Day of the Dead Sugar Skull Art Blocks

Remember those square cubes we had left over from the Minecraft Jack-O’-Lantern Blocks craft? They’ve been sitting around my house just waiting to be crafted with. Like my daughter says, we should paint on every surface we can! I heartily agree so I grabbed my paints and went to town making square Day of the Dead sugar skull art to decorate as ofrendas (altars) and celebrate Dia de los Muertos.

I opted to use my more expensive heavy acrylic paint on this craft. Regular inexpensive craft paint would work well too but I was thinking I might want to keep these around longer so I opted to use quality paints. But if you want to make this a kid-friendly craft by all means no need to leave the craft store with $90 worth of paint tubes. Those things add up!

I spray-painted the base coat black and white to save on paint and time. Spray paint is the bomb because it dries quickly and covers well. But make sure you spray paint outside or in an extremely well-ventilated room because this stuff is stinky and bad for you. If you are doing this as a kid-friendly craft please pre-spray the base coat before you start. Or make a day of it and paint the base coat by hand! Sometimes things that take longer are more fun.Then I sat down with my cup of coffee and whiled the day away doing my favorite thing: painting details! First I painted my two big circles for eyes, a split heart for the nose and tiny teeth for the mouth.  Then I added curly-cues and flowers.

For the white cube I decided to paint orange flowers on the sugar skull art since marigolds are traditional for Day of the Dead. I always paint my color down first and outline with black (or white if I’m painting on black). It’s amazing how some outline details can make lumpy blobs look like beautiful flowers.
I only painted two blocks at the time of this writing but I might go back and paint a few more because for me painting is the best way to relax.

Take your time and enjoy the process and be careful not to dip your paint brush in your coffee cup!

Then decorate your house with your Day of the Dead sugar skull art blocks, votives and pretty flowers! I love Day of the Dead because it’s such a nice way to remember our loved ones who have passed on and make a party out of it. Death doesn’t have to be sad all the time. Of course we miss our loved ones and that can be very sad and hard but we also treasure our memories of them and it’s nice to have a special day to do just that.

You can even make painting these blocks part of your experience and think about your relatives while you paint. It’s a great teachable moment for kids and a great way to slow down the crazy rush of our busy everyday lives.