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This year I get to hand out candy! This year I get to hand out candy! One of my favorite things in the whole, wide world is handing out Halloween candy. I love seeing the kids in their costumes and I love seeing their smiles. Besides actually taking my nephews to go trick or treating, it’s the best time I could possibly think to have on any night in October.
And while I am sad about missing out with the boys for the first year in forever, at least I’ll get to do something else I love.
In preparation I decided to make a super nifty candy holder out of a pumpkin. I decided I want it to be cute but yours can be any way you please. I’ll show you how to rock out one of these in no time flat.
For this project you will need:
- Large, carve-able fake pumpkin – This is 17″
- Hot knife
If you’ve ever wondered how people carve these nifty pumpkins that will always be good and never rot, you’re not the only one. In the past I’ve used an X-acto knife and even I tried to use the little saws from the fresh pumpkin kit and it was difficult.
So when my dad was all “hot knife” I ran out and got one ASAP. As it turns out, this is an amazing thing for my Halloween decorating!
Make sure you’re some place safe. This sucker gets freaking hot. I mean burn you up ER style. As long as you’re careful you should be good but accidents can happen. Please pay attention to what you’re doing.
First score the pumpkin with what you want to cut out. You’re only going to drag the knife across the very top of the pumpkin. This makes curved cuts a lot easier.
After you’ve made your shallow cut, follow along it to cut all of the way through. The knife will easily slice right through the foam. It isn’t like cutting butter or something like I had hoped, but rather a slow process. Just follow along putting a little bit of pressure to keep the knife moving.
Your first cuts might wind up being kind of rough, but no worries. Delicately trace your cuts with the knife and the jagged edge will peel up leaving a nice, smooth edge. If you linger too long, the foam will singe so pay attention to keep moving.
I’d really recommend starting with the mouth to get the hang of using the tool. Move on to the eyes. I am not confident enough in my drawing skills to do this straight with the hot knife so I drew with sharpie marker where I wanted to cut.
Follow the same steps to cut out your eyes. Drag across the cut lines to make a shallow cut and then follow along with the knife deeper in finishing the cut. Use the knife to smooth and clean up any rough edges.
Oh my gosh he’s so happy!
Filled to the gills with my favorite gluten free candy this sucker is so cute and getting a lot of visitors. Hopefully we have enough to hand out come Halloween!
