Spooky Pineapple

12141570_1652355734981329_5638408054857768262_nI'm not crafty. I'm probably more like "crafty curious". I can do some stuff, and I'm learning, but I'm not all the way there yet. However, once the crafty bug takes hold it really takes hold, and I've been going a little crazy on my front porch Halloween decorations over the past couple of weeks. Enter: the spooky pineapple.

indexThe Spooky Pineapple is one of those "crafts" that looks hard but it so easy that you almost feel bad for taking credit for it. All you need is a pineapple, a spoon, a knife, some spray paint and a tea light candle and voila!

Now for your craft-impaired mamas like me, let me give you the steps.

1 Just take a regular old pineapple and cut off the top. Carefully cut straight down in a circle to create a core (a serrated knife works best for this part, but a small paring knife is better for the face, it isn't nearly as tough as a pumpkin, phew). This part takes a bit of elbow grease, to cut the inside out without cutting the bottom off too, and you might not be able to salvage all the insides (I pretty much just ate them while I worked). Don't cut too thin around the core, you want to leave like an inch so you have enough meat to work with for the jack-o-lantern face.

2 Once you have it all cut downwards you can work with the spoon and the knife to dig the chunks out. Don't get discouraged at first, it gets easier as you work down. Just be gentle and again keep in mind not to cut too close.

3 After you've scooped out all the insides, you cut the face out first. After I cut the mouth out I used a knife through that opening to make the bottom inside a little smoother to rest the tea light on.

4 NOW is when you spray paint it, I used some gold spray paint but you can use any color (the color of the pumpkins in the photo above is Rustoleum Gloss in Ocean Mist, I'm a big Rustoleum spray paint fan actually, used that brand for the gold as well). Just lay some newspaper on your front lawn and go to town with the paint, it doesn't take much to cover the entire thing.

5 Wait for it to dry, then pop a tea light inside and enjoy! xoxo