Easiest Craft Ever: Pumpkin and Sharpie Required

Carving pumpkins is a fun, family pastime. However, carving more than one pumpkin can get tiresome. Speaking from my own recent experience and carving over the years, it's actually a lot of work to get a pumpkin prepped to be a jack-o'-lantern. All that cutting and scraping takes a while. On the other hand, painting pumpkins seems awfully precious.

Want a quick and simple way to decorate a pumpkin? Try a Sharpie. That's right, an ordinary permanent, felt tip marker is a great way to dress up a humble gourd. To create the pumpkins above, I drew an outline for each letter with a non-permanent pen and then I filled them in with a black Sharpie. I chose to spell the word "boo," but you could create any combination of letters, whether it's your family's last name or a scary sentiment.

If you're more creative, you could even try freehand compositions. Go ahead and draw a jack-o'-lantern face onto a pumpkin or cover one in bat silhouettes. No matter what you choose, it'll only take a few minutes to bring your design to fruition -- instead of an hour or more to carve.