Better Homes and Gardens: Hole in one for pumpkins

Better Homes and Gardens (MCT) - Knock out a fun jack-o'-lantern in no time with these easy techniques from Better Homes and Gardens magazine.

KNOCK OUT PUNCH

A plunger-type apple corer lets you tap out circles from an assortment of pumpkins and winter squashes. Mix and match the multicolored circles to create polka-dot patterns.

SMACK DAB

It's a cinch to cut perfectly round holes in pumpkins and winter squashes with a plunger-type apple corer. Use orange pumpkins, yellow squash and other gray or white varieties and mix and match punched out holes. Small children may need the help of an adult and a rubber mallet to push the corner through tough pumpkin shells. Discard the cores for lighted pumpkin designs, or swap different colored cores to create new "breeds" of squash.

POLKA PUMPKIN

A gray kabocha squash may be studded with cores from yellow, orange and green squashes.

GHOSTLY GOURD

Tap a metal biscuit cutter with a rubber mallet into a white pumpkin to create two large eye holes and a gaping mouth. Cut pupils and teeth from eye sections with an apple corer. Attach pupils and teeth with toothpicks and dribble a few seeds from the pumpkin's mouth for extra spookiness.

FRESH FLOWERS

Use an apple corer to punch flower centers and a triangle clay loop tool to carve petal designs.

FAST AND FLASHY

A big "Boo!" looks like it took hours, but with the help of a plunger-type apple corer, large letters are easy to knock out. Be sure you get the scary point across by using a serrated knife and a metal biscuit cutter to create a simple exclamation mark.

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© 2008, Better Homes and Gardens.