Día de Muertos

Today I'm sharing a tag with Valerie, the host this fortnight for Tag Tuesday.  Her theme is Autumn/Halloween and since Día de Muertos falls in autumn, I thought I would share this.  I'm also linking to Try it on Tuesday whose theme this fortnight is Circles (I'm hoping those dots are circles) and Moo-Mania and More whose theme is Halloween.

Día de Muertos, or Day of the Dead, is a celebration, and not something to be feared, at least according to Mexican belief.   It has become one of the biggest holidays in Mexico, and celebrations are becoming more common in areas of the United States with a large Hispanic population.

They love to create alters with a dead relative prominently featured on that alter.

They leave gifts, food,  

trinkets,

and light candles.

The alters can be elaborate or plain (although the more elaborate the better), 

but a picture of the ancestor is usually shown center stage.   In lieu of that, a skull is often used.  These elaborate altars are created to welcome departed spirits home.

Several of you saw my friend Darla offered to send skull napkins that I could use in my art.  I carefully tore the top layer of one of the images and used some German Scrap gifted me by my friend Cindy for the frame.   I've hoarded this so long, Cindy probably doesn't remember she sent it to me.   I used glue stick to start the napkin, then realized I was getting it crooked on the yellow heavy cardstock I had chosen for the background.  That was an unfortunate decision, because as I attempted to straighten the napkin, I wrinkled it more than I hoped.

Originally, I planned to use the Spanish text taken from a Spanish/English Dictionary as the shelf.  However, I had enough German Scrap left over to make a realistic shelf on which to place two candles and a gift I made from heavy scrapbook paper.

I sewed the flames of the candles using variegated thread, and sewed the assembly to the handmade corrugated cardboard tag I painted using some of the colors of the napkin.

Please join me today at Tag Tuesday, Moo-Mania and More, and Try it on Tuesday.  And thanks for visiting me, too!