The Evolution of Van, aka, How Custard spent her half term!

Posted on November 1, 2014 by campervantures

Remember last year, when I said I fancied doing The Evolution of Van for my pumpkins this year?

Next time I have an idea like that, tell me no. If you follow me on Twitter or Instagram you may have noticed a tiny bit of whinging at my own idiocy that led to me have seven pumpkins to carve.

Unusually for me (not) I decided to leave carving to the last minute, although I had been organised enough to draw out my designs on them a few days earlier:

Halloween came, and I decided that I’d best get carving. I put the pumpkins on the floor whilst I wrapped my dining room table in polythene sheeting (you can take the teacher out of the classroom…) and Teddington Bear decided to help by chewing on their stalks…

I decided to start off with the splitty, as so many of my friends have suggested that I carve a split over the past couple of years. After a few minutes, my helper had conked out, and I’d found out just how sharp my knife was!

It was soon completed, but I decided that attempting to do a barndoor Samba was a daft idea, as all the windows had affected the structural integrity of the pumpkin and it was very wobbly.

As was proved the following day, when the weight of the roof had just got too much for the spindly window frames:

I’ll be honest, the fiddly and time-consuming nature of the splitty got me down, but with Rooobarb on the scene to help with scooping out, I moved onto the No Worries badge. I was really pleased with how it turned out!

The last part of the project was the Evolution of Van, that I had decided on last year.

I tried to recreate the line up of the original VW ad,

but I think it might have looked more effective with 3D style drawings like the slammed Beetle pumpkin of last year. Now to start planning for next year!

Thanks, Volkswagen!

Posted on November 16, 2013 by campervantures

You may remember that a couple of weeks ago I carved a Beetle pumpkin for Hallowe’en, and decided to pop it on Volkswagen UK’s Facebook page.

They chose it as one of their finalists in their pumpkin competition, and it was chosen by fans to be one of the top three pumpkins, meaning I won a prize!

On Friday I had a “while you were out” card from the postman, and on Saturday morning I went and collected this:

Which now means we’ve got a bit of a show and shine line up going on in our living room, with the Lego camper my parents bought us last Christmas.

Yay! Lucky old me. Thanks Volkswagen. That was a really nice thing to do, the money box came really quickly, and brought an extra smile to my face as I didn’t carve the pumpkin to win a prize, just for my own amusement. It made me smile lots though that so many people liked it.

Now, what do I carve to top that next year? I was thinking an Evolution of Van line up – best start earlier if I’m going to be carving 5 pumpkins!

Beetle Crisis – Pumpkin Edition!

Posted on November 2, 2013 by campervantures

In the run up to Hallowe’en, a lot of friends have been sending me pictures of pumpkins carved into the shape of splitscreen vans, being as how I’m an aficionado of of both Hallowe’en and splitties.

I, however, decided to be contrary, and carved a Beetle into my pumpkin instead. I’m really pleased with how it turned out!

The day after, some of the trim was starting to look a little rusty:

And today, my poor pumpkin can only be described as “ratty!”

In need of a resto, methinks!

If you like my pumpkin, please go and give the photo a like on Volkswagen UK’s Facebook page – I’m in with a chance of winning a VW Camper moneybox. Thanks!