Pumpkins - To Carve or Not?

Instructions at Country Living

I saw these super cute painted pumpkins at Design*Sponge - I LOVE that wood-grain one! It would also be cute as zebra... or another animal print...

I think I tried painting on a pumpkin last year, though, and it didn't work out so well. I feel like I'm always trying to do something cool to my pumpkins but it never works out. I'm not even good at carving them. Maybe this year I'll stick with something basic... I like this bat, though. And look, it has little beady eyes! And there's a stencil for it. But using a stencil for a pumpkin seems complicated. So does attaching wire. And a twig. And beads.

Better Homes and Gardens

I also think I like the look of a black pumpkin:

Better Homes & Gardens - "Black and Bling"

And I think I'd like this swirly design even better on an orange pumpkin:

Better Homes & Gardens

I think it's also about time to make some pumpkin cookies (mmm, I love cookies). I made some last year and topped them off with some sort of cinnamon/brown sugar glaze (because I wanted to do a powdered sugar glaze but had no powdered sugar and lived too far from a grocery store to run out and get some), but I do not remember the recipe. I don't know if I even wrote it down, or if it was something I found online, or in a cookbook - no idea.

And on a(nother) side note - I think the Amy Butler book I was looking for is actually out at the house we were living in when those pumpkin cookies were made. No idea when I'll be able to get back out there, though. Am seriously contemplating making up my own clutch pattern... ?