If you love making a jack-o-lantern every Halloween you’ll probably make one again this year, too. But, if you make the jack-o-lantern, and you still have a craving for more pumpkin creations, it’s a lot of fun to make a pumpkin village. You can display it inside as a centerpiece or outdoors as a tribute to the season. The pumpkin village, for some, is a welcome change from the frightening jack-o-lantern of tradition, and for others, fits right in with the scary pumpkins.
Use assorted pumpkins or ones which are similar in size and shape – depending on way you want your village to look. Wash the pumpkins and let them dry completely. Cut a circle out of the bottom of each pumpkin and scoop out the meat and seeds. Replace the bottom for now.
Print out templates of the fronts of houses online. Adjust the size of the pattern to fit the size of your pumpkin. Tape the chosen template to the pumpkin. Draw an outline of the building on the front of the pumpkin, using the template as a guide. Remove the template.
Color in the front of the building with a black marker but leave the windows unpainted. Give the marker time to dry then use a craft knife or Exacto knife to cut out the squares and rectangles that are the windows. If you want, cut pieces of colored cellophane and cover the windows with it. Go in from the bottom and use push-pins to secure the cellophane over the windows. Instead of trying to cut a tiny piece to go over each window just cut one large piece and cover the entire building, if the building has many windows.
Even if you make pumpkin houses that all look the same you can label each building by writing “Post Office”, “Haunted House”, or other names across the pumpkins with a marker. Paint the stem of the pumpkin black.
Remove the bottom of each pumpkin and put in a battery operated candle. These can often be found at a dollar-theme store if you’re trying to make the pumpkin village on a small budget. Just make sure the inside of the bottom piece you remove is flat to accommodate the candle.
Arrange the pumpkins all in a row or group them together. Arrange other things around them, like Spanish moss or leaves – even arrange small gourds around the pumpkins. No matter how you set them up, or
Pumpkin Village at Country Living