Madelaine Creates...Stuff.: A New Purpose for Your Pumpkin?

So I was browsing the interwebs and stumbled upon Fall decoration ideas, and I saw that someone made a vase out of a pumpkin: Too much time on their hands, or brilliance? Either way, I had to prove that I could do it too. If you want to know how, keep on reading!

MATERIALS:
A medium sized pumpkin, pumpkin carving knife or standard kitchen knife, pumpkin scooper or spoon, small jar or small vase that can fit inside of the pumpkin, and newspaper. (And of course later, have some seasonal flowers ready to put in the finished product.)

*Side note: Yes, a "pumpkin scooper" actually exists. Is that the technical term for it? I looked it up and apparently it is. You can't get much more literal than that. But who actually owns this...err.. pumpkin paraphernalia? Anyhow, I went ghetto and used what was in my kitchen.

STEP ONE: Prep your workstation with the newspaper. (Or your mother will get extremely angry if she discovers you got pumpkin intestines on her antique table.) Just spread out a layer as so:

STEP TWO: Using a pen and the small container that will later go into your pumpkin, (in my case I used a jar) trace around the circumference to get a general idea of how big your pumpkin's opening needs to be. (Later, you might want to increase the size to fit more flowers. In that case, just use your knife to make the opening bigger.)

STEP THREE: ASSASSINATE. Using the knife, carve around the line made in the previous step. I went all Assassin's Creed on my pumpkin.

Once you get that top off, scoop out the insides. (Tip: Save the seeds, soak them for a bit in saltwater to clean them, and roast them on a baking sheet with salt, or cinnamon and sugar!) The inside of your pumpkin should be pretty cleaned out like this: