Winkeland: Painted Pumpkins

If you really want to get into the Fall spirit, might I suggest taking a weekend trip up to the Central Coast and indulging in hay mazes, tractor rides, farmers markets, barnyard animals, and a working pumpkin patch. All this and more is what Morgan and I had the pleasure of taking part in last weekend at the Avila Barn.

Armed with my chilled apple cider and pumpkin scone, I tried to find the saddest pumpkin in the bunch to carve, somehow imagining that I was helping it live up to it's potential. Instead, Morgan and i decided to do something different this year. We bought white pumpkins and painted them.

The perks: Have you ever carved a pumpkin a week into October just to find that you're on your way to Trader Joes to pick up another one because yours rot in two days? The halloween spirit is all month, not just a couple days. Your carved smiles won't turn into frowns because of the mold. And, to the non pumpkin carving master, a paintbrush is more manageable than a knife .

D.I.Y

1: We took wet paper towels and cleaned the surface of our pumpkins

2: painted a think layer of white acrylic paint over the off-white pumpkin and wait a couple minutes to dry.

3: Proceed painting whatever your mind can create. (we used a set of acrylic paints from Joanne's Fabrics that cost a mere 3 bucks)

4: Optional: Just for looks, we went over our designs with a black sharpie, which works really well.