By Jess Chamberlain, Sunset home & design writer

So, it's basically the day before Halloween, and--like me--you haven't gotten it together to carve your orange beauties. Well, don't.

On a recent trip to Seattle I snapped this pic of an entryway with simple intact pumpkins adorning the steps. It's likely the homeowners had plans to carve them eventually. But maybe not. They look so nice and artsy and deliberate.

Last week senior designer Monica Ewing and I went on our annual pumpkin-run to Farmer John's Pumpkins in Half Moon Bay, where we loaded five (yes five) wagons with pumpkins to play around with for our October 2008 story. Farmer John had an incredible selection of shapes and colors--ones that look artsy, no carving required.

Here's a little inspiration. It's not too late for a little Halloween spirit--and the bonus to the pumpkin carving procrastination is that if you don't carve them into jack-o-lanterns, they won't look out-of-date come November 1st.

I'm especially in love with the pumpkins that look like watermelons (I'm holding one in the second row pic, left) and the mini pumpkins (gourds?) that look like lemons (third row, middle). Oh, and the green pumpkin that I called "the baby" because it was so new its stem and leaves were still vibrant (third row, left). Farmer John calls the little yellow ones with the long sturdy stem (second row, right) "lollipops". Too cute.

By Monica Ewing, Sunset senior designer

I know. It's still October. Why a Christmas wreath? But if you attempt this project, you'll be glad you shopped for supplies now. Avoid crowds. Get a better selection. So here's how I made this wreath...

Step 1 Buy supplies
I bought just two things: A 12" metal ring and 24 yards of 1 1/2" wired ribbon
(8 yards of each pattern). I found both items at Joann's.

Step 2 Tie bows
36 of them to be exact. If you don't know how to tie a good bow, you'll be a pro at it by the time you're done. It took me about an hour and a half.

Tip #1 Tie each bow before cutting the ribbon. That way, you can cut the tail to exactly the right length.

Tip #2 Use one, three, or more different ribbons. Two ribbons looks a bit stripey.

Step 3 Shape, trim & hang
After evenly spacing the bows, I shaped each loop into a circle and pulled them to the front. Then I trimmed any over-long tails and loose threads. I hung the wreath using a Command Adhesive hook and arranged one of the bows to cover the hook.

Voilà—the easiest project I've done so far. Admittedly, it looks candy caney. But that's the beauty of this project: You can choose any ribbons you want.

In two weeks: Easy handmade photo album.

By Jess Chamberlain, Sunset home & design writer

I’ve been seeing owl décor everywhere. Just yesterday, I discovered what could almost be considered its own owl décor section at Anthropologie.

During a recent search for western ceramic artists doing interesting work (stay tuned for the December issue marketplace article) I found Chris Stiles of Stiles in Clay (he and his lovely wife, Cindy, had a booth at the New York International Gift Fair in August).

How cute are these ceramic owls?!

Info: Owls by Chris Stiles
About: The owls are made with a cone 5 white clay that is fired to a low temperature. The white clay gives the best results for color and the cone 5 clay helps the birds make it through the "harsh" firing process. Each owl is fired in a kiln using a technique called saggar firing. Containers (saggars) are put in the kiln and filled up with wood, saw dust, and other burnable materials, and then the owl is placed in the saggar. After firing the kiln the owls come out with that unique one-of-a-kind coloration.
Cost: $130 and $70 plus shipping and handling.
To purchase: Stiles in Clay, www.stilesinclay.com

For more owl love, check out the hoot-themed story we did in the October 2005 issue.

By Monica Ewing, Sunset senior designer

3 things you should never do:
1. Never dispose of mercury-containing items, such as fluorescent light bulbs, lamps, and tubes, in the garbage. It’s actually illegal to do so.
2. Never pour fats, oil, grease, or pharmaceuticals down drains. Contact a recycling center to find out where to recycle these items.
3. Never recycle pottery, ceramics, or porcelain. If pieces of pottery get mixed in with glass, the entire batch can be ruined.

These are just three things I learned from Wendy Hediger from the City of Palo Alto Recycling Program. We asked her to speak to my church’s women’s group last week. She answered our nagging questions: Should you wash empty food containers before recycling? (A quick rinse is usually sufficient.) Can you recycle cardboard milk cartons? (Not curbside in Palo Alto. They can only be recycled by placing them in the designated bin at the recycling center.)

The 4 Rs Wendy talked about the four Rs: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, and buy Recycled-content products. Think twice about whether you really need to buy something. Reduce your junk mail by doing it yourself or by hiring a service such as Green Dimes. Buy in larger quantities to reduce packaging. And support companies that are making recycled-content merchandise. If we don’t buy them, they won’t make them. I recently found this great list of recycled-paper manufacturers.

Paper or plastic? Neither. Both have a negative impact on the environment. Wendy recommended using reusable shopping bags. In 2004, the City of Palo Alto Recycling Center collected 35,920 pounds of film plastic (mostly plastic bags) for recycling. That’s just one city and one year.

We bought canvas shopping bags from Dharma Trading Company and decorated them with stencils and fabric markers. Some of us bought several to give as gifts. And Sarah holds the record for decorating nine bags in one evening.

Tip #1 The key to a freehand design, such as the tree I drew (top photo), is drawing it first with an erasable fabric marker, then trace it with the permanent markers.

Two other great reusable bags are the Baggu Bag and the ChicoBag. Both can be folded compact. And who doesn’t love LLBean's Boat and Tote?

Some grocery stores that give bag reuse discounts (local stores vary):
Albertsons - $.05
Andronico’s - $.05
Mollie Stones - $.05
Safeway - $.03
Whole Foods Market - $.05
Draeger's - $.05

80/20 rule Finally, Wendy encouraged us to follow her 80/20 rule: Do your conscientious best for the environment 80% of the time, and give yourself a break the other 20%.

Thanks, Wendy. For more ideas on going green, check out Living More Green.

Next week: A ribbon wreath.

By Elizabeth Jardina, Sunset researcher; photo by Thomas J. Story; conceived and created by Jess Chamberlain and Chad Dewitt

As October marches forward, the weather starts to gray and chill, and thoughts turn to the creepy, the eerie, the curious, the weird. Halloween is upon us.

In that spirit, we offer up a tabletop perfect for the season. Plus a deep, dark confession.

Those aren't flowers at the center of the table; they're the tube-shaped leaves of a couple of Sarracenia plants. Gnats and flies beware: These babies are carnivorous.

We recently spotted some similar Sarracenia at Trader Joe's. 

Thinking of picking up a bug-eating beauty of your own? Good news. They're not hard to grow. American pitcher plants, as the genus is called, are native to exotic locales such as the coastal marshes of North Carolina and Virginia. No fussy greenhouse or humidity-monitoring is necessary to cultivate them. In fact, many experts say that they'll be happiest living outside, either in pots or in a containerized bog in your backyard.

DETAILS These plants don't have the jaw-chomping action of a Venus flytrap, but they're deadly to bugs nonetheless. Insects buzz up to the delicately patterned lip of the plant; there they sample the plant's nectar-like secretion. But the nectar isn't the innocent treat it seems. Laced with tiny doses of a natural narcotic, the bugs get dizzy and fall into the slender tubes of the plant, where they're dissolved by enzymes that act like digestive acid. The bugs become a nutrient-rich slurry; the plant creates its own fertilizer. (A neat evolutionary trick, to be sure.)

If your local nursery doesn't carry Sarracenia, you can buy them online at Sarracenia Northwest and both online and on location at the marvelous California Carnivores; the trip to Sebastapol to visit the latter is worth it just to see their wondrous selection. If you're looking for general information, California Carnivores owner Peter D'Amato wrote the book on insect-eating flora.

STORY INFO Sunset writer Jess Chamberlain got the idea to use carnivorous plants as a centerpiece from designer Chad Dewitt; the placemats, bowls, napkins and napkin rings are from the Gardener. The red wine glasses are from Simon Pearce and the lantern is from Fitzsu Society . 

The Sarracenia, poppy pods, cork log and other creepy accoutrements came from our favorite creepy accoutrements source: Paxton Gate. (It is also our No. 1 source for gopher skulls and pinned insects.) If you're ever in San Francisco's Mission District, their store is worth a visit, especially because it's right next door to the Pirate Store at 826 Valencia.

THE BEHIND-THE-SCENES CONFESSION This photo was taken last fall by Sunset photographer Tom Story, intended to be a suggestion for a fresh Thanksgiving table. However, it never ran in the magazine because we discovered that in late November, Sarracenia plants aren't widely available. Like maple trees, they're deciduous, so they stop growing and start getting brown spots as winter approaches. Not very appetite-inducing. So what you, dear readers, saw in the magazine was a recipe for Thanksgiving Star Cider. Which, now that I think about it, sounds delicious right now.

GO DO IT If you're in the San Francisco Bay Area, check out Chomp!, the current exhibit at the Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park. The "little shop of horticultural horrors" (heh) continues through Nov. 4.

By Jess Chamberlain, Sunset home & design writer

Who doesn’t love finding new uses for Ikea products? I’m thinking of submitting this to Ikea Hacker.

This memory box tabletop project appears in our November issue (on newsstands—or your mail box—soon).

Though it doesn’t quite feel like fall in San Francisco—I almost needed SPF yesterday—it’s a perfect time to make beautiful use of mementos from your summer travels. Or, where it does already feel like fall, start collecting those curbside leaves and celebrate, and frame, nature.

The story features the following instructions and the final photo at left, but I took some process shots while I was making it, and thought they’d be helpful:

----

Turn a basic side table and a picture frame into a living-room accent worth remembering.

1. Choose a picture frame that's at least 1 3/4 inches deep and just smaller than your tabletop, preferably of the same color and material. Replace glass with abrasion-resistant plastic.

2. Center the frame on your table. With a pencil, mark where the corners of the frame meet the tabletop. Set frame aside.
3. Carefully adhere one sticky-back piece of Velcro (rougher half) a few inches inside each marked corner on the tabletop.
4. Adhere the opposing strips at corresponding points on the frame backing.

5. Remove backing and set frame aside. Secure mementos or seasonal elements to backing with glue dots or tape.

Special kudos here to fellow crafter (and senior designer) Monica Ewing who partnered with me to style this, and often is kind enough to let me use some of her serene desk space to spread out Jess-projecting.

6. Carefully resecure backing into frame (keeping frame right side up) and position onto tabletop so Velcro strips align. Use plastic cleaner or dish soap with cotton towels to clean frame top as needed.

Resources: Ribba extra-deep 19-inch square frame ($20) and Lack side table ($13) from Ikea (ikea.com or 800/434-4532). Velcro sticky-back strips (velcro.com) available at hardware stores. Abrasion-resistant 1/8-inch plastic for tabletop from TAP Plastics ($12 per square foot; tapplastics.com or 800/246-5055).

By Molly Watson, Sunset food writer

Most people are afraid to fry. I understand. It can be messy. The food can turn out greasy. It seems unhealthy in our low-fat, low-cal, no-trans-fat times.

And yet some foods demand a hot oil bath. (And, when done at the right temperature and with proper draining, the food absorbs very little oil.) It is difficult (if not impossible) to replicate the crunchy exterior and moist flesh of properly fried fish--the batter acts as a protective coating while the heat from the oil cooks the fish without drying it out.

And doughnuts. As we learned while working on our Halloween doughnuts story for the October issue, a freshly made doughnut can make a person swoon with delight. Our recipes usually go through three or four rounds of cooking in our test kitchen--once or twice by the recipe developer/writer and then two times by our retesters (accomplished home cooks who come in and cook our recipes as if they were readers at home following the recipe to the letter).

The Rich Refrigerator Doughnuts recipe went through six rounds of retesting to make sure our frying directions were clear enough for even the most inexperienced fryer to follow and end up with perfectly fried, not-at-all greasy, wonderfully homemade doughnuts. As one retester said: "As much as I'm afraid of frying, I really learned a lot. You have to get a feel for cooking stuff in oil and learn to use your eyes and ears to sense when the food is done. It was fun to get it right."

Funny, no one on staff objected to the many rounds of doughnut testing. And we didn't have to tell anyone to eat them while they were still warm--they flew off the kitchen counter as soon as we put them out. We even had to hide some to eat later and make sure they really are at their best when warm. Trust us, they are.

Click through a gallery of creative Halloween decorations by Sunset readers, including these impressive carved pumpkin headstones by Jacquie Walton of Rio Del Mar, CA. See more of her designs and others from around the West.  Have your own handmade Halloween project? Send us a photo!

Get the step-by-step to dozens more pumpkin designs, decorations, and Halloween parties on Sunset.com now.

By Molly Watson, Sunset food writer

Project "throw pillow" continues. But before I share my second pillow creation, I thought everyone might like to see a "before" picture:

They were once fabulous. They are now beaten up, lumpy, and one is even missing a button and starting to tear (note to self: throw that one away!).

I was so pleased with the pillow I made from a kit from Pick Up Sticks, that I went out and bought more yarn (from Imagiknit, a great yarn store in San Francisco) to do another felted pillow:

Then I knit up two sides that would be wider and shorter than the original:

Sewed them together after carefully pinning them:

Felted it in the washing machine, stuffed it with polyfill, and hand-sewed it shut:

And voila! It joined by first creation on the chair in the living room:

I'll let you know what I decide on next. I have some chunky blue and green yarn leftover from a failed sweater project (oh my was that thing unflattering!) that just might make a nice pillow....

By Monica Ewing, Sunset senior designer

Ever since I made those lazy-susan clocks, I've been on a clock kick. Then I discovered a trend: train-station clocks. And fell in love. I haven't figured out an easy way to make my own (yet), so I'll just share some great ones that I've found. I'm partial to the Smith & Hawken clock, but it's sold out. Most train-station clocks are large and are designed to be hung indoors or outdoors. They're double-sided, and some even have a clock on one side and a thermometer on the other. Very cool.

Left to right: Smith & Hawken, Home Trends, Bellacor, Home Trends, Target, Homedakor, CB2, eBay, Ace Hardware.

In two weeks: Going green.

By Sheila Schmitz, Sunset online editor

Our hats are off to Lori Graham of West Seattle, WA, for sharing this idea for a perfectly Halloweeny (and nicely green) patio planter:

"These are my pumpkin flower baskets," she writes.  "Once I'm done enjoying them on the patio I plant the entire pumpkin in my flower bed. By springtime I have great compost, and depending on the flower/plant I use, it keeps growing!"

Have a great Halloween decorating photo of your own? Send it to us! And check back all month for more clever ideas from your fellow Sunsetters.