DIY Day Of The Dead Planters

Day of the Dead is a Mexican holiday that takes place the day after Halloween, November 1st, and one of the most recognizable symbols of the holiday is the sugar skull.  Traditionally made of sugar, these colorfully decorated skulls would be used to adorn alters made in remembrance of deceased friends and family or left as gifts to those still living in celebration of the holiday.  I think it’s a really cool tradition, and I’ve always just loved the look of the sugar skulls with their contradictory, almost cheerful look. They also make great decorations this time of year, and I was inspired by these to paint planters and pumpkins to look like sugar skulls!

sugar skull planters

What you need: small terracotta pots, white, black, and various shades of acrylic paint, paintbrushes and a black sharpie.

day of the dead planters

Paint the terracotta pots with white paint – I used acrylic paint and I liked how it looked after just one coat, but if you want to have a more solid white appearance feel free to add a second coat.

day of the dead planters

I used black acrylic paint to add the eyes and nose and a sharpie to draw the teeth.  If you want to draw out the face with pencil first to be safe you can.

day of the dead planters

Now you can add some color and embellishments to your sugar skulls! I searched for sugar skulls online for inspiration for my designs.

day of the dead planters

day of the dead planters

These make an adorable table top decoration and right now they are making my desk space very happy! I set out to do the same thing with the pumpkin but I kinda loved how it looked with just the skeleton face. :)

day of the dead pumpkin

More DIY projects from the BLDG 25 Blog.

Photos by Julia.

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11 years ago

These would be perfect for my Halloween porch. :)

Come check out the Pumpkin Pie Mousse I made.
http://www.becauseofmadalene.com/2012/10/pumpkin-mousse.html

Christina

Leisa
11 years ago

Love these!

11 years ago

This inspiring in more than one way….

Much Love

STYLE-DRUM

11 years ago

This inspiring in more than one way….

Much Love

11 years ago

Those are so cute!

10 years ago

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