Valentine's Day Paper Cuts

I love these wonderful 'Amor' themed paper cut banners, known in their native Mexico as Papel Picado. If you have ever visited Mexico you may have noticed similar banners fluttering in front of churches for weddings, in courtyards for fiestas, in restaurants for ambiance and during the Day of the Dead celebrations you can find the most amazing designs decorating family altars and throughout graveyards. Paper cutting is a traditional Mexican folk art dating back to the 19th centry and is still deployed in the same way by using a very sharp chisel and hammer and tapping away at the design through 50 sheets of paper at a time. More on Papel Picado another time...