Papel Picado {Dia De Los Muertos}

Although this blog primarily features my crochet endeavors, It is true that my love for paper crafting far preceded development of my crochet skills.

A couple years ago I got a Silhouette machine on a fantastic Black Friday/ holiday type deal (read about other Silhouette crafts here). The depth and breadth of this machine is really awe-inspiring. It is a tough learning curve though, and I will admit that I have kept things pretty basic. Nevertheless, I have enjoyed developing my skills and trying new things! I posted this on Instagram earlier, the crafting process has begun!

The tradition of papel picado has always interested me. I remember visits to Olvera Street in Los Angeles. You can easily find all types of papel picado peppered throughout the shops, streets and merchant carts. Translating literally to "peckered paper" it is the art of cutting intricate designs out of paper. Usually it is done in a very light paper such as tissue paper. The thought of that actually kinda stresses me out, so today I will be doing my papel picado in cardstock. 

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The Mexican folk art tradition of papel picado is used to decorate at a variety of religious and non-religious celebrations. It is commonly associated with the ornate altars of Dia de los Muertos. This week I am presenting a Dia de los Muertos lesson to a group of youth. I am really excited because I have always been drawn to the color, vibrancy, respect, and honor that are associated with the celebrations. I feel Day of the Dead has really gained traction in mainstream USA culture in recent years. Before I think people regarded calaveras as pretty morbid. It's a skull, but also really pretty?! What is with that?! I love it because death is not to be feared. We can be with our loved ones always.

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I knew that this could be pretty easily done with the Silhouette software "trace" function. I just had to find the perfect template. After a bit of browsing I figured I didn't want to rip-off someone else's design, and I didn't want something so intricate that I would need a new blade, or be here all day while the machine cut. All that lead me to do something a bit uncharacteristic. I actually bought a set. I definitely got suckered in, because as I submitted my email for this FREE set of skulls, I got a 50% off coupon for this Day of the Dead printable craft set. I figured I would get some good use out of it, so I decided $2.50 was doable.

**Even if you do not have a Silhouette machine, the free calavera printable would be a blast to do with kids out of paper or tissue paper! Click here for link. **

From there I took a screen shot of the PDFs. Then I opened them in Microsoft paint and cleaned them up a bit (I erased the dotted line since I wouldn't be folding). After that I opened them in the Silhouette software and using the "trace" function I got had a cut file to work with! Below you can see all the tiny pieces left on the cutting mat. Just a little bit of a pain to clean. This particular calavera was one I got from the Silhouette design store with some credit from my initial machine purchase!



Ultimately I manipulated the banner designs, adding a little more ornamentation and on some. You might be able to tell the difference in the two garlands. Below are some of my favorite pieces of the garland. I am happy with the amount of detail, even if it isn't 100% authentic.


Since they are so lightweight, I just used some white yarn to string them, and tape to hang them. They go so perfectly above my Fall and Halloween themed table.

Wrap Up {Banned Books Week}

First of all, a BIG thank you to everyone who has joined me on this journey and celebration of Banned Books Week! This week took a crazy amount of behind the scenes work. I feverishly re-vamped ideas, wrote patterns from scratch, and tried to add all my creative ideas while being under a deadline. It has been a wild ride for me but I hope everyone has enjoyed it and learned something new!

 
I have linked ALL of the featured posts below, in case you missed any.

Introduction to Banned Books Week

Day #1: Charlotte's Web

Day #2: The Wizard of Oz

Day#3: The Lorax

Day#4: Where the Wild Things Are with guest post by children's lit guru Marissa

Day#5: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Day#6: The Harry Potter Series with guest post from Harry Potter fan club president Katie

Day#7: Wrap-up with guest post from librarian Mary

And be sure to check out my Etsy shop where all items are for sale! 

Today I have a final wrap-up post for you along with an update on some of my creations from last Friday, as promised.

I must confess that I am not much of a writer. Consequently I have had a hard time expressing my ideas and thoughts about how important it is that challenged books remained free from censorship. Today I have a fantastic guest post from my very favorite librarian Mary! She is currently a librarian at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah. But I met Mary way back in our sophomore year of college and we have been best friends ever since. She is sassy, fun, smart, and always up for an adventure. I love having conversations with her because she always thinks outside the box. So I thought who better to learn from about ALA's Banned Books Week than her?! 

Here she is:

"Banned Books Week is big in the library world, and as a librarian who has worked in both a public library and a couple of academic libraries I am so glad it stays so “front and center” in my profession. Banned Books Weeks pulls together threads and needs across the community and gives us an opportunity to talk about censorship, safe places, and difficult stories.




Banned Books Week is where we celebrate some of the books that “cause trouble” in my neck of the woods. The titles that make the “100 most challenged” lists are the books that parents and library users have complained about their inclusion in library/school collections. Our users' concerns are genuine and real and valuable, but so is the content they are pushing against, and that friction can be difficult to navigate. The American Library Association firmly believes that challenged books should not be banned/censored, a stance I’m happy to support. Some of my favorite books, the books that shook my world, added a new layer of complexity to my thoughts, changed who I was and who I wanted to be are on this list. Books that gave me nightmares are on the list. These books are frequently upsetting, explicit, difficult, profanity ridden, or racist. These are the books that are our stories, our challenging, bad, broken, painful, scary, brilliant, and different stories. They are the pieces in our world that are complex and so so so important. I will support every person’s right to challenge the books, and I want to hear their concerns, but I will also fight for those books place in the collection.




Banned Books Week is particularly important to me because it demonstrates a need. Books that have content that frequently get banned or challenged are books we need more of. We are in desperate need of books that challenge the 1950’s default established in white suburban America (since that utopia never was and never will be). We need books about families from different racial backgrounds, with different orientations, and who have experienced adoption (especially books that discuss that adoption isn’t always an easy transition for children or parents). We need books about biracial families, about blended families, about families with divorced parents, with foster children, with children who have died, or with parents who are gone. We need books where children go on wild adventures and come through victorious, even if they have scary moments. We need these books because these are the stories of our world, of our children’s worlds and we don’t have enough books that tell their stories. Let’s not censor the books we do have on difficult topics. Instead let’s come together and have a conversation about why Nappy Hair is fun to read out loud but rarely is read that way, or why A Night in the Kitchen has a naked boy. Let’s talk about the scary things, and create a space for those things to be conquered together." 

Thank you so much Mary! A prefect reflection as I wrap-up our week. I also wanted to tie up the lose ends from my Alice's Adventures in Wonderland post, because I finished a couple more tea party friends. 

I totally re-vamped my dormouse to have his colors match the Disney classic version. I also gave him an un-birthday hat, of course! Find him in my Etsy shop here.






I finally finished up my Alice as well. She took a long time as I completely wrote the pattern myself!
 



Her hair is actually made from a tiny wig that I created just for her. A ton of work, but I love the result.

You can find them both for sale in my Etsy shop here. 

Again, another BIG thank you to all my guest posters, and everyone who has participated this week! I can't ever do it without you. :D