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¡Hello amigos!

19 years ago, I moved to the United States, and I must say it has been quite an adventure.

When I lived in Mexico, we acknowledged the date but never really celebrated Cinco de Mayo as it is only celebrated in Puebla, a state in the southern part of central Mexico.

To share a little history, Cinco de Mayo is not the Mexican Independence Day (for the curious it is September 15th).

It instead marks the date of the battle against the French who had invaded Mexico.

Although the French outnumbered us and had more powerful military equipment, it was not enough to defeat the Mexican soldiers

It was a surprise to discover how popular the Cinco de Mayo celebration is in the United States.

And why wouldn't it be: any excuse to drink margaritas and devour Mexican food (whether authentic or not) is a great one in my book.

Cinco de Mayo is all about indulging in eating delicious food, so I decided to create a fun, colorful apron using our bright, sparkling SISER® Glitter to showcase the colors of the Mexican flag.

Here’s to celebrating Cinco de Mayo and for all to come together and join the party!

Below, the accessories you will need for this project:

I used an apron made of 100% cotton but polyester or 50/50 blends would work.

1 sheet of Glitter Grass, 1 White and 1 Red

Craft cutter

Happy Crafter’s Weeder

Cover sheet

Craft heat press or iron

Here is an overview of the application instructions:

Cut the design in reverse and weed away any excess material

Preheat the apron for 2-3 seconds

Use medium pressure, tack each color for 2-3 seconds at 320°F/160°C

Once all colors are tacked, press for 15-20 seconds for a final application

Peel carrier warm after tacking each color of your design.

Before we start, we are using the “knockout technique” since Glitter cannot be layered.

This will give the illusion of several layers being applied on top of each other when in fact each Glitter color will be applied onto the apron fabric.

STEP 1.

We need to preheat our apron by itself to get rid of wrinkles and moisture that interfere with the application process.

This design includes three colors: Grass green, white and red.

Crafty Tip!

While eyeballing to center the design works for many, this is how I do it: Fold the apron in half, vertically creating a crease to use as your guide down the center of the apron.

Make sure to use a cover sheet or parchment paper to protect your upper platen and design.

STEP 2.

Position your first color (the cactus): PICTURE 2 using Glitter grass green

You do not have to do the complete 10-15 seconds; 2-3 seconds will suffice to keep the first color of your design in place.

Peel carrier warm (this step needs to be done after tacking down each color).

STEP 3

Get ready to position your second color of your design.

Position all red Glitter elements to the design: Cinco de Mayo, jalapeño and spatula using Glitter red as shown below:

STEP 4

Repeat the same steps for all Glitter white elements: “de” and “center of jalapeño”.

Since this is the final color, we want to press it for the entire 10-15 seconds. This ensures the material sticks to the apron properly.

¡Y listo!

Show off your apron at your Cinco de Mayo party!

We would love to hear which projects you’ve been working on, what you’ve been doing to celebrate Cinco de Mayo.

Send us an email to: Hello@HappyCrafters.com.

Thank you for Crafting with us!

Your enthusiastic Happy Crafter,

Rocio