making a banner

For our Dia De Los Muertos celebration I decided I really wanted a colorful streamer to go with some other decorations. 

But the ones I found online were printable (computer ink is at a price point that has me convinced it's made of unicorn blood) or things that could be ordered (money!? WHAT?) so I did what any artsy mama would do. Figured it out on my own.

First I got some supplies together. I ended up not using the stapler because taping the pieces together worked better. 

So how to start? First grab a piece of paper.

Next fold it in half like you're making a card, not like you're making a bookmark. Unfold it and then fold the edges to the crease in the middle. Should look like this:

Now bend it backwards along that center line so that you end up with an accordion folded piece of paper. Then take that stack and fold it in half top to bottom.

Cut on your last fold so that you have two small accordions.

Ok hold onto your glue sticks cause now we're gonna do some cuts "till it looks right". You can do this.

First while holding the accordion closed in your hand round the top corners of the paper with your scissors. You're gonna be cutting a soft shape. This will be the top of the skull.

Next flip your paper over and cut two notches in the paper at about 45 degrees. This needs to be a little more than halfway between the curve and the end of the paper. Again. Eyeball it. I mean, it's just construction paper.

Now cut from the end of those cuts to the top of the paper. These are you cheek bones.

Now just like you did on the top round the edges.

Flip your paper back over and cut two notches between the fourty five degree cut for the cheek bones and the beginning of your curve cut. Start small and cut more if you want. These are temple cuts. Just make sure you don't cut too much from the cheek bones and the forehead. Those sides are what is keeping this stack of skulls together!

Now you wanna grab the hole punch. Cut three holes about where you want the eyes. Then start making a small circle with a pair of scissors. Again, start small and make it bigger to whatever size or shape you want. It's easy to remove paper. Not so much to add it back.

Here's mine with one eye.

And both eyes and opened up!

You can totally decorate these now. My original plan was to use a sharpie and draw on teeth and nose holds and if I'd had time I would have added flower petals around the eyes and other traditional decorations for sugar skulls. But I was working against time and needed to go quickly. The fantastic thing is making one makes 4 so whipping out a chain of them doesn't take long at all!

Plus after you make one you can totally trace your template onto blank accordions of paper and whip these puppies out fast.

Join the links however you want and you'll have your own banner! You can even use some skeletons from a recent home school study on the body and some pumpkins from Halloween and create your own little nod to the holiday.

A big shout out goes to D for buying me these fantastic roses *over a week ago*. Seriously. What kinda genetic modified flowers hang on for over a week in a cold house with water that I haven't changed at all?

Beautiful ones apparently.

Traditionally I would have had sugar skulls, candles and marigolds but for a "what do we have around the house" this isn't so bad right?

Hope everyone continues to have a great holiday season. And this technique can be used for anything! Maybe turkeys for Thanksgiving or trees for Christmas? Just make something that allows for the side folds to remain intact at a few points and you're good to go. No clue what to do? Look for cookie cutters. You might even have a few in a drawer you can trace. 

Happy crafting everyone!