Dia de los Muertos REVEAL!!! By Karen McGovern

I have been so excited about our Dia de los Muertos design challenge! I have seen sneak peeks of works created and am blown away! Can't wait to see more. I will start by showing my most recent design.

I began with a gorgeous labradorite skull cabochon. Labradorite is one of my favorite materials to work with--it's electric! This skull is so full of fire, I wanted to make something really dramatic and over the top with it, so I created a nature inspired Sugar Skull pendant I call "Madre Espiritu" or Spirit Mother. I set the skull in sterling silver and flanked it with two cast bronze leaves on sterling stems. A steel and brass flower sits atop the skull with a brass bee. A tiny bronze dogwood blossom sits on the bronze bail above and a brass rose sits below the chin.  

I strung it on a length of flashing rainbow peacock pearls that match the flash of the labradorite. A tiny sterling silver skull hangs from a 2 inch extender. I love her! She is listed in my shop, just waiting for the perfect home....

Now, show us your designs based on Dia de los Muertos, a truly extraordinary holiday full of tradition and  meaning. THANKS FOR JOINING US!!!

Click the link below to show us your designs, link to your blog and share this blog hop. If you do not have a blog, you can still post images of your work!!

Dia De Los Muertos - A Celebration of Life Challenge by Karen McGovern

Can you believe it is almost OCTOBER? I. Can. Not. I live in South Florida so the only way I know the seasons are changing anywhere else in the country is by noting the menu changes at Starbucks. Salted caramel pumpkin spice EVERYTHING is on the board, so it must be AUTUMN! When the menu changes to peppermit mocha I'll know I need to start Christmas shopping.

For those of you that do have the privilege of living where the weather patterns are more than "Hot" and "Freaking Hot", I hope you enjoy the change in temps and colors! I miss that--I'm from Michigan and I do miss the explosion of color October through November...send me some pics, okay??

October is a fun month for me. My birthday is in October. I am a HUGE fan of Halloween, and October leads right into another of my favorite holidays, Dia de los Muertos or Day of the Dead. 

Dia de los Muertos (November 1 and 2nd) is an extremely beautiful and meaningful Mexican holiday whose most famous feature is the creation and display of elaborately colored and embellished skulls called "Sugar Skulls". Coming on the heels of our Halloween, many confuse Day of the Dead with Halloween, but the two are completely different. Day of the Dead is a celebration of life, actually. Family members and loved ones who have passed are remembered with offerings of art and food--all in honor of these people's lives and transition through death. It's a beautiful holiday!


So, here at LMAJ we would like to challenge you to create something inspired by Dia de los Muertos. I have posted pics here of some of my past designs inspired by the holiday, along with a fellow LMAJ artist Staci Louise Smith. Staci creates amazing sugar skull beads and pendants! Use the month of October to become inspired, and perhaps to learn more about this holiday, then create something AMAZING. We will "reveal" our designs on Tuesday, October 25th, and encourage you to post images of your designs on that day (on the blog in the comments section and on our Facebook page) as well using the hashtag #lmajdod.

Top left - Alcohol inks on aluminum sugar skull pendant by Karen McGovern
Top right - Bronze clay sugar skull necklace by Staci Louise Smith
Bottom - Dia de los Muertos pendant in tribute to Frida Kahlo by Karen McGovern

It's not all pumpkins and bats--Dia de los Muertos is a holiday rich in tradition and love with nothing to do with our Halloween. Let's celebrate!