The following project is excerpted from Great Pumpkins: Crafty Carving for Halloween by Peter Cole and Jessica Hurley (Chronicle Books, 2003)

For best results, use three white Lumina pumpkins of varying sizes to make this eerie graveyard scene.

You will need:

• Newspaper
• 3 white pumpkins, in different sizes
• Thin-bladed paring knife
• Strong metal kitchen spoon
• Bowl
• Watercolor pencil or water-soluble marker
• Drill bit
• Pumpkin saw
• Paper towel
• 4 bamboo skewers
• Platter
• 3 tea lights
• 6 toothpicks

Cover your work surface with newspaper. Choose the fronts of your pumpkins and use the paring knife to carve a 4-inch-diameter access hole in the back of each. Scrape out your pumpkins with the spoon, placing the seeds and pulp into the bowl. Select which pumpkin will be the head, the torso, and the lower body of your skeleton (the smallest at the top and the largest for the bottom). Remove the stems from the bottom 2 pumpkins. Temporarily stack all 3 pumpkins, and draw your design on them

Carve the pumpkins, working with one at a time. With the drill bit, make a hole in the center of each shape to be cut out, twisting it in a clockwise direction. Then, holding the pumpkin saw at a right angle to the surface, insert the blade into a hole, and very gently saw around a shape. Remove any chunks that fall inside your creation, and wipe off any remaining markings.

Hold the middle pumpkin on top of the bottom one, and insert 2 bamboo skewers diagonally- starting from the inside of the middle pumpkin and going into the top of the bottom one. Repeat the skewering process to join the top pumpkin with the middle one. Place your finished piece on a platter and insert a tea light in each pumpkin. After lighting your skeletal creature, use 2 toothpicks to hold each access hole closed. Cut chimney holes if needed.