Tag Archives: Tissue Paper

Cinco de Mayo Fiesta Tablescape Party Décor Ideas (with Easy DIY Craft Links)

Take an armchair vacation to Texas and join me for a Cinco de Mayo celebración exploding with color. Then recreate the fabuloso fiesta in your own home for any occasion calling for mirth and margaritas! So slip on your serapes and sombreros ‘cause we’re gonna have a hot time in the old town tonight!

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Sunlight streams through the vibrant papel picado banners crisscrossing the window. Handmade tissue paper flowers hang between each cut panel.

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A burro piñata presides over the extravagancia, standing atop a small serape adorned with its own bouquet.

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Extrema pink and green fiesta flowers drip from the chandelier in an overhead centerpiece that leaves room on the table for brillante woven baskets.

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Tortilla, chip, and buñuelo baskets sit squarely at the center of the celebración flanked by paper flower buds and upcycled luminarias providing illuminación.

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Vivid confetti outlines the fringed caliente pink placemats bordered with Mexican Lotería game place-cards.

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Paper parasol toting wine glasses, tied with yellow jute and Lotería charms, await sangria sipping.

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Exuberante cloth napkins are ringed with handcrafted sombrero capped raffia rings ornamented with red chilis.

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Brillantes yellow plates evoking the sun are topped with multi-hued dishes suggesting serape patterns.

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Even the chairs participate in the festividad by wearing their own serapes belted with rope.

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Now tie a serape on yourself and sip some sangria for your own dose of party perfección!

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¡Feliz fiesta ya’ll!

Faithfully Yours,

Leigh

P.S. For details on just how to fuel your own fabuloso fiesta, see my other Cinco de Mayo articles:

DIY Upcycled Can Tea-light Luminarias (+ Free Printable Template) & Tissue Paper Flowers Crafts (for Cinco de Mayo Fiesta Décor)

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DIY Sombrero Napkin Rings & Serape Invitations + Loteria Wine Glass Charms & Place Cards Crafts (for Cinco de Mayo Fiesta Tablescape)

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Healthy Tex-Mex Cilantro Chicken Spinach Quesadilla Recipe (Dairy, Red Pepper, Corn, & Gluten-Free) Easy Appetizer for Cinco de Mayo Fiesta

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“Nacho Average Fiesta Dip” & Spicy Nachos Compuesto (Dairy, Corn, Red Pepper, & Gluten-Free) Easy Appetizer for Cinco de Mayo Fiesta

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Easy DIY Upcycled Can Tea-light Luminarias (+ Free Printable Template) & Tissue Paper Flowers Crafts (for Cinco de Mayo Fiesta Décor)

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Light the Cinco de Mayo night by upcycling cans into tea-light luminarias (easy with the help of my free printable template), and adorn your tablescape with DIY fiesta tissue paper flowers. These crafts are perfect to bring the whole family in on, with luminarias for the strong folks and flowers for the kiddos. So hang on to your sombreros senoritas… we’re about to craft a fiesta!

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As a kid, I was delighted by long rows of luminarias lighting the way to fiestas. I wanted to bring some of that enchantment inside by making miniature versions with tea-lights for the table.

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I love upcycling free elements into something useful… and I do mean free because this project cost me nothing as the cans were just a leftover bonus from my dinner menu. The project made perfect use of the small tomato paste cans used in my recipes. (See my Meatloaf Cupcakes here, and my Nacho Average Fiesta Dip Here.) Waste not, want not… right?!

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The best way to open the cans is by using an opener that doesn’t create a sharp edge, but rather a smooth top separated from the sides. Several well known brands sell this type of safe can opener. After washing the cans well, fill them with water, and place in the freezer overnight. Yes, you read that correctly. The ice is so much easier to hammer into rather than the traditional wooden branch.

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While they’re freezing, print my piercing template (free for personal use). To do this, right click on the small image and select print. (You can also forgo employing the template, and use a permanent marker to freehand draw your own shapes onto cans before the freezing step.)

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My mother actually came up a great tip for keeping your paper’s ink from getting soggy… try wrapping the iced can in clear plastic wrap before wrapping with the paper template. ¡Gracias Mamá!

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Cut out the 3 identical templates featuring arrow pierced hearts and festive zigzag patterns. Wrap each one around an ice filled can and tape the edge.

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Use identically sized nails to hammer into each dot on the template. (This is what makes it a good craft for the hombres in your life!) You only need to hammer the nails in far enough to make a hole, leaving them in or pulling them out as you go. Begin with the top of the pattern, because ice will chip out as you work on it. If too much pops out, simply add water and refreeze.

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When the dots are done, so are you! Let the ice melt out into the sink then dry the can well. (Just be careful not to cut yourself on the sharp edges on the inside of the cans.) Now light them up compadre!

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The luminarias add ambiance to a lunch of Tex-Mex Nachos made with my Nacho Average Fiesta Dip Recipe.

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They also look lovely with another one of my recipes, Gluten & Dairy Free Chicken Spinach Quesadilla.

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Here they’re featured in an upcoming San Antonio styled Fiesta tablescape next to some cascarones I’ll demonstrate how to make.

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I think they look really lovely next to my fiesta flowers too… let’s make them together now!

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Use any new store bought tissue paper, or upcycle some former gift bag tissue into something spectacular.

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The size of the sheet you use will equate to the size of the flower you end up with.

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Here I’m beginning with one sheet cut into two halves, one placed over the other.

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You can actually stack as many layers of tissue as you like to add fullness. Here is a fuller flower next to one made with less layers.

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Accordion fold these into a fan, short side to short side. (This part is a great hand-eye craft for the kiddos!)

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Next, fold the bar over in half.

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Cut an upside down V into the ends… this will make a prettier flower.

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Take those trimmings and cut them into tiny pieces, then separate the layers. You just made matching confetti for the table… for free. You can also use this confetti for cascarones crafting in the future!

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Green fuzzy pipe cleaner sticks make the perfect stems.

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Wrap one around the folded portion and twist. You will be able to use the stem to hang the flowers with later.

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Next pull apart all the layers.

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Pull these slightly taut, in an arrangement that appears pleasing to the eye.

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Wrap one end of the fuzzy stick around the base to secure your arrangement of the petals.

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I tied some of them between panels of traditional papel picado in a fiesta banner for the window. The light streaming through them was much prettier in person.

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I also used them to further adorn a burro piñata decorating a side table.

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The larger flowers were easily strung onto a chandelier as an overhead centerpiece, leaving room for tortilla, chip, and buñuelo baskets on the table.

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Now complete your tablescape with my Easy DIY Sombrero Napkin Rings & Serape Invitations + Loteria Sangria / Wine Glass Charms & Place Cards Crafts (for Cinco de Mayo Fiesta Tablescape).

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Time to go ¡Fiesta! forever…

Faithfully Yours,

Leigh

Easy DIY Sombrero Napkin Rings & Serape Invitations + Loteria Sangria / Wine Glass Charms & Place Cards Crafts (for Cinco de Mayo Fiesta Tablescape)

¡Fiesta! Forever… or for at least one fantastic evening with easy décor crafts for your Cinco de Mayo tablescape. Toast the party with sangria filled glasses fitted with DIY wine glass charms featuring traditional Mexican Loteria images. Then, use those same images to make place-cards for the table. Dress colorful cloth napkins with handmade sombrero napkin rings, and craft matching serape invitations that shout, “Grab your sombreros for a Cinco de Mayo that’s nacho average fiesta!”

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One inexpensive Mexican Loteria game will provide you with loads of craft material for the future. I’ve previously made beads with them (see how to do this here in my Halloween Necklace Craft)… glued them into collages and assemblages (see how to do this here in my Valentine Gift Assemblage Art Tutorial)… and I have some easy crafts up my sleeve to demonstrate in the future.

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All you need to begin is a single game card sheet, scissors, a hole-punch, and Plaid Mod Podge Dimensional Magic. Cut the game card into single images as pictured.

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Punch holes into a top corner of each piece.

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Drizzle the Magic stuff over one side of all the pieces, then let it dry overnight. (Set it on some form of plastic to keep it from adhering to your surface.)

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Flip them over and drizzle the other side, then dry overnight.

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If needed, trim off any dripped over edges, and attach small metal rings to the holes.

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Instead of using a jumbo jump ring to attach the charms to the glasses, I simply tied them on with jute bows. You can also skip the first metal ring, and just tie these if you’d like less dangling.

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Here they are featured on a clear glass vessel topped with a paper umbrella.

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The same charm and umbrella look different when placed on a purple goblet (from my upcoming San Antonio styled Fiesta tablescape).

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The charm is an easy addition for a charming lunch of my Gluten & Dairy Free Chicken Spinach Quesadilla Recipe.

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Matching Loteria place-cards for the table are really quick and easy to make.

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Use the actual game cards or make a color copy of a set of them to cut out. I chose the latter so that I can remake them whenever I like… without buying a new game.

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Cut paper cardstock strips to use as easel supports, and fold in half to make a V.

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Then cut two slits to either side of the Spanish words. Slip a V strip into the slots you cut.

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Then simply write your guests names on them with a marker. These would also make great food labeling cards for a buffet.

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The Loteria cards add extra pops of color to the tablescape… and you can never have too much color at a fiesta!

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The sombrero napkin rings are some of the cutest in my collection, yet were some of the quickest to make. Craft them yourself with braided raffia ribbon and tiny doll straw hats.

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Transform the hats into sombreros with strips of fabric and dollhouse chili peppers. (I never use chilis in my recipes, but they do make delightful décor.) Use hot glue to attach a few peppers, and then wrap a fabric strip as a band.

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Cut a six inch length of raffia ribbon for each ring. Slightly overlap the edges then hot glue them.

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Glue the sombrero over the seam covering it completely.

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Fill the rings with colorful fabric napkins.

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I think they look really adorable on the tablescape… if I do say so myself!

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Here the card and napkin ring add color to a lunch of Tex-Mex Nachos made with my Nacho Average Fiesta Dip Recipe.

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They bring additional ambiance to another meal with my Gluten & Dairy Free Chicken Spinach Quesadilla Recipe.

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Make fiesta invitations to match your napkin rings easily by following the earlier steps to turn a straw doll hat into a sombrero. Cut a 5.5 x 8.5 inch piece of textured cardstock and a 4.5 x 7.5 size of serape scrapbook paper. Print or write invitation instructions on vellum, then cut it to a size smaller than the scrapbook paper (like 4 x 7).

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Hot glue the layers at the center of the top, and then glue the sombrero over it. I made some of these for a bridal shower years ago, and they mailed just fine. I got such a glowing response from the project that I decided to show you how to craft them yourself.

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Next, bring more light and color to the celebración with my Easy DIY Upcycled Can Tea-light Luminarias (+ Free Printable Template) & Tissue Paper Flowers Crafts (for Cinco de Mayo Fiesta Décor).

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¡Viva la fiesta!

Faithfully Yours,

Leigh