Dia de los Muertos is a fall holiday that has gained widespread popularity in the past several years — a Mexican holiday honoring family and friends who have passed away. Celebrated at the end of October, this holiday (also known as Day of the Dead), is a celebration of life and family. Over at Live.Craft.Love, I’ve posted instructions for a Dia de los Muertos wreath featuring a sugar skull. Instructions available here: [Day of the Dead Wreath]

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These sweet little coin purses are surprisingly simple to make and budget-friendly too. Check out the video or the written instructions for how to make your own sugar skull coin purses.

I recently got a box of really great new merchandise from Crafty Chica and ILoveToCreate, including some wonderful sugar skull patches.  I knew right away that they would be great for quickly personalizing all kinds of different stuff from the dollar store!

Since the colors of the sugar skulls are bold and bright, I wanted to use them to embellish something equally bright.  These coin purses were just the thing!  Watch the video to see how I made them, and check out my Crafty Chica haul video to see what else was in the box of goodies!

Or, if you prefer written instructions, keep scrolling!

Project estimate:

• Coin purses, $1 each
• Sugar skull patches, $4/set
• Glue, on hand

Total:  $5 and up

I found these brightly colored vinyl coin purses at Dollar Tree.

I thought they would make a fun match for Crafty Chica’s new sugar skull patches!

The patches are iron-on, but if you iron the vinyl it will melt, so use glue instead to attach the skull to the coin purse. A glue made for leather or vinyl is your best choice!

Ta-da!  Let the glue dry completely and your coin purses are done!

The post Tutorial: Sugar Skull Coin Purses appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

I love skull themed crafts.  Most of my Halloween decorations and crafts are skulls.  And I’ve been wanting to do something with one of those nifty clip lights for a while now; seeing them back on the shelf recently has rekindled that desire.  I’ve been wanting to make some Day of the Dead calavera skulls, so I snagged a big plastic skull and gave it a glowing makeover!  Today at Giggles, Glitz, and Glam I had the honor of guest posting on Jana’s awesome blog, where I shared my tutorial.  Make sure you stop by and check it out!  [how to make a calavera skull light]

Project estimate:

• Plastic skull, $1
• Clip light, $1
• Nail polish, on hand or $1 and up
• Sharpie,  on hand

Total:  $2 and up

The post Make a Calavera Skull Light appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

Halloween isn’t the only holiday that’s rapidly approaching; so is Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead.   Regina from Creative Kismet lives in Tucson, where the holiday is celebrated by the area’s large Hispanic population.  (Tucson even hosts an annual All Souls Procession, something I would love to witness!)  To bring a little of the Mexican holiday’s spirit into her home, she transformed flower pots into calavera skulls.  I  love skull decor, especially calavera skulls!  [how to make day of the dead planters]

Project estimate:

• Flower pot, on hand or $1 and up
• Paint, on hand or $1 and up
• Sharpie, on hand

Total:  Free and up

The post Make Day of the Dead Planters appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

Sugar skulls are a traditional part of the Day of the Dead (aka Dia de los Muertos) decorations and ritual. Usually they’re not made to be eaten, but I found these cool skull ice cube trays at the dollar store, and I thought it would be fun to make edible skull decorations. Making edible skulls is cheap, and so easy even a preschooler can do it. I made a batch of them, and after I was done, my 4 year-old used leftover sugar mixture to make a skull all by himself with no help from me. Check out the video (subscribe), or the written instructions below.

These sugar skulls by Crafty Chica

These differ from traditional skulls because they don’t use egg whites or meringue powder, and therefore are not as hard. Traditional sugar skulls (or “calaveras”) are hollow, decorated in colorful icing, and put out to commemorate the dead. These are firm, like sugar cubes, but you can bite into them. Use these as cupcake toppers, or as a creepy sugar cube to serve with your Halloween or Day of the Dead tea or coffee. Decorate them with royal icing to make them look more like traditional sugar skulls (or use Crafty Chica’s shortcut and use mini tubes of frosting from the grocery store).

This project works with any mold, so think beyond the skulls!

Project Materials:

• 1 cup granulated white sugar, on hand
• 2 teaspoons water, on hand
• Silicone ice cube mold (skull shaped), $1
• Piece of cardboard or cookie sheet, on hand

Total: $1

Put 1 cup of granulated white sugar in a mixing bowl. Make an indentation in the middle of the sugar and add 2 teaspoons (yes, the itty bitty ones!) of water to it. Squish the mixture with your fingers for about one minute until completely incorporated. Make sure there are no lumps of dry sugar. When it’s mixed, it should feel like wet sand.

Fill the molds with sugar and pack tightly. Level top off with a flat spatula or scraper.

Put a cookie sheet or piece of cardboard on top of the mold, then turn over and unmold the skulls immediately.

Let the skulls dry 5 hours or overnight, or put them in a 200° F oven for 5-10 minutes to help them dry more quickly. When they’re dry, you can decorate them. Use royal icing, mini tubes of frosting from the grocery store, or colored candy melts to decorate the skulls to resemble the colorful Day of the Dead skulls.

Additional Resources:

• Sugar Molding from Wren’s Cottage
• Projects: Sugar Skulls from Diary of a Crafty Chica

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