holidays through your kids. So, we totally went overboard as well. I even made him his costume and bought him some glow-in-the-dark skeleton pj’s. Love the photos glad you had a happy Halloween.
I have been eyeing that Pumpkin Owl project for years! I saw it on a Martha calendar when I was in grad school and couldn’t keep my eye off of it. So now that I am a homeowner I told myself, “This is the year I make the owl”. It didn’t happen. I didn’t even carve the pumpkin I did buy. Even more depressing is we only had 3 tricker treaters. This means we only have 76 containers of Play-Doh left. (we’re that house, the one that doesn’t give out anything that contains sugar)
Those glasses are INSANE!
I want to wear them & be Harry Pottah! Your sister is super talented!
Love the owl!
I love your owl pumpkin! Next year I am definitely going to try that!
i LOVE that owl. you are so talented – I would have ended up with a pile of pumpkin innards if I tried to make something like that. it is really really cool!