We were coming up on our 2nd quarantine Halloween and Halloween is my thing. I love Halloween and I've passed the love of the season down to my daughter. She was nearly 16 and I knew the years of us spending our Halloween's together we running short. I decided to that I had to do something big this year, something memorable. My daughter's favorite Halloween movie as a kid was "Halloweentown". I decided that I wanted to have the Halloweentown pumpkin for my house. I started the easy way, looking for something similar that already existed that I could purchase but I came up empty. I found a few large scale pumpkins and jack-o-lanterns but nothing that was really what I was looking for. So, I decided that I would try to make it. I looked up videos online of crafters making giant pumpkins out of foam or paper machete but not being much of a crafter myself (at least at the time), it seemed out of my league. My last resort was to look for a prop maker that would make it for me. I emailed a number of companies with no response. My little project wasn't too enticing for the some of the professional prop makers out there. Just when I was going to give up, I struck gold. I got a response from Las Vegas Props (Las Vegas Props Studio | Design and Fabrication ). Denny responded to my email. Halloween props was how he got started in the business and he was willing to make it for me. I sent the reference photos and he got to work. I leave in Phoenix, so when it was ready, I needed to make to drive to Las Vegas to pick up my new family heirloom. I borrowed by husband's pick-up truck and drove to Vegas with my mom and daughter.

We got to Denny's shop and he opened the door, I could see this beauty inside and I was overjoyed. The craftmanship on this thing was amazing. It was better than what I had pictured in my head. He helped us get it into the truck and wrap it in blankets and foam for the trip back. The pumpkin is round and we didn't want to dig into the foam by securing the tie straps too tight and we were worried that they would slip off because there wasn't really anything to rest them on.

It was dark by the time we were heading back to Phoenix and if you ever driven between Phoenix and Vegas, you know it's just a bunch of desert and at night, it's pitch black and kind of spooky. My daughter kept an eye on the pumpkin in the back and another car past and shined it's headlights into the bed of the truck, she saw the pumpkin rocking back and forth. It was going to fall out!. I slowed down and quickly pulled off the side of the road. Now we stopped, the three of us, on the pitch black road, in the desert. I was petrified. I wasn't sure if I was more endanger of a truck driver not paying attention, some sort of wild animal or a serial killer lurking near by or all at the same time. We got out of the truck and used the lights of our cell phones to check out the pumpkin. The tie straps had completely come off and the pumpkin would have fallen out of the truck if we hadn't stopped right then. I climbed in the back of the truck and attempted to re-strap the pumpkin in while my mother held her phone for light. My daughter kept watch for snakes and murders with pepper spray in hand. It felt like it took forever to get it strapped back in and my heart was racing. Just then, a red truck pulled over and stopped behind us. They may have been stopping to see if we needed help but to us it felt like we were about to get murdered. We hurried back into the truck, locked the doors and made it back on the freeway. We were breathing as if we all just had a near-death experience.

We made it home but it was worth every bit of anxiety. This pumpkin is amazing. We got so many compliments and children in our neighborhood stopped to take photos with it all season. This is one of my most treasured possessions!

Supplies Used:

1. Foam pumpkin

2. Model magic clay (Crayola)

3. Wooden dowel

4. Hot glue

5. Faux greenery/leaves

6. Bucket/Pot

7. Floral foam

8. Moss

9. Acrylic Paint

10. White cardstock or craft board

Steps To Create

1. Fill your bucket or pot with the floral foam

2. Push your wood dowel into the floral foam and secure with hot glue

3. Carve your pumpkin to create a mouth and carve a whole in the bottom of the pumpkin where you will insert the dowel.

4. Paint your pumpkin green

5. Use model magic to create the lips and wait overnight for it to dry

6. Paint the lips red and touch up any of the green paint

7. Use a faux leaf to create the tongue, paint red

8. Use the craft board or card stock to create the teeth

9. Secure the pumpkin onto the dowel

10. Hot glue the tongue into the mouth and hot glue the teeth on

11. Add leaves to cover the wooden dowel and up along the back of the pumpkin.

12. Use extra hot glue to create the vine/veining on the pumpkin and paint the veining darker green.

13. Cover the floral foam with moss to create a finished look

Supplies Used (So Far, this is a work in progress)

1. Plastic skull

2. Monster Clay (Medium Cray)

3. Clay carving tools

4. Clear spray acrylic

5. Acrylic Paint

6. Cheap top hat from Amazon

7. Cheap gray wig from Amazon