Decorating the house with carved pumpkins has been one of the most popular tradition, apart from dressing in Halloween costumes and collecting candies. If you wish to decorate your house with some carved Halloween pumpkins, then you will need some funny or scary pumpkin carving templates, and some other supplies to do the carving. Make sure you select small or medium-sized pumpkins for carving. Avoid large pumpkins, they are difficult to handle. While small-sized pumpkins are perfect either for painting pumpkins or carving. They are easy to handle, easy to carve or paint on, and get finished quickly. Also, small-sized pumpkins stay in shape for longer. If you wish to pick pumpkins directly from a patch, then pick small-sized pumpkins and cut them with two to three inches of the vine still sticking to the pumpkins. Where to Find Them? There are many sites on which you can find spooky carving templates or some fun designs. Just do a quick online search on different patterns and pick some simple to do carving patterns. Choosing simple, solid, and easy to use Halloween templates is important, as intricate designs are difficult to carve, if you are a beginner to carving. How to Make Easy Carving Templates? If you don't have an Internet connection, then you can make your own easy carving template or go to a superstore to find some sample carving template. In the superstore, you can find various cool-looking carving templates like that of stars, Jack-o'-Lantern, smile face, skulls, etc. However, if you have some Halloween ideas in mind, then you can make your very own templates. Take a clean sheet of paper and a pencil, then draw some solid drawings. You can use eyes and lips design to make various expressions. Or you can use some simple evil skull drawings. You can also draw witches. Avoid adding too many details, basic silhouettes are perfect as carving designs. If you want the most simple ideas, then stars, butterflies, a witch hat, moon, bats, or some simple geometric designs can be also used. How to Use the Stencils? Once you have the various carving templates, you should make stencils. Use a photocopier machine to increase or decrease the size of the carving design, so that it fits perfectly on the pumpkin. Once you are done with this, take a carving knife and cut a circle around the stem end of the pumpkin, and with a spoon scoop out the fibers from the center of the pumpkin. To make carved pumpkins Halloween crafts, stick the templates onto the pumpkin using a sticky tape. Then use a push pin and make a dotted outline of the stencil pattern on the pumpkin surface. This will serve as a guideline for carving. Then peel off the paper and carve the design inside the pumpkin. Apart from using the templates to create some spooky-looking pumpkins, you can also use some special effects for further decoration. You can place some green, yellow, or red lights to add some dramatic effect. You can also place some thick mesh clothes or fake webs to create old, spooky place-effect. You can also make razor-sharp teeth in the pumpkin carved face and apply some ketchup to the mouth to make it look more scary. So, what are you waiting for? Download some pumpkin carving patterns, and select quality pumpkins and use the above tips to create awesome carved pumpkins for this Halloween!