Furry-in-a-hurry chipmunks, do you know how hard this was? A month ago, I decided to run a little video blogging contest, asking readers to submit a 30-second video about their silliest guilty pleasures. I wasn’t sure anyone would want to play along, and was thrilled (T-H-R-I-L-L-E-D) when Darla immediately jumped on board, encouraging several others to make a vlog soon thereafter.
I loved all of the submissions, for completely different reasons. I had a prize in mind for each and every one of you. Everyone is a winner.
Except there’s only one winner.
This winner stole my heart while broadcasting from inside her closet. I think we can all agree her submission is hilarious – it even got Peppermeister laughing (and he doesn’t like to admit the things I think are funny are actually funny, even though they totally always are). That’s right. The winner is…
Deb from The Monster in Your Closet!!!
And now, I present to Deb her highly sought-after, one-of-a-kind prize: A custom jack-o-lantern!
It started this morning with a sketch – should I try to carve Deb’s guilty pleasure (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), I wondered, or go with an homage to her blog theme (The Monster in Your Closet)? Here’s what I chose:
That didn’t seem quite right. So, I thought about making the monster look like Mike Wazowski from Monsters, Inc.:
Still not right. Finally, I decided to make the monster a vampire-monster, to get the best of both worlds. He’s friendly because Deb is so sweet:
Next came taping the drawing onto the pumpkin, with Uncle Jesse (my dog) looking on curiously:
I transfered the outline of the drawing by poking holes into the pumpkin:
After carving, it looked like this:
And at last, the final product (picture taken, I should note, from inside my own closet)!
Congratulations, Deb!! You too are a guilty pleasure goddess. I would like to leave you with some Buffy dialogue about winning:
WHILE PLAYING THE GAME OF LIFE:
Anya: Crap! Look at this. Now I’m burdened with a husband, and several tiny pink children, more cash than I can reasonably manage…
Xander: That means you’re winning.
Anya: Really?
Xander: Yes, cash equals good.
Anya: Ooh, I’m so pleased! Can I trade in the children for more cash?
P.S. – If I stop responding to comments, someone please check Renée’s basement. (On a related note, if you haven’t seen her vlog submission, you really should watch it here. It puts the treat in trick-or-treat.)
Go Jules Go 
I love every little bit of this. I entered because I thought it would be fun to try a vlog and support you all at once, but . . . but this sweet, silly post and all the little steps that led to that final pumpkin just fill me with so much love and joy, I’m crying. Because I apparently do that at everything these days.
Thank you. ♥
Deb, it was MY pleasure!! Your vlog was delightful, from beginning to end, and carving this pumpkin was so much fun!!! Thank YOU for your never-ending support! 🙂
Yayyyyyyy Deb!!!!!!!
Great pumpkin! And I think lots of folks would trade in their children for more cash! Or maybe just give up some cash WITH the children….
Thanks, Nancy!! And I agree, ha!
This. Is. Awesome. Awesome entry, and awesome prize. My pumpkins never come out anything like that!
Mine end up looking like my stick figure drawings, which would be great if that were my intention. :p
Deb, I would actually LOVE to see jack-o-lanterns that look like your stick figures! That would be fantastic!
Thanks so much, JM!! And THANK YOU (and #5) for making such a wonderful submission! I looooved your vlog. Among my jack-o-lantern ideas for you – Mr. Bacon (a character I’ve made up in my head) or a zombie family!
Congratulations Deb! It couldn’t have happened to a nicer blogger. And I’m not bitter at all. 😉
Actually, the pumpkin inspired by the blog is super cool! I love that you are able to carve cool pumpkins. Whenever I attempt something like that I usually (accidentally) cut out the entire center. One bad move…
Yay to all the participants for playing along with Julie! Just another fun way to connect with each other! 😉
Thank you so much, Renée!! I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed your vlog – I’ve probably watched it 10 times, and giggled every time! My jack-o-lantern idea for you was some craaazzzzy jazz hands (although in my mind they kind of always looked like Hamburger Helper, LOL!).
A MASSIVE yay to all of the participants – I had a BLAST!! I hope everyone else had fun, too!
Congrats to darling Deb!! Oh, Jules I knew you’d choose a great one! I had lots of fun participating and can’t wait to see if you have another fun contest! 🙂
I love the pumpkin. We haven’t carved ours yet, but we will this weekend. I’ll have to post some pics. We usually get pretty fancy!
Sprinkles, you’re so sweet!! You really did make this a tough call at the end there!! I ADORE your vlog and I’m SO SO SO happy you made one! I would LOVE to do another contest in the future!!!
I can’t wait to see your pumpkin! I definitely could use some pointers for ‘shading’ (like the ones where they don’t cut all the way through the pumpkin; I’ve never tried that)! I was going to post some past creations around Halloween.
Congrats to Deb! A well-deserved victory! Vlogging from inside your closet really was a stroke of genius. And Jules, I am so impressed with the pumpkin. Seriously. Like Renee, I would end up cutting off something I wasn’t supposed to – most likely my thumb. I can cook the pumpkin, but I’ll leave the carving to someone else. But even beyond the mad skillz, it was such a sweet prize!
Thank you so much, Leonore, and a BIG thank you for playing along! I just loved your vlog submission. I had a few jack-o-lantern ideas for you – among them a blaring stereo/boom box, or simply the words, “I ♥ Languages” (that one might only be funny to me), or something to do with absolving guilt (this gets controversial, but I had some ideas, ha!).
You’re like americas next top pumpkin carver!
I need tips! hahaha
http://www.parentingwithpinot.com
This comment made me laugh out loud as I was walking into work this morning. 🙂
My best tip is to use the Pumpkin Masters carving kits (they’re usually $5-$10 and available in supermarkets and drug stores) – that’s how I got started, and their knives and patterns are great, even for beginners! I still use them.
I am impressed! Great job, Julie. And a big congrats to Deb. I have to say, when I first saw her video, I almost spit out my coffee, it was so damn funny. Well deserved win!
Thank you, Darla!!! Your vlog was fantastic!!! I really don’t think this contest would have gotten off the ground without you! And, you’ve probably already guessed, but my jack-o-lantern idea for you was to carve one of the Golden Girls (I was leaning towards Betty White, because who doesn’t love Betty White? But in one comment you said you like Sophia the best, so she was a front-runner). In fact, this still might need to happen, because how awesome would a Golden Girls jack-o-lantern be? … Probably this awesome: http://photos.victoriatownsquare.com/Community/Halloween-Jack-o-lanterns/Bea-Arthur-uz/703475997_M6SAD-Ti.jpg
Is it sad that I’m going to try to find her “chair!”?
LOL. I’d say it’s awesome, but I might be biased. Did you see the screen shot, for quick findingness of same?
Congrats to Deb on her winning vlog, and to you on the great pumpkin. The crafty hint about poking holes in your picture is great, and the result is so sweet!
Thank you!! It was so much fun seeing the submissions and carving the pumpkin! I have to give hole-poking credit (hmm, that sounds fishy) to the Pumpkin Masters brand.
That is the coolest thing I’ve seen in a while. I’m very jealous of, but also very happy for, our friend Deb who totally deserves to have a pumpkin carved in honour of her. You are so talented!
Hi Sue! This comment made my morning – thank you so much! Any friend of Deb’s is a friend of mine (unless you have a beef with chipmunks. Then we might struggle for polite conversation ;))!
I’m sorry I didn’t enter your contest! I have so many wonderful excuses, but none of them ease the pain of not having that awesome jack-o-lantern.
Byronic Man, I forgive you. Now you just need to figure out how to forgive yourself.
Oh my goodness you are so talented! I am happy you came by today so I could find you too!
Aw, thank you so much Shannon! I love your blog!
I LOVE the pumpkin! All your sketches look cool too!
Thank you so much!
I had seen Deb’s vlog before, yet somehow I missed the link to your blog. I’m glad I found it now; I like your style and those jack-o-lanterns are amazing!
Hi Jess! Thank you so much for the compliment and for subscribing! That always makes me do a happy dance 🙂 Also making me do a happy dance? We finally got power back yesterday after 7 days (freak Jersey snow storm last Friday)…so now I can catch up on blogs!! Wooooo!
Hey, I’m in Jersey too! Fortunately I’m closer to the shore, and we were spared most of the snow and related power issues. We were without power for 5 days following Irene though, so I can relate! I’m looking forward to reading more from a fellow Jersey girl. 🙂
You’d think I wouldn’t want to cheer Jersey after the week I had, but I still do! Woot woot Jersey in the hiz-ouse!! We lost power for 6 days during Irene, and really should’ve invested in a proper generator at that point since we’re out in the sticks (western Jersey).
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