Halloween came and went, and I never got around to carving the pumpkins that have been sitting on my front porch for weeks. I finally got a spare moment last night and this is what resulted:

I drew the checkers on the pumpkin and painted every other one in white and black using some craft paint I had laying around the house. Then I carved the gourd and the mini pumpkin for vases (I used a long, thin knife for the gourd) and filled them with fake flowers I made by simply cutting flower shapes out of black and white paper, layering them, and clipping them together with a clothespin. This is one of the easiest ways to make fake flowers, but there are hundreds of different variations. If I was in an exceptionally crafty mood, I probably would’ve made some like this.

The painted pumpkin won’t melt/turn into mush in the San Diego heat like it would if it was carved, and it’ll make a nice decoration through Thanksgiving!