Project Jack-O-Lantern

Ok my little Ghouls and Goblins; it’s time for your favorite holiday! Halloween!!!! Get out your knives, and start carving your Jack-O-Lanterns.

I have a little confession to make…I spent $50.00 on this week’s arrangements. I couldn’t help myself! IT’S HALLOWEEN!!!!! My favorite time of year!!!!! Surely you can understand?!?! 

So here is what $50.00 bought me at the SF Flower Mart: Three Medium Sized Pumpkins, a huge bunch of Red Robert, dried Reeds, two bunches of Rice Stalks, and a bag of dried Water Lily Seed Pods.

Utensils: Pumpkin, sharp knife, metal spoon, two yogurt tubs, and a bowl to hold all the goop that comes out the pumpkins.

How to make a pumpkin vase:

1-   1- Cut a circle around the stem of the pumpkin that is equal to the diameter of the top of the   yogurt tub. You can be very precise about this and measure it, but I just eye-balled it. What’s life without a bit of human trial and error, eh?

2-   2- Empty out the goop inside the pumpkins with the metal spoon, and be sure to scrape the insides well to ensure that your pumpkin lasts a while.

3-   3- Once the pumpkin is emptied out, slip the plastic yogurt tub inside so that the rim sits right at the opening of the pumpkin.

4-   4- Pour water into the tubs, and start to get creative with the flowers. A good way to gauge how you’d like your flowers to be placed in your vase is to know how and where you’re going to use the centerpiece. This will determine the shape of your arrangement; tall and columnar, spherical and short, or natural and sprawling. 

For those of you that haven’t carved a pumpkin into a Jack-O-Lantern before, here are some easy tips on how to carve one:

1-   1- first two steps are identical to the pumpkin vases

2-   2- Once you have your hollowed out pumpkin, using a sharpie pen, draw your design onto the pumpkin and with a sharp paring knife cut outside the drawn lines until the pieces pop out.

3-   3-  Place a tea light inside the pumpkin, and light it up! 

Once the arrangements were complete, I took them down to the courtyard and set them up beside the fountain to help accent the entry. Happy Halloween!