A Sleepover Party

On Sunday, I had a more unusual event for me.  I entertained at the "morning after" of a 7-year-old's sleepover birthday party of just four girls.  It was a blast!  I arrived at 11 a.m. to squeals of "She's here!  She's here!" which is one of the things that make my jobs so great.

For these girls, I brought my henna and temporary tattoos, and their creative brains gave me a run for my money.

Even as the girls went through my glitter tattoo stencils, they asked for the designs to be bigger, so I had to freehand them.  I think I did a good job!

Just for Fun

Over the holiday weekend, I had too many fun plans of my own to take any paid events.

On Saturday, Eric and I went up to our friend's 40th birthday in Connecticut, which she was celebrating as a 4th birthday.  Well, what does a face painter do when her 40-year-old friend holds her own 4th birthday?  Brings the face paints, obviously.

The theme of the party was rainbows & unicorns, so...

Only one other paintee at this party, and not to theme, but pretty clear if I do say so myself.

Then on Sunday when it was raining, we headed with some friends to Monster Golf.  If you haven't got one near you, it's indoor mini golf in blacklight.  So of course, I had to break out the UV glitters for some glitter tattoos!

Did those on our friends' daughter and son, and freehanded this one on myself.

I do so love blacklight!

Since I'm on a Tattoo Kick

I may as well tell you about another party I worked this weekend, a "birthday party" for the Irish Cottage Inn, in Franklin, NJ.  I didn't eat or drink there (yet, since I plan to go back with Eric & try it out), but it looked like a great place.  Once we do actually try it, I'll have to report back.  It's up in Sussex County, out in the country, and was a nice drive.

The people that run the Inn and work there were incredibly nice, laid back, and fun.  And the kids were great about picking all different things!  I think I only had two butterflies, and other than that and these zombies, everyone was different.

That scary one getting into character is the two-year-old brother of the other!  So wanting a similar face makes sense; when we were kids, my little sister wanted to be like me too.  How cute are they?!

But I started this talking tattoos.  I was face painting and tattooing at the party.  What's more fitting at the birthday party of an Irish pub than a Celtic shamrock tattoo?

And what's more fitting than a lizard?

Um.. maybe not.  A dragon?

OK, fine, I'm kidding, I'm kidding.  But I did do this cool freehand flower.

I'm loving these freehand tattoos!

Back to the painting.  Bunch of characters at this event.  This little girl was hoping for a turtle tattoo, but wanted it on her cheek, which I won't do, so she opted for painting rather than a turtle on an arm.

Her older sister wanted to be a Sun, of all things!

And then in addition to the butterflies I already mentioned,

I did love this smiling dog,

and this awesome cat.

And on that note, I sign off for now.

... and Now for Something Completely (well, ok, partly) Different!

I've been having more fun with the temp tats recently, because I've started doing more freehand tattoos.  With brushes or a special art pen I've acquired, I can do pretty much anything I want.

On myself, I tried this gorgeous flower design.

Know what this would be perfect for?  Wedding, bachelorette party, and prom tattoos!  How awesome would that be?  The heck with buying jewelry; I'll stick it right on you!

I didn't leave out the less flowery types, though.  I had to try out this cool dragon too.

While I do have dragon stencils, it's kind of cool to translate the dragons I face paint right into my tattoos too.

And this past Sunday at a tattoo party I worked for a christening in Oakland, NJ, This tattoo was the biggest hit of the party!

It was so fun to do, but was even better when the boy who'd taken me up on my challenge of "if you don't see something in my book, we can make something up" saw the final result.  He was so proud of it, and his dad was a huge fan too!

Communion Season

Did you notice that May seems to be communion season?  I painted and did tattoos at a lot of communions this year, it was pretty fun!  Kids that age are great.  At one particular one held at the Indian Trails Club in Franklin Lakes, I was hired for solely temporary tattoos.  I did a ton!

This one young girl who was so shy she refused to talk to me came back for SIX tattoos.  We were able to communicate without her saying a word.  Thankfully, it wasn't a rushed event, and we had the time.  My favorite of the designs she got was this coexist.  How cool is that?

She wanted neon rainbow, which I think turned out great.

Some of the boys decided to challenge me, and I got to pull out my inks and brushes too.  I was out of NY Yankee stencils, but was able to do 'em anyway. 

I'm only annoyed I didn't get photos of the New Orleans Saints freehand tats I did.

Tattoo Party - September 2012

I had a lot of fun at this faerie party!  I loved dressing in faerie to be there.  The kiddos loved my custom tattoo designs, too.

Boy's Glitter Tat Birthday

Last weekend I was hired to do glitter tattoos at a boy's bounce house birthday.  Glitter tats are perfect for bounce house party places, since they won't rub off on the houses, minimizing cleanup for the employees.  Plus, kids get sweaty when bouncing, and the tats don't just sweat off, always a plus.  Some of my designs...

Once the birthay boy chose that one, it was pretty popular!

I thought this was a nifty way of getting over a fear of witches.

Another popular one was this great tribal dragon.

The kids had a blast, and I got to have fun with them.  A great way to spend an afternoon!

Picnic!

Every summer, the community theater to which I belong, Bergen County Players, hosts a picnic for the members, friends, and family, and every year Eric and I go.  Since it's something I can offer to my fellow theater people, I bring the face paints and glitter tats.

I'm generally a hit.  This year didn't get off to an auspicious start, though, when I asked a little girl I didn't know if she wanted to be painted.  She said yes, her mother said yes.  She wanted a butterfly, and pink was her color of choice... but as soon as the sponge reached her face, she got really upset.  Glitter, which she'd already asked for before I started, just added to her misery.  Looking in the mirror was even worse, and she didn't stop crying until we washed her face off.  I'm glad Snazaroo, which I was using, will come off with just a paper towel and a little water.  I felt so bad!  Face painting's supposed to be fun, after all.

When her mom tried getting painted to show her it was ok, she got upset all over again... and then again when her brother got a glitter tattoo on each arm.  She's very protective of her family, it seems.

After that, though, hilarity ensued.

First, what I did.

What you're seeing there are my first ever beagle and squirrel!  I love getting challenges!  The fish was just something out of my head, an "artist's choice," but Eric told me I'd done a pineapple fish.  Behold...

Weird, right?  I'd never heard of or seen this fish before!  Hmm...

While I was working, though, my young friend Messalina (isn't that a great name?) asked to use my paints and join me.  I never let anyone do that, but it is tradition that Messalina paints me, so I let her paint our friend Kenny, who was oddly agreeable yesterday.  I do note that he's never let me paint him and plan to remedy that, especially since he has such a terrific canvas.

I think I should hire her!