Halloween is almost here and so it’s just about time to think about carving those pumpkins that have been sitting on the porch.
You may have noticed that people have gotten a lot more creative with their carvings over the years and this is due in part to the variety of easy to use stencils available online. Many of the designs are free and can easily be found with a quick search. Some websites offer patterns for a fee, but they are typically much more elaborate and unique. There are templates which feature your standard Halloween related images but also there are many with your favorite movie or tv characters as well as several celebrities.
by Ray Villafane
many pumpkins
Of course we know our readers would be interested in carving their pumpkins to reflect their favorite football teams. Some of the most wanted designs are for National Football League team pumpkin carving templates, unfortunately due to licensing free team patterns are hard to find.
We did, however, find several kits for various teams available for sale on Amazon.com Or you may use your team as your source of inspiration and come up with your very own unique design.
Some team websites do offer a few designs to show the trick-or-treaters who you root for. For example, AtlantaFalcons.com is running a contest to give you a chance to design your own Falcons pumpkin, or use the stencils they have provided, for a chance to win a Matt Ryan signed helmet.
The Arizona Cardinals have a Pigskin Pumpkin Contest. The object of the Contest is to create an original photo that shows your Arizona Cardinals pumpkin. In order to enter, participants must post an original picture of their decorated pumpkin on the team’s official Instagram which can be found at; www.Instagram.com/azcardinals
using the hash tag #PigskinPumpkin. The prize is a Tyrann Mathieu autographed jersey. The team also offers several free stencils for fans to use.
Pumpkin stencils are widely available and come in a variety of difficulty levels. There are also computer programs available that can transform an image into a pattern for you. With a few adjustments to the color and contrast you can use just about any good image editing software to transform a photo into a pattern. Maybe this is the year you carve a pumpkin with your favorite, or maybe LEAST favorite player’s face on it!
It is also easy to make your own stencil the old fashioned way. Basically all you have to keep in mind is “cut away the gray and the white hides the light” and it will be easy to draw up your own templates using paper and a sharpie. You may also get creative and use props on your pumpkin to make it really stand out.
There are people who make their living as extreme pumpkin carvers. Their work is amazing and is sometimes done on artificial pumpkins in order for the work to last. They come in all sizes, are hollow, and constructed of low density foam. Some artists incorporate several of these fake pumpkins stacked together to create enormous designs and incredible works of art.
In this video, Extreme Pumpkin carver and best-selling author Tom Nardone from http://www.ExtremePumpkins.com gives some free tips about how to easily and quickly carve pumpkins.
And here are some examples of what you can do with your pumpkin
And don’t stop with the pumpkins; decorate the entire house using some lights and special equipment. There are many videos of people who have done just that. Here is a sample of how you too could make your house the most popular one in the neighborhood. And hold on to that equipment, it will come in handy for Christmas too!
Happy Halloween!
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