These watermelon carvings showed up at a backyard party that I was at last weekend, and got lots of high five and comments.

And they didn't come from Pinterest. Here's how you can create them too.

It helps to be artsy, but as long as you're pretty good with a carving knife you can pull this off.

For the turtle's back, use any picture of a turtle from the internet and trace it onto the top half of the watermelon.  Slightly score the outline, and then get deeper with a paring knife until you're got those even lines running throughout.  Cut the head and feet from leftover pieces of the rind, and attach them to the body with toothpicks.  Use blueberries for the eyes, and fill the whole thing with your favorite fruits.

The shark might be a little easier to carve, but it may take more time because of all those teeth.  The top and bottom are still connected at the jaw, so you want to be careful at the beginning not to carve too deeply. Just make it look like Pac-Man, then hollow out the fruit and start slicing triangles for the teeth.  Again, use leftover pieces of the rind for fins, and blueberries for the eyes, attached with toothpicks.

(To give credit where credit is due, it was my very creative ex who came up with the idea and mastered the carvings.  And yes, we were at the same party and get along well, but that's another blog entirely.)

None of this creativity will get in the way of dousing the fruit with vodka if you so desire.  The weather is great right now for a backyard barbecue, and these fun creations will be a huge hit.  Have fun!

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