Pumpkin Carving, Part 5: The Hunger Games Patterns

UPDATE September 19, 2015: Want to learn how to carve pumpkins like these? I’m creating a set of step-by-step video tutorials. Check out Carve Awesome Pumpkins for more info!

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This is week 5 of my Pumpkin Carving series.  In case you missed any of the previous posts:

This week, it’s The Hunger Games!  There weren’t many patterns for The Hunger Games last year, but some great new ones are now available.

Hunger Games Pumpkins I’ve Carved

I haven’t had a chance to carve many Hunger Games pumpkins yet.

 

The Hunger Games Pumpkin Patterns — Free

Pink Ray Gun has the free Mockingjay pattern I carved:

Hunger Games Mockingjay pumpkin pattern

Down With the Capitol has a bunch of free patterns, from characters to the book covers, to each district’s symbol. Really cool! Here’s what the Peeta pumpkin looks like:

Hunger Games Peeta pumpkin

The Hunger Games Pumpkin Patterns — Purchase

Ultimate Pumpkin Stencils

Ultimate Pumpkin Stencils has a set of 11 Hunger Games patterns, available as a set and also separately.  (Just ignore the fact that Haymitch is labeled “Hamish” and Gale is described as “Katniss’ true love”. 😉  )

Ultimate Pumpkin Stencils’ patterns do not have shading, yet still look great.  They have the most patterns to sell in pop culture patterns.  Their prices range from $2-$5 if you buy the patterns individually, but if you buy the package, the patterns are a little cheaper.

They are running a sale until October 24th: Use the coupon code 2012deal to save 50% off your order of $20 or more. Perfect time to stock up on all the patterns you want!

Stoneykins

Stoneykins has 2 really great, detailed patterns available.  You can see one of them carved, above. There’s also a simpler one available. Click on the pattern to go to the website.

Stoneykins is my favorite source for detailed pumpkin patterns.  He creates hundreds of new patterns every year.  His prices are incredibly cheap: they are on a sliding scale based on how many patterns you purchase.  Packages range from $3-$25 — and you’ll never pay more than $0.60 per pattern no matter what package you buy.

Here’s a coupon you can use at Stoneykins:

stoneykins coupon

Check Out This Carving Master!

Alex the Pumpkin Geek is a professional pumpkin carver. He does some really awesome work — both in the carving and in the creation of the patterns.  If you’re interested in having Alex carve you a pumpkin, you can contact him through his website.

 

Next Week

Hard to believe next week is the last Sunday before Halloween! Where did October go?!  Next week, Part 6, I’ll be talking about and showing pictures of my carving process.

The following week, Part 7, will be a recap of the pumpkins I’ve carved this year. Some you’ll have already seen, but some will be new. At last two of them will be real pumpkins, which I won’t be carving until October 30 or 31.

Friday Finds: 5 Young Adults — Sci-fi, Paranormal, Contemporary Romances (October 19, 2012)

FRIDAY FINDS is hosted by Should Be Reading and showcases the books you ‘found’ and added to your To Be Read (TBR) list… whether you found them online, or in a bookstore, or in the library — wherever! (they aren’t necessarily books you purchased).

Some weeks I add several books to my list. I’ll be limiting my Friday Finds posts to 5 books each week. Those that don’t make this week’s list will be on next week’s. So many books, so little time!

Scarlet by Marissa Meyer
Goodreads | Amazon
Why I Added It: I just read Cinder and need to read the next book in the series!

Summary:

Cinder returns in the second thrilling installment of the New York Times-bestselling Lunar Chronicles. She’s trying to break out of prison—even though if she succeeds, she’ll be the Commonwealth’s most wanted fugitive.

Halfway around the world, Scarlet Benoit’s grandmother is missing. It turns out there are many things Scarlet doesn’t know about her grandmother and the grave danger she has lived in her whole life. When Scarlet encounters Wolf, a street fighter who may have information as to her grandmother’s whereabouts, she has no choice but to trust him, though he clearly has a few dark secrets of his own.

As Scarlet and Wolf work to unravel one mystery, they find another when they cross paths with Cinder. Together, they must stay one step ahead of the vicious Lunar Queen who will do anything to make Prince Kai her husband, her king, her prisoner.

 

Serial Hottie by Kelly Oram
Goodreads | Amazon
Why I Added It: I love tomboy protagonists and this one sounds like it will be fun.

Summary:

Hockey-obsessed tomboy Eleanor Westley has never been the object of a guy’s affection before. So when the hottest boy she’s ever seen moves in across the street and starts treating her like she’s the center of his universe, naturally she’s going to be a little skeptical. But everything starts to make sense when girls who look just like Ellie start dying all around the city. Obviously the new guy is the killer, and of course he only likes her because he wants to slice her into tiny pieces. Right? The more Ellie gets to know Seth the more she’s convinced he’s a psychopathic killer. Problem is, he’s the sweetest psychopathic killer she’s ever met. Not to mention he’s brutally hot. No matter how hard she tries, she can’t help but fall for him. Will Ellie find true love, or will her summer of firsts turn out to be a summer of lasts?

Death and the Girl Next Door by Darynda Jones
Goodreads | Amazon
Why I Added It: Love triangle + mystery = intrigued

Summary:

Ten years ago, Lorelei’s parents disappeared without a trace.  Raised by her grandparents and leaning on the support of her best friends, Lorelei is finally beginning to accept the fact that her parents are never coming home.  For Lorelei, life goes on.

High school is not quite as painful as she thinks it will be, and things are as normal as they can be.  Until the day the school’s designated loner, Cameron Lusk, begins to stalk her, turning up where she least expects it,  standing outside her house in the dark, night after night.  Things get even more complicated when a new guy—terrifying, tough, sexy Jared Kovach—comes to school.  Cameron and Jared instantly despise each other and Lorelei seems to be the reason for their animosity.  What does Jared know about her parents?  Why does Cameron tell Jared he can’t have Lorelei?  And what will any of them do when Death comes knocking for real?  Thrilling, sassy, sexy, and inventive, Darynda Jones’s first foray into the world of teens will leave readers eager for the next installment.

 

Time Between Us by Tamara Ireland Stone
Goodreads | Amazon
Why I Added It: Time and space travel romance, sounds angsty and romantic.

Summary:

Anna and Bennett were never supposed to meet: she lives in 1995 Chicago and he lives in 2012 San Francisco. But Bennett has the unique ability to travel through time and space, which brings him into Anna’s life, and with him a new world of adventure and possibility.

As their relationship deepens, the two face the reality that time may knock Bennett back to where he belongs, even as a devastating crisis throws everything they believe into question. Against a ticking clock, Anna and Bennett are forced to ask themselves how far they can push the bounds of fate, what consequences they can bear in order to stay together, and whether their love can stand the test of time.

Falling Fast by Sophie McKenzie
Goodreads | Amazon
Why I Added It: Sounds like a little bit of humor but possibly a bad boy love interest too?

Summary: 

When River auditions for a part in an inter-school performance of Romeo and Juliet, she finds herself smitten by Flynn, the boy playing Romeo. But Flynn comes from a damaged family—is he even capable of giving River what she wants? The path of true love never did run smooth …
This is real life, not a rehearsal…

Teaser Tuesday: The Plot Whisperer Workbook (October 16, 2012)

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
The Plot Whisperer Workbook

Challenge yourself to shape your character to reflect unique feelings, ones perhaps that show life differently than those traditionally depicted in stories. Only she feels about her life the way she does.

~ pg 27, Plot Whisperer Workbook

I haven’t picked up a new fiction book since finishing Cinder and now I’m in frantic planning mode for NaNo, so I don’t think I’ll be starting one anytime soon.  Then comes NaNo itself, so I’m wondering if I’ll make my Fall Into Reading goal to read seven more books by December 21.

In preparing for NaNo, I’ve starting working through the Plot Whisperer Workbook. I’ve read The Plot Whisperer, and quite honestly was more confused than anything.  I watched the videos and that helped, but I’m hoping that working through the workbook along side The Plot Whisperer book will help me get at least the framework of a plot together for NaNo.  We’ll see.

 

Amazon links are affiliate links.

Pumpkin Carving, Part 4: Harry Potter Patterns

UPDATE September 19, 2015: Want to learn how to carve pumpkins like these? I’m creating a set of step-by-step video tutorials. Check out Carve Awesome Pumpkins for more info!

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Welcome to week 4 of my Pumpkin Carving series.  In case you missed any of the previous posts:

This week is all about Harry Potter! I would love to have a collection of Harry Potter pumpkins just like my Twilight pumpkins. I’m slowly working up to it.  So far, I have carved these:

As you might expect, there are bunches of Harry Potter pumpkin carving patterns available online, both free and for purchase.

Harry Potter Pumpkin Patterns — Free

Stoneykins sells patterns, but he has 100 free patterns as “samples” and one of them is Harry Potter:

Pink Ray Gun has three free Harry Potter patterns:

Harry Potter Pumpkin Patterns — Purchase

 Stoneykins.com

Stoneykins is my favorite source for detailed pumpkin patterns.  He creates hundreds of new patterns every year.  His prices are incredibly cheap: they are on a sliding scale based on how many patterns you purchase.  Packages range from $3-$25 — and you’ll never pay more than $0.60 per pattern no matter what package you buy.

Here’s a coupon you can use at Stoneykins:

stoneykins coupon

Zombie Pumpkins

Zombie Pumpkins is a great resource for pumpkins that do not have any shading but still look great.  This site also has a sliding price scale, ranging from $2-$20. The most you’ll pay for a pattern is $1.

Ultimate Pumpkin Stencils

Ultimate Pumpkin Stencils is another site whose patterns do not have shading, yet look great.  They have the most patterns to sell in pop culture patterns.  Their prices range from $2-$5 if you buy the patterns individually, but if you buy the package, the patterns are less than $1 each.

Ultimate Pumpkin Stencils has a 12-pattern set, but you can also buy the patterns individually:

These two Deathly Hallows patterns are not part of the set:

Check Out This Carving Master!

Alex the Pumpkin Geek is a professional pumpkin carver. He does some really awesome work — both in the carving and in the creation of the patterns.  If you’re interested in having Alex carve you a pumpkin, you can contact him through his website.