Pumpkin Decorating

Decorated pumpkins don't always have to be carved, they don't necessarily have to be spooky, they don't have to portray faces all the time--heck, they don't even have to be pumpkins. Hence Pumpkin Decorating treats us to all manner of pumkinesque Halloween decor: carved, painted, glitzed, beribboned, beflowered, befeathered, and otherwise bedecked pumpkins, as well as some gourds, straw hats, fabric pumpkins, even a pumpkin face painted on a fishbowl. In addition to the expected contingent of really good scary ones (werewolves, Frankenstein monsters, witches, and other ghoulish characters), pumpkins and their kin masquerade as spiders, bats, vultures, robots, a truck, and many other clever concepts (more than 80 in all). Many are front-of-the-house sorts of decorations--they'd look great grouped on the front stoop, the lawn, or in the window. Others (like those sporting artificial flowers and leaves) will work nicely as centerpieces or for indoor tableaus. Complete directions and templates are given for all, plus general painting, carving, and embellishing techniques. --Amy Handy