Happy Halloween!

I've been having so much fun surfing the web, looking at all of the blogs and websites out there. My hubby thinks I've been having TOO MUCH fun and spending too much time. Little does he know how much time I spend after he goes to bed! And I'm sure I've only scratched the surface.

How many of you out there remember making Christmas trees out of Reader's Digest magazines when you were little? Maybe you have to be as old as I am to remember them, but they were cool and fun to make. If I can find a magazine thick enough, I'll make one to show you. Anyway. I found a pumpkin that is reminiscent of those trees and I decided to make one. I got the idea at Creations by Kara. But I made a few changes. I used a really thick, hard cover book. I made my pumpkin shape and traced it on the book. Then I had my son cut it out with the scroll saw, cover and all. By leaving the cover on, it kept the pages from getting caught up in the saw blade and tearing to bits. (It also let's me use the cover to protect it when I pack it away.)

Then I removed the cover by slicing it off with an Xacto knife, cutting inside the cover between the cover and the front page.

With the cover removed, I rifled through the pages,

 "Fluffing" the pages so they don't stick together when they get painted.

I decided that I wanted to be able to close my pumpkin for storage, so I drilled holes to tie it shut instead of gluing it. When I put it away, I will just snip the threads, close it up and store it in the cover!

I threaded some really heavy carpet thread through the holes and pulled it up really tight and tied knots.

I trimmed the extra thread off so it wouldn't show and then pulled the two halves together, fanning out the pages.

I didn't have any wide green ribbon, but I did still have some of my Dollar Store leaves. (I think I'm going to get some ribbon, though, because I really like it!) Add to that some curly raffia and a piece of my treasured driftwood for the stem, and Voila!

My pumpkin!

 

My grandchildren really thought this was really cool. Wait 'til they get to make Christmas trees! Just remember, as you go through life...Attitude is everything! Until next time,