I'm losing it. Enough is enough! I STILL have about twenty pumpkins in my house...okay...probably more like thirty! I keep carving and they're like dust bunnies that keep mulitplying I swear! I carved at least twenty last week and there still seems to be as much as before! It's driving me crazy because, until they're gone, my brain can't move on to other ideas. I'm literally dreaming about them while my cats use them to play can't touch floor. 
Can you believe it's almost April and I still have REAL pumpkins in my house? I carved this little face yesterday...it's how I feel right now about the pace of life. I've lived on super speed my Entire life...with nary a vacation or down time. I really wish that were an exaggeration but it's terribly true. In the last few months I've filled my time with organizing my home and studio, clearing up clutter, and dealing with all of the recent budget cuts affecting my son's school and our local community...sooooo not fun. But now much of that is done, and I'm finding a schedule that is, well, relatively free. Not totally mind you! I spend my evenings running up and down the road for hours to get my son to various rehearsals...coordinating his schedule has literally become a part time job! But my day time hours have become, shall we say, less scheduled.
Yes, for the last century or more pumpkins have been associated with Halloween and Thanksgiving...but truthfully, they are just as beautiful when used for Christmas! White pumpkins, especially, make beautiful centerpieces when surrounded by red and green, or sculpted with snowflakes as luminaries in the snow, welcoming guests to your home. Next year, try something diffferent...Carve your Halloween pumpkin, but stretch your imagination and use them for the ENTIRE holiday season!
While being snowed in the last several days, I had the opportunity to watch "The Christmas Story" over and over...and over....again! One of my favorite scenes was when Schwartz was Triple Dog Dared to stick his tongue to the flagpole...which he did....and all his friends left him there! So, to all the fans of this movie, this ones for you!
So today, shoppers everywhere were buying computers, cameras, sweaters....me? Well, I'll give you three guesses! I bought 13 to be exact...lol appropriate number for me, don't ya think?
When decorating your little mini pumpkins, forget the craft store and visit an office supply store! A million mulit-colored push pins become perfect pumpkin accessories. My little artist friend, Sam, created this mini pumpkin spaceship out of his favorite colored pins. It was quick, easy and, best of all, lots of fun!
Yet another of my all time favorite carvings. I carved this portrait of Necromancer for the game Guild Wars awhile back. It was one of the most challenging carvings I've ever done. What the picture doesn't show are the braids extending around the pumpkin.
Isn't she gorgeous? Especially for a pumpkin!
Halloween is truly over! Oh, the Horror! And I still have a dining room of pumpkins to carve! lol maybe that's what the pumpkin dude is so worried about! Think I'll save him for last....
It's official. I have the best son in the world. How many other teens would volunteer to put a pumpkin on their head? And if that wasn't enough, pose? We got a lot of great shots in other poses, but this has to be our favorite. 
Last night I showed you the skull and crossbones our friend, Emma, made at dinner...now I'm showing you what I did with her leftover dessert (with a little leftover chocolate Oreo mousse from my son's cup as well!)! Emma also had a great idea to set one plate on top of another, creating a cute little stem for our pumpkin.
What character can you decide to be at the last second on Halloween? Charlie Brown of course! An old sheet, a couple of snips for eyes, and draw on more "holes" and you're done! So, we're trick or treating through town, my son, now Charlie Brown, carrying a bag that says, "I gotta rock." As we go into a store we hear a shout. "That's my buddy! My partner! Charlie Brrooowwwnn!!!" Lo and behold, Linus was right! The Great Pumpkin DOES exist and was more than happy to strike a pumpkinesque pose with his ole buddy Charlie Brown. 
It's not easy going to school late in life, juggling the demands of work, family, and constant schoolwork. It's even more difficult when one of your classes consists entirely of still lifes. Every week, we sketch bottles....flowers...vases...are you yawning yet? UGH! I hate drawing those! So I actually enjoy our homework assignments because even though I still have to draw a still life, at least I get to choose the subject matter, so, Halloween here I come! Pumpkins...skull cups...black cats...now those are the perfects subjects for me!
Isn't this little guy Far Out? Nothing like a happy alien to put a smile on your face - or on your pumpkin! We've added Far Out to our pattern list, and several easy friendly faces - Silas, Carl, Chuck, Fred, Miloh!, and Andy. (and yes, I was watching the Office and named this pumpkin after the character from the show!) And if you haven't checked out this week's free patterns, click through the Pattern Categories and you'll find seven new free patterns, all different than the week before. Just look for our little Spider, Freebie, and he'll show you the way!
Don't you just love getting things for free? I do! Today we've restyled the Patterns Page to make downloading waaaaayyyy faster for everyone. Just click on a Category to find your favorite pattern. But there's a bonus! Each week we add seven ALL NEW free patterns to the website. But you'll have to click on the categories to find them! And for all you Pumpkin Lady Facebook Fans, keep on the lookout for new Free Patterns that will be available for a limited time only for you...and yes, for all my UK buddies, we'll make sure you're awake when we post the next one!
Here's another snapshot of fun things to come for www.pumpkinlady.com. In the past, the "Gallery" has shown photos of some of my work. Well, there will still be photos, but of projects that you can do at home. My past work will still be able to be seen on The Pumpkin Lady Facebook Fan site. Instead of an Art Gallery, the page will become the Project Gallery. Way more fun! And if you have any ideas you'd like to share, send them in and we'll post them in the gallery as well. 
Friday night we headed downtown to an interactive art exhibit wherein the city became the exhibit! Giant arms extended from apartment buildings. Pairs of glowing shoes were strung from the trees. A wearable art fashion show lit the night and lanterns bobbed throughout the streets in the city's second annual In Light event. One particularly fun exhibit superimposed rotating rainbow lights against the back wall of the courthouse. If you stood in just the right spot, you became part of the show! My friend, Katie, took this snapshot of my son and his friend posing together to form this four-armed creature of the night. Next year, we're making huge lanterns to create our own little In Light moving exhibit...they'll look like pumpkins, of course! Join us!
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