In lieu of carving pumpkins this year, we opted to paint them instead. They’ll be plenty of time for intricate, messy pumpkin endeavors when the kids are a little older. For now, I decided paint would be just fine — after all, paint is their favorite art medium. They were thrilled to take it to a 3-D canvas!

G had a lovely (and “scary”) face going for a while….but later opted for an abstract approach.

R’s took on a pastel, soft feel…and so we later dubbed it “The Cinderella Pumpkin,” donning it with iridescent glitter before the paint set.

After a few more tweaks, such as buttons and flat-bottomed glass marbles glued on for extra pizazz, our pumpkins were porch-worthy. Ready for Halloween!