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It’s go time, people. Take a look at these fine lookin’ gourds and then cast your vote at the bottom of the post!

UPDATE: VOTING IS NOW CLOSED.

Amy’s Owl and Alison’s Corgi will duke it out in the finals on Tuesday, October 30th!

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Claire’s Sugar Plum Fairy

Claire’s entry came with the following note:

Hello,

Please find attached two photos of my entry for the Pumpkin Carve-Off 2012. The name of the entry is ‘Sugar Plum Fairy’.

I work with Hadley at HarperCollins, and she told me that she’d break my fingers if I didn’t enter the contest.

Thanks,

Claire

First off, I love Claire’s entry – and not just because my sister, Haddy, threatened to break my fingers if I didn’t. No, I like it because it combines some of my most favourite things: pumpkin carving, ballet, and the deconstructed food trend. Did you see the pink stem on that pumpkin? Seriously. Also, I guess when you work in publishing, you’re quite literal. (Get it? That was a reference to the word literary, which relates to publishing. Try reading a book, for cripes sake.) Anyhoo, I guess that explains the pile of sugar, the plum and the… fairy? Genius.

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Amy’s Owl 

Amy sent the following note with her entry:

Hi Movita!

So I just finished carving my pumpkin for some pre-wedding stress relief. Yep, my wedding is in 2 days! I can’t believe it. I tried to be really careful while carving, since I’ll have to be holding a bouquet in a couple days, but unfortunately, I still sliced my hand. It wasn’t too bad though, thank goodness. And it was totally worth it for this pumpkin. 

A little about my pumpkin theme. You see, our wedding is being held at the John James Audubon Center/bird sanctuary. In case you’re unfamiliar with John Audubon, he was a French-American ornithologist, naturalist, and painter. He was notable for his expansive studies to document all types of American birds and for his detailed illustrations that depicted the birds in their natural habitats. This location where we’re getting married is the site of one of his houses. Cocktail hour will be held in his 250 year old barn…and they’re going to bring two owls out for us to pet!!! Well, I don’t know if you can pet an owl, but I’m certainly going to try to. Awesome, right?

So anyway, to commemorate this very special wedding weekend, I’ve carved an owl themed pumpkin Hope you enjoy!

xo,
Amy @ Elephant Eats

Who carves a freakin’ pumpkin right before their wedding? Amy does. And then she educates your ass. That pumpkin is a freakin’ gem. Look at the detail! I wanna pet that owl. Pat that owl? I dunno, but I want to touch it. Also, Amy basically sliced open her hand FOR ME. That’s love, people.

Oh, and just so you know, that non-owl pumpkin up there in the first photo – on the right – belongs to her hubby. I guess when you get married, you have to do everything together.

(FYI, if you wanna learn more about Amy – and find out if an owl took a bite out of her hand at her wedding – you should check out her blog.)

. . .

Alison’s Corgi

Alison sent the following note with her entry:

Hey Movita,

Please find attached my submission for your awesome contest.  I challenged my husband to a carve-off and he only came up with Spiderman (LAME).  

For my pumpkin I used our corgi as a model.  I made him pose next to it.  He was not amused.

Anyway, thanks for being so darned entertaining!

 - Alison

Look at that pumpkin! Look at that unimpressed corgi! Awesomeness. Do dogs not get pumpkin carving? It’s like they don’t appreciate the nuances of shading and sh*t. Cripes. Anyhoo, on a cute-factor scale? Alison’s pumpkin is off the chart. I loves it right hard like. (I wonder how she convinced that corgi to let her trace its face for the template…)

Now, you should know that Alison also sent a photo of a pumpkin that her husband, Andy, carved. So, 2.0 and I insisted that Andy enter Pumpkin Carve-Off. And since peer pressure almost always works…

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Andy’s Spider-Man 

Andy sent the following note with his entry:

Hi Movita,

My wife sent in her corgi pumpkin but clearly we should have entered the Spider-man one. I have attached the photos of the superior pumpkin.

- andy

I like the tone of Andy’s message – the use of the word clearly is quite effective. Like: obviously we shouldn’t have sent that corgi pumpkin in, and I’m embarrassed that my wife did so. That’s what is so magical about movita competitions – they can really rip a couple apart.

Now, look at that freakin’ pumpkin – it’s a masterpiece. That thing belongs in the front window of a comic book shop. It’s a marvel! (Get it? That was a Marvel Comics tie-in. Buy a clue, doofus.) Also – just so you know – Andy got upset because Alison and I referred to Spider-Man as Spiderman. I guess that’s way insulting to the comic book set.

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Emma’s mmmpumpkin

You might remember Emma from Ginger 2011. Or maybe you remember her dancin’ photo. Or maybe you read her blog - you really should. Anyhoo, Emma sent the following note with her entry:

dearest movita,

i think the last time i really tried to carve a pumpkin was two years ago. i cut my hand and it bled for thirty minutes. in a much better life choice, the last time i listened to hanson was this morning. no blood was shed.

a vote for this mmmpumpkin is a vote for america. it is a vote for freedom. it is both pro-choice and pro-life at the SAME TIME. and a vote for the hanson pumpkin is a vote for women worldwide, which is more than can be said of some sleazy male politicians.

emma

It’s hard to argue with Emma’s logic. Also, I can’t think of anyone else who’d carve a Hanson tribute into a pumpkin. Come to think of it, I can’t think of anyone who actually owns a Hanson cd. But that’s why I love Emma – she dances to the beat of her own drum. (Which Hanson kid played the drums?) I bet Emma will make a run for President one day – ten bucks says she names Taylor Hanson as her running mate. Anyhoo, I love this pumpkin even more than I love Hanson’s My Favorite Christmas Sweater Song and Video Bundle.

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There you have it! Now cast your vote!

Poll will be open until about 9 pm AST this evening. This is the largest grouping of pumpkins in this year’s competition, therefore the top TWO contenders from this group will move on to the finals! For more information on how the voting will go down, click here.