Celebrando la independencia de Guatemala: el 15 de septiembre

Guatemala…

hay mas ideas para celebrar aqui:  Arte de la bandera y papel picado,  Pastel de papel para el 15 de septiembre,  y Manualidades para el 15 de septiembre

Que disfruten el dia!! 🙂

 

Guatemalan Independence Day Flag art and Papel Picado Cake Bunting

The fifteenth of September is always a busy time around our house!  Not only are we celebrating Guatemalan Independence Day, but also our youngest’s birthday.  I’m usually busy doing a bunch of party related stuff.  This year I only had time/energy for a few simple Independence Day crafts.

Last year we did fun paint chip wall art, and some printables, but this year I only did a super quick post-it note flag and a few desserts and just pulled out the banner from last year.  You do what you can, I guess!!  I found these really cute post-it sticky notes at the dollar store (or Walmart) and the package came with both blue and white….so….. That was easy!!!  Stick the notes onto a blackboard, and there you go.  I was going to somehow create the coat of arms for the middle of the flag….but minimalist modern is ok I suppose….

Another super easy but very cute idea was to make papel picado bunting for the cupcakes.  I so love papel picado art!!!  Here’s a little definition from wikipedia:

Papel picado (“perforated paper”) is a decorative craft made out of paper cut into elaborate designs. Although it is a Mexican folk art, papel picado is used as a holiday decoration in many countries. The designs are commonly cut from tissue paper using a guide and small chisels, creating as many as forty banners at a time. Papel picado can also be made by folding tissue paper and using small, sharp scissors. Common themes includes birds, floral designs, and skeletons. They are commonly displayed for both secular and religious occasions, such as Easter, Christmas, the Day of the Dead, as well as during weddings, quinceañeras, baptisms, and christenings.

I made myself a little banner for the 5 de Mayo and I confess that it’s still hanging in the kitchen because I like it so much!  Very cheerful.  Well, I’m also into stuff with paper doilies right now, too.  So I figured I’d use one to make the other….as a cake/cupcake decoration! Grab a small paper doily and punch out some scalloped circles, or even plain circles will do.  Easier yet, just cut out some circles or rectangles with scissors.  I used the scalloped punch because that’s what was in easy reach.  I punched out shapes from the edge of the doily, then folded over a little flap at the top.  Punching out shapes in slightly different areas of the doily gives a different look to the little pennants.  I trimmed some with the scissors so that I could fit more into the bunting.  Using 2 long bamboo skewers, I wrapped some baker’s twine around one end, tied it and hot-glued a button on to hold it.  Then I eye-balled how long the string needed to be and tied it to the other skewer.  I stuck the skewers with twine on into the cake/cupcakes and then added the doily pennants, already folded; arranged them a bit and glued the flaps down.  It took about 10 minutes from start to finish, and my daughter and I loved the look!!

Here’s another view, I love to see papel picado banners silhouetted against the light…

Here are some desserts we had to celebrate the 15 de Septiembre, Guatemalan Independence Day:

Mini cupcakes iced to look like ice cream cones, with a blue skittle on top for Guatemalan flag colors!  They turned out cute, but what a pain in the neck to ice crumbly from-a-cake-mix mini cupcakes!!  (only made 4).  The sandwiches were a lot easier….

I saw the idea on this German blog and it looked so fun and easy, too.  Cut out circles from 2 slices of white bread, spread one side with jam, add sprinkles if you want, then from the other side of the bread, cut out a little heart (with cookie cutter) and slap the two sides together!  I used a few fondant buttons for decoration, and the cut-out hearts…. After dessert we went on a bike ride to a little lake…. I know, it’s a very Canadian scene to celebrate a Guatemalan holiday, but since I can’t be down there, I have to enjoy what we have here!  Our weather has been unseasonably warm, so we have to make the most of it.  It was a fun afternoon, and our little princess enjoyed it!!

One more Blue and White thing:

Whew, the weekend is over.  Our Independence Day celebration is over, my daughter’s birthday is over.  The parties are over.  For this week.  😉

Well, maybe not.  We should probably watch a few videos from the parades in Guatemala, look at some photos and listen to the national anthem.  It was such a crazy busy weekend that there were several things that never got done!  4 birthday parties this weekend that someone from this house was involved in!  (plus Guatemala’s b-day).

Anyways, I just wanted to do one more little post about el 15 de septiembre because of this cute thing that I just couldn’t resist:  (and there’s one other reason after the photos)I printed out a party cake favor box and colored it.  And glitter-glued it.Specially for my dear Guatemala.

with all my heart….and all my glitter 🙂I have been going wild with these cute printable cake boxes…
Aren’t they cute?
Ahhh, the details!!  You can find these adorable printable party favor cake boxes at Paperglitter’s Etsy shop here.

And I also wanted to mention a very cool blog that I found (or that found me) this morning….

Growing Up Bilingual at growingupbilingual.com.  I’m excited to have found it!  Please check out Paula’s home page and scroll down a bit to see some of the posts….I’ve already found a bunch that interest me about encouraging my kids in their bilingualism, stuff about Guate and some yummy recipes!  (among other things!)  There are some lists of books for kids in Spanish, too.