Hey Halloween fiends, it’s time for another contest. Zombie Pumpkins offers its own breed of unique pumpkin carving patterns that are definitely a cut above the rest. Every year many new stencils rise up and the website itself even transforms with a new design and theme. This year’s theme is “Night of the Zombie Pumpkins“. In honor of these recently reanimated creatures, 5 lucky winners will get a full membership to the Zombie Pumpkins stencil library. That’s nearly 200 spooky stencils for your pumpkin carving and other artistic activities.
There are 2 ways to enter the contest;
Contest runs October 23 - 27, 2008. Get your comments/entries in by midnight PST on 10/27.
Fine Print: 5 winners will be chosen at random. Be sure to use a valid e-mail address so we can contact you if you win. Your privacy is important and no one but 365 Halloween and Zombie Pumpkins will have access to your e-mail address. Winners must respond within 48 hours or that prize goes to the next person. And leave genuine comments if you opt to enter with method #2. Spam and one word comments are not eligible.
For more chances to win Zombie Pumpkins goodies, be sure to submit photos of your carved creations to their annual contest!
I’ll bet your potion cupboard could use a little added mystery. Whose doesn’t? Download these magical and menacing potion labels from Love Manor and have your glue stick at the ready. Transform your spice jars and empty booze bottles into such concoctions as Life Renewal Potion, Scrumptious Earth Worms, and our favorite, Snake Oil. They all have a gorgeously designed, decaying vintage look.
For a next to free alternative, some Dollar Tree stores have a ghastly collection of potion labels, too.
For the most unique and spectacular Halloween goodies you really can’t do better than handmade. The diversity, quality and imagination beats the pants off any of the mass produced Halloween items. Etsy - the epicenter of handmade items sold online - has put together a spooktacular Halloween gift guide that features quite an array of treats; costumes, decorations, jewelry and accessories, toys, cards, spooky art, and even food. Now you can support independent artisans while decking out your haunted mansion in style.
This conceptual “bloody table” design by French designer John Nouanesing would make a killer Halloween decoration. It’s not available for purchase, but you could probably make your own version.
Either start with an old table you already have and remove the legs or get a piece of plywood. Attach some skinny wooden dowels as table legs. For the blood effect try liquid latex or spray foam (expanded polystyrene). Around the edges of the table it looks like craft foam might be the best option for easy shaping.
But as with all DIY Halloween projects, there are probably many methods of making it look amazing. Just experiment and see what you come up with. If you make your own Bloody Table, leave a comment and let us know how it turned out!
Alexa at SwellDesigner let us know about a weekly Halloween Craft and Idea project that she’s working on this year. She has been posting a tutorial each Tuesday for a variety of Halloweeny decorations and goodies. Here are some great ones;
In addition to her own projects, she is now adding a Halloween Crafts and Ideas Roundup that will include other spooky projects from around the Internet. If you’re the DIY type, be sure to check back weekly for more creative inspiration.
There’s always something new going on at Zombie Pumpkins. Proprietor, stencil illustrator, webmaster, and zombie-wrangler, Ryan, is a man of many talents and ideas. Not content to let his site rot like an old pumpkin, it receives a steady creative transfusion every Halloween season. So what’s new at the best pumpkin carving pattern site on the Internet?
- Each year a new zombie-related theme for the website is chosen and for 2008 it’s “Night of the Zombie Pumpkins“. As always, there’s an amazing new site design to go with it. It’s seriously worth it to visit the entire site just to see how detailed and cohesive the design is.
- Each year Zombie Pumpkins chooses a new charity to raise funds for. This Halloween your purchase of a “Monster All Access” membership will help Free Arts for Abused Children. (You will also get some exclusive bonus pumpkin patterns!)
- Finally, the real guts of the site are the amazing new pumpkin stencils that come from Ryan’s original illustrations. The collection is already huge, but he adds new designs all the time. Freshest from the pumpkin patch are shown below. For those about to carve, we salute you!
