Ever year we have our annual pumpkin carving contest.  Not a real contest, just the same friends vying for bragging rights and a “prize,” and every year I try to find a fun stencil that will win me the coveted first prize…which I had yet to win.  This year, I found a German Shepherd Pumpkin carving stencil from Better Homes and Gardens.  BHG put up pumpkin carving stencils for many of the favorite dog breeds.  FUN!

And for the first time in I’m not sure how many years, I finally WON!  My prize, a pumpkin scented candle, ironically, is also from Better Homes and Gardens.

My Suggestions

If you try this pumpkin, here are my suggestions, because half way through I thought it was going to be a complete disaster and was truly shocked when I actually pulled it off.

1)  Get a tool that is made for scraping the pumpkin skin.  I struggled with a horrible piece of plastic that made the detail work extremely difficult.

2)  Use the stencil as a guide, but I mostly looked at the pic and had to freehand the scraping part, but it turned out fine.

3)  If your pumpkin has a thick wall, which most do, scrape it down from the inside first.  It will make the cutting a lot easier and the light come through the scraping better.  Don’t make it too thin of course, but thinner.

4)  Watch out for that nose!  It is super easy to break off the nostrils.  I had to carve one out of scrap pumpkin and stick it back in with a tooth pick.  (shhh…you can’t tell).

I didn’t think I had actually pulled this off until I put a few candles in there and lit it up.  Amazing!  It actually looks like a German Shepherd!