Craft: Day of the Dead necklace...honor the dead and celebrate life
Dia De Los Muertos or Day of the Dead is a notable holiday falling after Halloween and is celebrated by many Mexican and Latin American families. The holiday is a vivacious and spirited celebration of the deceased honoring their lives and life itself. According to Wikipedia, "The holiday focuses on gatherings of family and friends to pray for and remember friends and family members who have died. Traditions include building private altars honoring the deceased, using sugar skulls, marigolds, and the favorite foods and beverages of the departed, and visiting graves with these as gifts."
My family has been invited this year to a Dia De Los Muertos celebration so we've been having a lot of discussions in our family about how one can happily honor the lives of those who are no longer with us when it still fills us with sadness knowing we can't see them every day. That's why I love Alpha Mom contributor Brenda Ponnay's magnificent Day of the Dead necklace tutorial which is complete with clear directions and pictures and a link to a great printable ofrenda coloring sheet. The festively sweet and silly necklace that has helped set the deadman's party mood for my 3 year old daughter. As easy as it is sassy, it requires accessible materials, most of which you already have around the house...Awesome! The skulls are made from a salt/flour dough, painted with black acrylic paint and sealed with Mod Podge and the flowers from orange tissue paper.
My daughter and I had a fabulous time crafting her special skull necklace together from beginning to end. We did have a few substitutions because I didn't feel like attempting a craft store visit so close to Halloween. We only used the orange tissue paper we had on hand and weren't able to use two colors like Brenda does for her marigolds. I think the solid color works for our necklace just fine. We also didn't have any wooden beads so we used the colorful plastic beads we already owned. Although I love the look of the wooden beads our bright beads really make the necklace festive in my opinion. My daughter hasn't taken off her necklace yet and she can't wait to get to the Dia De Los Muertos gathering come Sunday.
