Halloween is upon us and, as ever, it’s a craft lover’s dream. There are various ways in which you can personalise a pumpkin-carving session to suit your skills and ideas: designing a scary face is only the beginning. Gourds lend themselves to etching, skinning, painting, stencilling – even pointillist perforation.

A home-made Halloween pumpkin vase is easy to create using basic tools you’ll have in your kitchen or garden shed. Filled with autumnal blooms or silk flowers, it makes a fine centrepiece for a dining table, looks great above a fireplace – or put it in a window or by the front door for visitors or passers-by to enjoy.

Kit’s DIY pumpkin vase: step by step

What you’ll need

  • A medium-size pumpkin
  • Sharp kitchen knife or bread knife
  • Ladle or scoop
  • Marker pen
  • Small watertight pot or vase
  • Autumnal flowers of your choice: fresh, dried or silk
  • 1

    Wipe the surface of your pumpkin clean. Sit it on a tabletop or on the floor.

  • 2

    Using a marker, draw a line around the circumference near the top, about two inches from the stalk.

  • 3

    Take a sharp knife and, carefully, cut deeply along your guideline. No luck? Use a drill or electric carving knife. Once done, remove the ‘lid’, with its fibre and membrane attached.

  • 4

    Scoop out the flesh, fibre and seeds (do not discard, instead save for soup or baking).

  • 5

    Dry the hollow pumpkin well with a kitchen towel, or leave it to dry overnight on an airy windowsill. Place a small glass or plastic container inside the pumpkin, and fill it either with water or with compost (if compost, be sure to cut small holes for drainage).

  • 6

    Now you’re ready to arrange your flowers in the pumpkin vase.

  • 7

    Kit used hydrangea blooms from her garden. You can find these in florists, about £5 a stem, or look for hellebores, anemones, euphorbia or hypericum berries.

Buying a pumpkin: Kit’s tips

  • Pumpkins can be purchased from farm shops, markets, grocery shops and supermarkets, from about £1.75 a kilo.
  • If you can, buy your pumpkin now, and store in a cool, dry place.
  • Pick the best-looking medium-sized one you can find.
  • Make sure the stalk is intact, to ensure there are no insects burrowed inside.
  • Look for firm and dry skin, and give it a knock to make sure it feels tough. Soft skin is no good: it won’t keep long.
  • Make sure it sits in an upright position!
Get more DIY tips from Kit at www.styleslicker.com