Good Morning Texas-Pumpkin Palooza

I shared the tutorial for making dollar treat buckets revamped and the source for that on Monday.  

I shared the tutorial for these tissue paper pumpkins on Wednesday.  The steps and the source are all linked here.  

Last up...a quick little look at stenciling or free handing some fun designs on your pumpkin.  In this sample I just used a permanent marker.  You can also buy or print stencils and use colored markers or paint to decorate your pumpkins....you get to enjoy the decoration a little longer.  

 I added a sparkly spider to this pumpkin.  I snipped off the ring part of a plastic spider I had, mod podged the top, sprinkled with glitter and then glued it on.

Once you do carve your pumpkin, the best way to preserve it (according to everything I've read and done) is to soak it overnight in 1 tsp of bleach and 1 gallon of water.  Pull it out and each day after, spray it with a mist of the same solution.  The bleach helps keep the mold away, and the water keeps it from getting too dehydrated. This should be able to keep your pumpkin looking pretty good for a week.   I've also read you can spray your carved pumpkin with 1 T bleach and 1 qt water, and then rub petroleum jelly over it to keep it from rotting (the petroleum is supposed to somehow seal it in, and you don't have to keep spraying it down.  Let me know if you try that and find better results!