Black Cat O’Lanterns: You’ll need two pumpkins and a cucumber or a skinny gourd for this jack-o-lantern twist. Spray on some black spray paint and light them up for glowing eyes black cat decoration. Details found at Sunset.com.

Captain Jack…O’ Lantern: Having a pirate themed Halloween? Here’s a cute tutorial for how to make a pirate Captain Jack-O-Lantern. Tutorial provided by DavidandJennilyn.homeip.net.

Glowing Black Pumpkins: Here’s a twist to the Jack-O-Lantern scene–paint pumpkins black and carve out your designs. Especially eery when lit up at night. Details and instructions found at MarthaStewart.com.

Halloween Gourd Craft Project - Making a Gourd Jack o’Lantern: Here’s how to design and make a jack-o-lantern from a hard shell gourd. Gourds make a better jack o’lantern because they can last forever. You may choose to use a pattern or draw freehand directly onto the gourd. Instructions provided by AmishGourds.com.

How To Carve A Pumpkin: Basic instructions for how to carve a pumpkin. A well carved pumpkin will impress your friends, neighbors and best of all, your trick-or-treaters! Found at PumpkinCarving101.com.

Pumpkin Carving With Stencils: Basic instructions for how to carve a pumpkin with stencils. Details found at PumpkinCarving101.com.

How To Halloween Spooktacular - Video: A few ideas shown how to glam up some pumpkins, make a pumpkin drink cooler as well as basic instructions for how to carve a pumpkin. Video shown on Tipnut.

How Do You Keep a Jack O’ Lantern From Rotting?: Details of pumpkin preservation experiment, Summary of Results:

• White glue – Preserved pumpkin for 6 days. Profuse mold and rot.
• Acrylic spray – Preserved pumpkin for 9 days. Profuse mold and rot.
• Vaseline– Preserved pumpkin for 9 days. Profuse mold and rot.
• Bleach– Preserved pumpkin for 10 days. Minimal mold, some rot.
• Control– Preserved pumpkin for 14 days. Minimal rot, some mold.
• Pumpkin Fresh – Preserved pumpkin for 14 days. Minimal mold, some rot.

Pumpkin Carving Tutorial: If you ever wanted to carve a pumpkin design that is truly spectacular and a work of art–this is the tutorial for you! Instructions from Villafanestudios.com.

Pumpkin Carving Video: Nice demonstration show how to carve a pumpkin using a stencil. Also gives a tip to use a power tool when cleaning up the carvings and cuttings to easily provide a cleaner finish.

Pumpkin Pattern - Creepy Cat: Carve out the eyes and mouth for a glowing, fierce cat (template download: creepy cat pdf). Design found at MarthaStewart.com.

Pumpkin Pattern - Flying Bats: Design for advanced pumpkin carvers, Flying Bats Template Download (pdf). Design found at MarthaStewart.com.

Pumpkin Pattern - Flying Witch: A beautiful witch design with a star studded sky and a half moon in the background, design is for advanced carvers. (Template download: Flying Witch). Design found at MarthaStewart.com.

Pumpkin Pattern - Vulture: An intricate design for a vulture. Vulture template download (pdf): Details found at MarthaStewart.com.

Pumpkin Pattern - Witch: A very detailed template design of a witch. Witch Template Download (pdf). Design found at MarthaStewart.com.

Pumpkin Pattern - Scarecrow Scene: Cute and colorful design for a scarecrow scene. Template Download (pdf). Design found at MarthaStewart.com.

Pumpkin Patterns - HGTV.com: Several easy to do pumpkin patterns for beginner carvers to download. Nothing too elaborate but I dig the retro Hippy Flowers! Patterns found at HGTV.com.

Pumpkin Patterns - PumpkinGlow.com: Great patterns to download for pumpkin carving including Americana, Christian, Famous People, Animals and on this page you’ll find Disney Characters, Cartoons and more. Files are in pdf format.

Pumpkin Patterns - PumpkinLady.com: You’ll find dozens of amazing pumpkin patterns here free to download. Styles include scary faces, cartoon characters, regular jack-o-lantern expressions, Americana and more. Great stuff!

Pumpkin Patterns - PumpkinMasters.com: Only three free patterns to download, but they’re good ones. Cartoony Jack-o-lantern expression, a creepy pirate skull and the last one is a cat with a half moon and stars. Files are in pdf format.

PumpkinGutter.com: No stencils or tutorials here for pumpkin carving, but do check this site out–the pumpkins displayed are incredible! Just click on one of the pumpkins in the sidebar and you’ll be directed to the gallery. There are also some neat Pumpkin Facts listed too.

Tips For Taking Great Pumpkin Pictures: Photography tips for taking great pictures of your glowing (and spooky) jack-o-lantern creations. Instructions found at Instructables.com.