“Jack Skellington” Halloween Pumpkin Carving

Happy Halloween! This year I wanted to give my pumpkin a menacing expression to add a extra spooky feeling to my porch. I added a extra-wide smile and evil eyes to make my jack-o’ lantern even creepier!

I went online and googled “Jack Skellington Halloween Stencil” I printed it out, taped it to my pumpkin and began to carve away. I must say there is something very therapeutic about carving a pumpkin, indeed!

If you don’t want a pumpkin with “Evil Eyes”, you could look for any one of the following stencil ideas: Classic Jack, Fright Night, Spooked Illumination or Creepy Crawlers!

Cut out the lid on an angle, not straight up and down. This way the lid won’t drop inside the pumpkin when you replace it.

Scoop out all the pulp – and then some. You can buy a special “claw” for this, but an ice cream scoop will do just fine. To preserve your pumpkin you can clean it with peppermint dish soap. Dilute one tablespoon of peppermint dish soap in a quart of water. Pour it into a clean spray bottle. Lightly spray the inside of your pumpkin. Peppermint is an anti-fungul and will slow the decomposition process.

You can poke holes along the perimeter of the stencil and pull the stencil off and carve along the dots. This will keep the paper from getting soggy and tearing while you try to trace the stencil while it’s still taped onto the pumpkin.

I find that it’s easiest to push the pieces out that you carve from the inside-out.

There he is! I bought some plastic eyes and inserted them into the pumpkin for the extra Evil Eye.

Sprinkle a little cinnamon inside the lid. When you light your candle, your jack-o’-lantern will smell like a pumpkin pie!

Happy Carving and have a safe Halloween! xo Nikki