"La Catrina" en el "Día de Muertos"

Hello Dear Stamper Friends:
Today is the LAST day of the "Day of the Dead"/ "Día de Muertos"  celebration in México...

And Today,  I wanted to share this card that I posted at the Spanish blog: "A Crear se Dijo!"  for Memory Box with my version (made with dies)  of the  "Catrina" ...

WHO IS the "CATRINA"?
As much as altars are present on this festivity the "Catrina" has become as well an essential figure  on "Day of the Dead" in México because "SHE" is the representation itself of death...for us Latins, death is usually represented by a woman and the "Catrina" specifically for Mexicans was created by the famous Mexican artist José Guadalupe Posada in 1910 and she was named "Catrina" by Diego Rivera. The image depicts a female skeleton dressed only in a hat befitting the upper class outfit of a European of her time. Her "chapeau/hat" originally is related to French and European styles of the early 20th century. She in particular, has become an icon of the Mexican Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead.


And that is why I did this card ... She is so "famous" on this day that I decided to make my own version of the "Catrina" using some dies...I used "the leaves" from the "owl heart tree "die to make her hair/chapeau, the skirt from the "Princess dress" die and the flowers from the "mound" die

Here it is a close up of her head piece and her outfit....and she is carrying of course Marigolds (flowers specially placed on altars and cemeteries on these days)... I draw on her face with a black multiliner "Copic" marker and I doodle on her dress with a white gel pen...

close up of the flower...

The stamp that I used yesterday in my "Triple Twisted Easel" altar is the reproduction of Posada's original drawing of the "Catrina"! (stamp from "Lost Coast Designs")

This was my "Triple Twisted Easel" mini altar of yesterday's post...

Do you want to learn how to make 

a "Triple Twisted Easel" card?

WATCH THE VIDEO  

FINAL NOTE: It is called "day of the dead" because it is an ancestral festivity that comes from pre-Hispanic  times  where Aztecs celebrated Death and  with the arrival of the Spanish to America, Catholics mixed their religious holiday with this tradition..so "Day of the dead" is connected or has the same  meaning as the Christian celebration does...(Hallow' s eve celebrated on Oct 31st,  All Saints day on Nov. 1st and All souls on Nov. 2nd) ...
They just decorate and make different rituals...

Ok my friends this is it for "Day of the Dead"/ "Día de Muertos"... so many souvenirs for me  and I am so happy to be able to share few aspects of this complex festivity with all of you...

Thanks for visiting, for the lovely comments from yesterday's post on my mini altar and on the video too!!!

SUPPLIES:

Catrina Card Supplies :

InLinkz.com

Triple Twisted Easel Card Supplies: 

 

InLinkz.com

A Triple Twisted Easel card for the "Día de los Muertos"!

Hello my Dear Stamper Friends:
As you may know, I lived many years in Mexico and I am very happy to have adopted some of their traditions and today I  would like to share a small aspect of this huge celebration  with all of you through card making...

I did this "Triple Twisted Easel" card depicting a mini altar for "Día de los Muertos"...which is celebrated throughout Mexico and Central America on November 1st and 2nd...

Altars are part of the decorations and traditions for this day, people build elaborate altars in their homes and in cemeteries to honor the deceased, in my case I  decided to honor my beloved past pets...

Besides photos of your beloved deceased ones you can decorate as much or as little as you wish with "papel picado" (cut outs of rice paper), marigolds (flowers symbolizing death), candles, sugar skulls,  etc... left view...

You can include “Ofrendas” (offerings) of gifts, food, sweets and alcohol that are left for the spirit of the deceased... right view...

The stamps that I used here are from "Lost Coast Designs" who specializes in reproductions of vintage  paintings.   In this case the skulls or "calacas"  are from the famous Mexican artist José Guadalupe Posada, who illustrated the original “Calavera/ La Catrina” in 1910 ( the stamp on the center is "La Catrina") and were perfect for my altar.

Would you like to know how to make this type of card?

WATCH THE VIDEO  
that I prepared...

To illustrate some more this special celebration and to show you how it is being celebrated  here in the USA here are some photos that I took last week-end at a festival that I attended at the "Hispanic University in San José California"...

It’s a bright, colorful and flavorful celebration...with some pre-hispanic dances...

Activities for the children ...

Face painting for the adults...

Art exhibits...of the "Calacas/Skulls"

and here are some altars that inspired me to make my card of today...

Food, like fruits, bread and drinks are present in this altar...

Some are very original like this one...this car used to belong to the deceased person..so the family decided to make the altar on the trunk...

In this one they included a pet skeleton!!...see the bottom of the photo...and placed a photo of a famous Mexican actor Pedro Infante...

A last one... with all the elements to make a complete Altar: flowers, crosses, photos, food, die cut papers, candles etc ...

 

For the people that do not know how or why this is celebrated I hope that now through these photos I was able to show you a little bit of this festivity and understand Why I was inspired to make a mini altar for the day of the dead using this type of card...that I thought was perfect to display some of the elements required to place in an altar...

Hope  you will find this shape interesting and fun to make...
I would love to see your creations using this "Triple Twisted Easel" card...

Happy Day of the Dead! 
Day to celebrate and honor life and death! do not mourn or cry! it is the celebration of the cycle of life and the possibility to remember on this day with happiness our beloved departed ones!!!

SUPPLIES:

InLinkz.com