Wednesday, June 27, 2007

My Craftiness Revealed

I'm not especially crafty, but I do like making things and I can follow directions with the best of them. I've wanted to try my hand at carving a watermelon for some time now (who knows how I come up with these aspirations?), and my sister-in-law's baby shower provided the perfect opportunity. I downloaded some instructions, asked Rob to help me draw the template, and went to town. Some things I learned about watermelon carving:

  • watermelons are much easier to cut than pumpkins. If you can carve a pumpkin, then you can do a watermelon



  • the inside of a watermelon is much easier to scoop out than the inside of a pumpkin - and it's less stringy, less smelly, and tastier. It's an all-around good deal.



  • fruit salad just tastes better when it is served inside a piece of fruit. It picks up all the watermelony goodness.



  • It's a good idea to have lots of paper towels on hand during the carving and transporting. They don't call it a watermelon for nothing.



  • Wear an apron, or something other than the nice outfit you planned on wearing to the actual shower, while you are carving. See above reference to watermelon.



Overall, I was pretty pleased with the outcome and if you want to try it, here is a good place for ideas and templates. (I had to promise Rob that I would carve the Viking longship for a future party if he would help me draw the template this time.)




And because T asked for some photographic evidence, here is my watermelon baby carriage:

Note the orange slice wheels with the hot lime hubcaps? Deliciously au currant, if I do say so myself. (Oh Lord, please bless me in my inveterate geekiness . . .)

9 comments:

  1. Wow that is cute! I am once again impressed with you!

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  2. Anonymous9:26 PM

    Now I just need an excuse to have a Viking longship fruit bowl...Is there a Leif Erikkson day? How about Thor's Day (Thursday)? Wotan's Day (Wednesday)? Frigga's Day (Friday)? Can I just play the Immigrant Song very loudly and qualify?
    Nothing says Viking raider like fruit salad...

    unNorsely yours,

    Rob

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  3. That's very cute. Your crafty should come out to play more often!

    Thanks for humoring me.

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  4. Act of pure brilliance, those wheels.

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  5. Very awesome, Aim! How long would you say it to from start to finish?

    I'm thinking a random Viking Themed party would be a good excuse to do the longship! You could start a new trend...like the pirate trend...next it will be VIKINGS! The men can wear beards and hats with horns and the women can wear....uhh....beards and hats with horns, too! LOL

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  6. Meg: Yes! I love it - Vikings are the new Pirates. We are on the cusp of a new trend here :)

    It didn't take me too long to carve - I'd say an hour (tops) from start to finish. It's really easy.

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  7. Now, THAT is impressive. Beautiful job.

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  8. perhaps you can talk The Boy into a viking themed birthday party :D

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Go ahead and say it. You know you want to.