Halloween may be over, but Dia de los Muertos is here. Celebrate by making a necklace as unique and colorful as the holiday it’s self. I love the way mine came out using Crafty Chica patches and tattoos for I Love to Create. I also used a bunch of loot from Cathie Filian and Steve Piacenza’s jewelry line Jewel Pop Shop.
Jewel Pop Shop is just what the name implies, jewelry supplies. There are funky pendants, plastic flowers in juicy colors, beaded chains waiting for charms, and more: so many jewelry-making possibilities. The Crafty Chica line has a strong Day of the Dead theme, with that special Kathy Cano-Murillo twist (like skulls with cupcakes). There are patches that I have made into planters, rub-on tattoos I converted into string lights and now small appliques that I am working into jewelry.
The first thing I did was paint my Jewel Pop Shop pendant white. These pendants would also be fabulous with Crafty Chica paper decoupaged on them, by the way.
I love painting sugar skulls too, so I painted two wood beads white so I could adorn them later. I like to paint beads by sitting them on a paintbrush pushed into some Styrofoam. This way, you don’t have to handle your bead as you paint it.
Using craft glue, I attached the sugar skull appliques to the painted white pendant. I also added some Jewel Pop Shop flowers into the skulls’ hair.
For good measure, the entire pendant got a once-over with some puffy paint to add more color and texture.
All that was left, once the paint and glue was dry, was to attach all my parts.
I had so much fun making this necklace that I decided to do my makeup to match.
Dia de los Muertos is a rich and beautiful tradition from Mexico. I encourage you to read all about it and learn what those sugar skulls mean.
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