Attention all carvers – with just a few days to go, we’re Googling like crazy over here to find a tool that will make our carving dreams easy this year. Lo and behold, we found the Pumpkin Shop Program – and this program has it all!

“Pumpkinshop is the first pumpkin carving program on the Internet to allow users to carve the most basic to the most elaborate patterns. It is a computer program that takes any image you want and transforms it into a pumpkin carving stencil. The stencil can then be taped onto a pumpkin and carved out. Have your friend’s face carved within an hour, or go all out and carve the coolest, most detailed pumpkin that will impress every trick-or-treater on the block!”

The program includes video tutorials, too! The best part – it’s only $12.95 and you’ll be able to use it year after year.

Order the Pumpkin Shop Program

That’s what I’m talkin’ about!

Deadline for pumpkin carving submissions:
Tuesday, October 30th, 2007 5PM CST

6 Carving Days remaining!

Current entries: 18

(New entries are added each morning from the previous days submissions.)

Enter Your Carving!

Deadline for pumpkin carving submissions:
Tuesday, October 30th, 2007 5PM CST

7 Carving Days remaining!

Current entries: 14

(New entries are added each morning from the previous days submissions.)

Don’t Forget to Enter Your Carving!

The Pumpkin Carvings are rolling in for my Third Annual Pumpkin Carving Contest … have you carved yet? This is the weekend to do it (for those in a cooler climate)!

We’re ready to go with our template CD, battery operated carvers, and color changing lights to set inside of our pumpkins. I picked up 6 pumpkins the other day, as well – so now it’s all about clearing off the table and making a big mess!

Believe it or not, I’m not big into Halloween itself. I do, however, totally encourage and promote the craft of carving – it is absolutely an art form to carve something from a blank “canvas”, and it’s SO cool to see them lit up!

You can find battery operated carvers and lots of really fun template books at your local “Super” marts, be it the “K’s” or the “W’s”, they also have a nice supply at Walgreen’s.

If you’re having a hard time getting a good photo of your carving lit up in the dark, here are a few tips to get a great shot:

• Use a tripod, or a box to set and steady your camera on.
• Turn the flash OFF.
• Use your timer! I don’t know anyone able to hold a camera steady enough in the dark to get a good, glowing photo.
• Play with your shutter speed, if you can. If it’s not open long enough, you don’t get enough glow. Too long, and it’s too much glow. Try a few different settings to get that shutter speed just right.

I can’t wait to see more carvings – they are really are getting more and more creative and beautiful by the year!

The THIRD ANNUAL Intricateart.com Pumpkin Carving Contest is now open! If you’ve carved your pumpkin, go on and get a Wicked picture of it and enter the contest!

PRIZES:
(1) $25 AMAZON GIFT CERTIFICATE
(1) AUTHOR SIGNED COPY OF WORDPRESS FOR DUMMIES
(Lisa Sabin-Wilson, Author : November release)

VIEW THE CURRENT CARVING SUBMISSIONS!
  

LINK IT!

Copy this code to link:

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<a href="http://intricateart.com/blog/2007-pumpkin-carving-contest/"><img src="/wp-content/uploads/2007carvinglink.jpg"/></a>


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Save this image and link to either the contest entry page, or the carving page!
The image is 145 pixels wide, a good width for blog sidebars. 😉
 

Are you into Halloween? Yes? Then you might dig this design I just launched over at LifeCruiser. It is SPOOKfreakyTACULAR. You must go see it. Right now. Wait – hold on – turn your volume up a little. Okay.

Now go.::muaaaahahahahahaaaaa::

P.S. The Cap’n is also having a blogwarming party tomorrow (Friday) so stop over for that, too!

“How does one become a butterfly?” she asked pensively.

“You must want to fly so much that you are willing to give up being a caterpillar.”

~Trina Paulus

The quote at the meeting this week is so appropriate. Without these meetings, I might not keep things like this in mind, I would definitely not feel like I am holding myself accountable for my health and in turn – my weight.

Keep reading »

I added another new blog design to my portfolio this weekend, putting the finishing touches on Miscmum late Friday night (early Saturday morning, Aussie time!). She made the leap from Blogger to WordPress (smart, smart girl) and she’s still getting her feet wet working in the admin panel and finding her way around.

I fixed her up with a whole new custom design – built her own personal privacy fence, you might say. I added some VIP (very important plugins) to her installation, among them are Instant Upgrade and PlugInstaller. These are two biggies that will really get her going in the right direction. (Also, for those of you wondering lately where the preview pane went with your upgrade, you need to grab the Preview Frame plugin.)

Go on over and welcome Miscellaneous-Mum to the Wonderful World of WordPress, let her know what your favorite plugin is, and make sure you add her to your feedreader, too!

I wanted to show you this last week, but I couldn’t. I wanted to have a chance for Laura to receive her copy before I showed anyone. Now that she has hers, I can show you mine.

This, my original painting from Laura’s photo, is one of my favorite paintings. Within just a few weeks of completing this piece and making it available, the original painting was marked sold and I wondered if I would ever be able to have a copy of it even for myself.

At 18″ x 36″, the painting is massive and took nearly 10 scans at 300dpi, painstakingly pieced together over hours of waiting and praying that my virtual memory wouldn’t crash my system. My critical eye saw areas that needed smoothing, better blending, balance, and when something didn’t match up quite right, I scanned that area again.

It took me several hours, and several Tylenol. The end result is a file. One single huge 90MB file records every little brushstroke that I invested in this Heron.

Finally, I was able to have it put it to print. On canvas, even. Gallery wrapped canvas. It’s not quite the original size, at 15″ x 30″ it’s a few inches smaller than the original painting – but it’s wonderful, and I’m so pleased with how it turned out. It’s not as crystal clear as my painting (of course I’m very critical, it is my work I’m looking at), but it is good. It’s better than any of those other joe-shmoe prints at Target, the quality and durability FAR surpasses any of those.

Of course I had to have one for myself, and it is only right that since Laura permitted me to use her amazing photograph as reference material, she get a print as well.

Now he’s a focal point, of course, right beside the piano, you see him when you walk from the kitchen into the living room and family room. When I pull Chickeymonkey’s hair back in the morning she has two places to turn her head toward while I do her hair. First her eyes are on Jesus (a framed print), and then she turns to the Heron.

“Look at the Heron”, I tell her. And we both do. He rocks.

(I have not decided yet whether this print will be made available to the public.)

    Annie, Momo & Callie Custom Portrait Set
4″ x 4″ Oil Painting
3/4″ Traditional Profile Wrapped Canvas
© 2007 Leanne Wildermuth
All Rights Reserved

 

Here are Annie, Momo & Callie’s final portrait painting images – you can click them for a larger (actual size, or very close) view in my portfolio. Of course you are welcome to leave feedback about their portraits in my portfolio as well! These three little 4″ x 4″ custom paintings are already on their way home and all their Mama needs is three nails and a hammer, as they’re ready to put right up on the wall.

If you’re considering getting your own portrait (Christmas is coming – I saw geese flying South this morning!), you can find sizes and pricing both in my shop and on my order form.