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.

A Little Lucky Clover

Bored at recess in those hot late summer days, when it was too hot to play, I remember looking for 4-leaf clovers. I remember asking my mom and dad (separately of course, so I could compare answers) if 4-leaf clovers really existed. It was a matter of existence, not a question of finding one or if it would be lucky. Of the latter I was sure.



Now as a big kid, I make my own fortune, in yarn. This morning as I was scrolling through Instagram I saw Lion Brand feature this simple tutorial for a tiny {lucky, of course} 4-leaf clover.

They work up quick and I can already think of some uses for them:

Brooch (when you need green to avoid pinches!)
Headband
Bunting
Table decorations

Holidays like St. Patrick's Day always seem to sneak up on me, so I love little projects like this. What are your ideas? How can you see them being used?

Thanks again The Edible Complex for the fun pattern! Also A Creative Being for the heart pattern. I chose orange and white from Ireland's flag, of course. Knowledge of this compliments of elementary school and Flogging Molly merch.

Two Cent and Yay or Nay Tuesday #2: Thanksgiving Edition

After my most recent post (and first!) in this series, the verdict is still out on what the title should be. Keep voting, spread the word.

Today's post of course has to be Thanksgiving themed. I am a firm believer in Thanksgiving. It's a little funny that every year it gets more and more difficult. What do I mean? I mean I saw all things Halloween AND Thanksgiving on 70% off clearance at Michaels a few days before Halloween. I was totally shocked. Then I started wracking my brain to see if there was anything I needed since it was apparent that this was my last chance, even with the holiday being a month away.

Here I am with my little blog to keep the Thanksgiving spirit alive! A couple years ago I saw a knitted version of this hat making the rounds on Pinterest. I remember being completely enamored with it as I was perfectly fit over a cute little baby noggin.

You can imagine my excitement when my friend posted this on my Facebook wall.

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A crocheted version of the turkey hat!

What are your two cents? Yay or nay? Pick one:

a) I would pay money for this. 
b) I would make this myself. 
c) I would take this if it was free! 
d) No. 

My thoughts:
Yay! I love it. I don't know that I would wear it around all day Thanksgiving. But I think it is a funny novelty hat and I can definitely see everyone taking turns with it for selfies. I especially like it for babies because babies look so cute in hats (why is that btw?). 

Happy Thanksgiving! 

Turkey hats or not I hope you enjoy your holiday. 

Sneak Peak- Christmas Tree Skirt

I have been a little absent from the blog as of late because I have been working on a massive custom order. My sister asked if I could make a Christmas tree skirt and I ambitiously and naively said I could. I already had my eye on some projects, so she picked out a pattern she liked, and armed with coupons I made a trip for yarn.

This project is a very colorful one. It involved not one, two, or even three colors but 10 different colors of yarn! My face when I was able to find the center-pull string in every. single. skein.

If you have no idea what I am talking about, you will never understand the struggle. It's better that way. Here is my set up.

This perfectly sized basket made the yarn very easy to work with. It was especially handy since I was changing colors so often.

I have worked with granny squares before (read about it on my personal blog here). But nothing of this magnitude. Each square was ten rounds, and I made 12 squares. Although if we are splitting hairs they are trapezoids. ;) I put together this fun Flipgrams so you can see the process as I added each round. I certainly wish they went this fast!

After finishing the granny trapezoids I still had the inner ring. Then joining, more joining, weaving in ends, and last of all, the border.



As the project continued I was amazed at how large it was becoming. My sister has a 6 foot tree. Not the tree from Rockefeller Plaza. Opps. At least she has options now. I figured it is a versatile project because you can drape it however you like to accommodate style and width.



Wheww! I can't believe it is finished and ON TIME. Now it can be admired before it is covered in presents. I am really proud of this huge accomplishment, and I can't wait for my sister to receive it. I will post more complete photos once I get it to her- this week!

Stanwood Yarn Winder

As previously mentioned, my birthday was this past weekend. I had an amazing day with the best people and mountains of presents from friends and family near and far.

One of my requests this year was just yarn. Yarn and more yarn. And everyone delivered! Including Ross who I still wonder why fans this flame.



Count up all the yarn! *hearts for eyes emoji*



One of the most clever presents I got was the famous Stanwood Yarn Winder. Okay okay okay, so maybe it isn't really famous outside of my nerdy fiber art world. But it lives up to the hype.

Yarn typically comes wound up in a few different forms: a skein, a hank, a ball, or the beloved cake.

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After a few projects you realize that skeins are kinda annoying. You can hope that you find the center pull thread so that things go smoothly and easily, but that doesn't always happen. Then you are stuck with unwinding and pulling for slack every several stitches. It sounds petty but just trust me on this one.

The solution comes in the form of a yarn winder! Manual or electric, big or small, expensive or inexpensive, the variety is out there. Of course I did my research and found exactly what I wanted with the Stanwood winder. Then I put in a request with my birthday fairies (mom and dad) and they made it happen.



I am so so so in love with this machine. It wraps your yarn into THE PERFECT "cake." Cakes are center pull so you are guaranteed ease and no tangles as you work on projects. Seriously.

The best part is that it is so fun and relaxing to wind up each cake. As soon as I came home from birthday adventures, I ran to assemble my new toy. I set it up in no time and got to work winding with some help from the family. Everyone took it for a spin and we all agreed that it was pretty fun.



And by-the-way thanks Stanwood yarn winder for single-handedly destroying my sleep until every single skein and ball and hank in my possession are wound into beautiful little cakes. Kidding... kinda.

Best birthday "cake" ever! Thanks everyone for the presents and well-wishes. It was a fantastic day.

Treat Yo' Self: Birthday Scarf

This all began with this scarf. The very first post on the blog! I have spent months going back and forth about whether or not I should sell it. Things in my Etsy shop (here) aren't moving very fast.



I figured maybe I should take my products to the streets to advertise! The streets of my white-collar entry level job that is. That helped me make the decision that I should definitely keep this beauty all to myself. Tomorrow is my birthday and every once in a while you have to "treat yo' self!"



Pretty much me exactly as I threw the scarf on. Pre-birthday, scarf advertising, selfie!

I am just as much in love with this scarf as I expected. It is fashionable and soft and warm. Perfect for the semi-chilly weather we have been having in Southern California. I got a bunch of compliments which made me feel very positive and excited to work on more scarves. 

Dia de Los Muertos Scarf

As cliche as it is, I am super excited about my latest crochet project. It's different from all my other products. It's a Dia de Los Muertos/ Halloween scarf!

I found this skull motif on Ravelry a while back, made by over 200 people! I've never done an applique-type project like this before so I was up for the challenge. Temperatures have finally and hopefully permanently dropped below 95 degrees so that means time to start thinking of Fall things.

Along with warm temperatures, it wouldn't be Halloween in southern California without Dia de Los Muertos!

Day of the Dead = calaveras, bright colors, and pan. 

And since I can't include bread, I stuck to the first two and imagined up this Kwid creation.

I can't believe that Halloween is THIS WEEK. I figured I better start working on at least one project for the holiday. It took me a few days to work out the skull pattern. I did some tweaking until it worked for me. Again, check out the pattern here, I love the versatility! 

It was so much fun making this scarf, choosing the colors and making accents like the moustache and rose.

Rosette pattern here.

And moustache pattern here.

I decided to join the scarf head to head in the back so that when it lies around your neck, the skulls are right-side up.



The attention to detail really sets this scarf apart from any other scarf. It is such a fun and unique piece. I can't wait for it to find a new home for the holidays. Get it now in my Etsy shop! 

Happy Haunting!