I happened across this completely out-of-this-world photo while blog hopping this morning. I SO want to make this. I actually have a pattern for some similar little mice, and the pumpkins would be difficult but not impossible to find. I have seen similar pumpkins around, but the expense might be ridiculous. Also, I will never find belt buckles like those. One might suspect that all of this impossibly clever craftiness would originate with one Martha Stewart. However, one might be wrong...it actually came from last years Hallmark Magazine. I checked the website, and much to my disappointment, it has gone belly up just like my FAVORITE magazine of all time Mary Engelbreit's Home Companion. How that mag could not exist is beyond me. Anyway, I thought I would post the instructions for the pumpkiny transport device here. I found it on a blog called www.artsanddafts.com. Photo and directions are from Hallmark Magazine. If this doesn't make you feel all Halloweeny inside, I just don't know what will!
How-To Make the Carriage Pumpkin:
You'll Need
- 3 ornate metal belt buckles
- 1 pumpkin, about 12 inches tall
- Pencil or marker
- Knife
- Craft glue
- 1 ornate lamp finial
- Cordless drill fitted with ¼-inch bit
- 4 gourds, about 4 inches tall
- 2 quarter-inch dowel rods, cut to the approximate diameter of your pumpkin
- 4 ornate drawer pulls
- Heavy-gauge florist's wire
1. Trace the inside of each belt buckle on the pumpkin with a pencil and cut to create openings for two windows and a door. Glue the hardware over the openings. Remove or cut down the stem until it's even with the flesh of the pumpkin, and twist the finial into the top.
2. To create wheels, drill a hole through the center of each gourd. Insert one dowel rod into the holes of two gourds to create an axle, and secure with glue. Repeat to create a second set of wheels. Finish off all four wheels by inserting a drawer pull into the outside hole of each gourd for hubcaps.
3. Line up the two sets of wheels next to each other at about the same width as your pumpkin. Then wrap wire from one dowel rod to the other to fasten the axles together and to create a webbing for the pumpkin carriage to sit on.
4. Gently place your carriage on the wire.
I do believe little white mice can become cheese-loving footmen with cute little noses.
I do believe that large pumpkins can become sweet smelling carriages with a slightly damp interior.
I do believe in Fairy Godmothers.
