Did you know that, in Mexico, travelers would know exactly when a fiesta was in progress when they passed through a village? The sure sign is the colorful, intricately cut fiesta garlands strung out along the road or outside the buildings. The proper name is Papel Picado and they are really pretty, especially you choose an array of bright Fiesta colors (like we did.)
Fiesta Themes
These garlands are perfect for any fiesta-themed celebration – a birthday party, wedding, Day of the Dead or Cinco de Mayo. If the intricacy of the beautiful Mexican folk art designs looks a little daunting for DIY, don’t stress! We have created this as an SVG template file for an electronic cutting machine – such as a Cricut or Silhouette machine. Whew! It is POSSIBLE to do this by hand, and to be totally authentic, that is what was historically done. Yup, using small, sharp chisels or scissors. BUT I know you have got a Fiesta to plan and create, so I doubt you’ll have the time!
The Electronic Cutting Machine
A Cricut or cutting machine (if you don’t have one already) is a wonderful tool to have if you want to extend your crafting. It can be used for ALL SORTS of projects, like artwork for kid’s bedrooms, confetti, custom tote bags and journals, t-shirts, vinyl labels and party elements. And, Fiesta Garlands of course! Technically, you could do anything that a cutting machine can do by hand, but things are just so much better, faster and look more professional with one of these babies! So, if you really enjoy your crafting, this is for you. It’s also a great tool for teachers – who no longer have to have cramped hands from cutting out 30 of everything!
SVG stands for Scaleable Vector Graphics, and that is the file that you use on your cutting machine. The file includes color blocks in the colors shown in these pictures, so they can be printed and then cut in this gorgeously elaborate design. Suggested paper to use for this project is text weight or card stock paper.
Here’s to YOUR fabulous Fiesta!
