Easy to Make Sugar Skull or Calavera

Dia de los Muertos is a big celebration in San Antonio.  Observed on November 1st, it’s a day to remember those who are no longer with us.  Part of the celebration involves decorating with calaveras, also often called sugar skulls.  I’ve always enjoyed visiting the local Mercado (Market Square) in October and admiring local artist’s renditions of the calaveras.  Colorful and whimsical, these dancing skeletons and grinning skulls come in lots of different styles.  Here’s my rendition of a sugar skull.

This post first appeared at Crafts Unleashed, where I am on the design team.

I used a plastic skull from the dollar store as my base, and lots of fun products from Consumer Crafts to embellish the calavera with.  The glitter gems made it easy to add color and sparkle to my project, and I love that the Petaloo flowers are a blank canvas that I could easily color to match the glitter gems.

Psst…if you like this project you might also enjoy my calavera door knocker or my sugar skull face paint tutorials!

• Plastic Skull
• Chalky Finish Paint in Everlast
• Sparkle Mod Podge
• Sharpie Marker
• Paint
• Glitter Gems
• Petaloo Color Me Flowers
• Alcohol Ink

Step one:  Paint the skull with the white paint.  Seal the finish it with Glitter Mod Podge to add some sparkle and shine.

Step two:  Hot glue a large flower cabochon in each eye socket.

Step three:  Trace the teeth with a black Sharpie marker.

Step four:  Paint an upside down heart shape where the nose would be.

Step five:  Embellish the skull with the stick on stones.  I worked in semi circles around the eyes and repeated the arcs to fill the space.

Step six:  Color the flowers with alcohol ink, and glue them onto the top of the skull.  Glue a glitter gem in the center of each flower.

I like how happy the skull looks with these bright colors and pretty flowers!  It’s a glittery addition to my Halloween decor.  It makes a fun centerpiece, surrounded by candles. How would you display your sugar skull this Halloween?

Looking for more DIY Halloween decor?  Click here.