Pumpkin Carving Not for You? Try Painting

Want to decorate for Halloween but not wanting to go through the hassle of carving a pumpkin? (Nothing like slicing up the innards of an orange gourd to realize why being a surgeon wasn't in your future.) Instead of tradition pumpkin carving, try painting one instead.

In the above no-carve pumpkin idea, the gourd is really secondary to the decoration. Bold and eye-catching, chunky flat-backed acrylic jewels (the kind you loved as a kid) adorn a painted pumpkin. While any color paint would work, this black hue really lets the jewels take center stage. And what to do about the dull-colored stem? Make it metallic.