When it comes to Halloween, if you aren’t over-the-top, you’re not having enough fun! Take a journey with us through an enchanted forest where the pumpkins are spooky—and outrageously easy to make. Follow these simple instructions to carve your own creative Halloween jack-o’-lantern—everything from Cinderella’s carriage and Mr. Pumpkin to a spooky headless woman and Scary Stitch or a haunted mouse house. Create your favorite, or all of them!

To make most of our jack-o’-lanterns, all you need are the basic art skills (like gluing and tracing circles and squares) that you mastered as a kid. The instructions for each project are minimal, but investing in an electric pumpkin carver can make them even easier to execute. Start each project, except Scary Stitch, by hollowing out your pumpkin. And remember, don’t be afraid to improvise along the way—these creations are better when they are perfectly imperfect!

What you’ll need

• 3 ornate metal belt buckles
• 1 pumpkin, about 12-inches tall
• Pencil or marker
• Knife or carving tool
• Craft glue
• 1 ornate lamp finial
• Cordless drill fitted with ¼-inch bit
• 4 gourds, about 4-inches tall
• 2 dowel rods about ¼-inch wide, cut to the approximate diameter of your pumpkin
• 4 ornate drawer pulls
• Heavy-gauge florist’s wire

How to make it

1. Trace the inside of each belt buckle on the pumpkin with a pencil and cut to create openings for two windows and a door. Glue the hardware over the openings. Remove or cut down the stem until it’s even with the flesh of the pumpkin, and twist the finial into the top.
2. To create wheels, drill a hole through the center of each gourd. Insert one dowel rod into the holes of two gourds to create an axle, and secure it with glue. Repeat to create a second set of wheels. Finish off all four wheels by inserting a drawer pull into the outside hole of each gourd for hubcaps.
3. Line up the two sets of wheels next to each other at about the same width as your pumpkin. Then wrap wire from one dowel rod to the other to fasten the axles together and to create a webbing for the pumpkin carriage to sit on.
4. Gently place your carriage on the wire.

What you’ll need

• Knife or carving tool
• 1 large pumpkin, at least 18-inches wide
• Toothpicks
• 6 to 8 mini white pumpkins, each about 2- to 3-inches wide
• Small (4-ounce) paper cup
• Black crepe paper
• Craft glue

How to make it

1. Cut out two eyes near the top of the large pumpkin. Cut out a big mouth in the middle of the pumpkin. (If it’s too low, you’ll see the candle inside.)
2. Create teeth, using toothpicks to secure the mini pumpkins in the mouth.
3. Cover the paper cup with crepe paper to make a hat. Secure it with glue.

Look for cute, curvy gourds in any color you prefer, topped with long, feminine stems.

What you’ll need

• Black fine-point permanent marker
• 3 white gourds
• Scissors
• Small paper doilies

How to make it

1. Use a black marker to draw a frightened face on each gourd.
2. Dress each maiden: Cut the center out of a paper doily and slip it over her head.

Madam lost her headWe went all out to create Madam’s body, but this scene is equally spooky if you just make hands to hold a surprised pumpkin head.

What you’ll need

• Knife or carving tool
• 1 large pumpkin
• Small (4-ounce) paper cup
• Gauze, crepe paper or ribbon
• Craft glue
• Pair of vintage cotton gloves
• Small dried beans (like lentils or split peas)
• Dried Spanish moss

How to make it

1. Cut two eyes and a mouth in the pumpkin. Use the paper cup covered with gauze to make a hat. Glue the hat to the pumpkin.
2. Fill each glove with beans, and arrange the hands so that they’re holding the pumpkin.
3. Surround the base of the pumpkin with Spanish moss.

Scary StitchAllow two days for this pumpkin so that it has a chance to thoroughly dry out.

What you’ll need

• Melon baller
• White or light-colored pumpkin
• Craft glue
• Black glitter
• Heavy-gauge black florist’s wire

How to make it

1. Scoop out shallow indents for two eyes and a mouth; allow the pumpkin to dry overnight.
2. Fill carved areas with craft glue and cover completely with glitter. Allow the areas to dry.
3. Insert segments of wire above and below the mouth to form scary “stitches.”

What you’ll need

• Knife or carving tool
• Assorted pumpkins
• Twigs
• Hot-glue gun or craft glue
• Dried leaves

How to make it

1. Cut holes in the pumpkins for a door and windows.
2. Cut or break twigs to similar sizes, proportioned to your openings, and glue them together in the pattern of your choice to make window frames, shutters, doors and ramps.
3. Scatter dried leaves around the base of each pumpkin house.