Tutorial: Sequined Sugar Skull Hairclip/ Pin

 

 It's been a while since I've written a tutorial, but I thought with Dia de los Muertos right around the corner now was a good time. I LOVE shiny, sparkly things. Sequins is #1 on my list of favorite sparkly objects. Growing up my mom use to make sequined pins for every holiday. I loved to watch her make the pins. Every now and then she let me help out. I must say I've improved over the years. (Last year I made 2 giant sequined pieces.) Once you've gotten past the first few sequins it gets super easy, you can zone out in front of the tv for a while and just keep going.

 To make your own sequined hairclip/ pin you'll need the following:

White pre stiffened felt

Black sticker felt

Extra fine beading needles

Clear seed beads

Thread- black & white

Ball point pen

Scissors

Pin back

Hair clip

Sequins- 

8mm white

8mm black

5mm black

5mm purple

5mm teal

5mm orange

Glue gun

Pattern

 Step 1: Draw the image onto white felt with a ball point pen. (Ball point pens are best for drawing on felt because they write smoothly and do not bleed.)

Keepin' Busy

 I know it's been a while since I've posted but I've been keeping pretty busy. It's summer and the kids are home, on top of that I start my summer teaching job next week. I'm really excited to get the opportunity to teach kids how to draw. I remember growing up I would draw all the time. My parents fostered my love for art in many ways, my dad and I would sit together with a stack of paper and the newspaper funny pages. He would challenge me to try and draw the comic strips as close to the originals as possible. Mom always had craft projects that she would let me work on. All week I've been drawing with my boys. It's been fun and exciting to see their creations. All this drawing got me back to the computer. I've decided to turn some of the digital drawings that I've drawn for my dolls and pillows, into prints. I've been working on back grounds, settings and all kinds of details to bring my characters to life on paper. I still have to find the right paper and ink to print them, but I love the way they are coming out. I hope you like them too :)

 

New Business Cards

After the holidays I was left with only a hand full of business cards so it was time to reorder. I looked at the little stack that I had left and decided that they really didn't represent Studio Longoria very well.  This weekend I sat down to redesign my cards. I played around with the placement of my dolls on the standard card template, and I just wasn't feeling them. I was about to walk away when my husband looked at them and said "Why don't you use the new Silhouette Cameo machine to cut your cards the shape of the dolls?" Genius! I scrapped the design I was working on and started turning my doll designs into business cards. Now everyone that comes by booth at shows can take home one of my little muertos. They aren't perfect yet, I'm still working with lining them up to be cut, but they are super cute. I can't wait to pass these little guys out at my next event.