A Video Homage to Wicked Faires Past

And yes, I'll be there again this year, kit and all!  And Halloween is my favorite holiday, people!



Feel free to contact me now for a body painting, or come find me at Faire for face or body!

Birthdays and Blacklight

This Wednesday, I turn 40.  Even before I was a face painter, a birthday always seemed to me to be a really good reason for a party, so I've always celebrated mine with friends and family, each year planning something different to do.

My family actually has a birthday tradition.  I was born at 12:12 a.m. on July 28, so it really started with my parents and sister showing up at my apartment at 12:12 a.m. every year with ice cream cake, balloon and gifts.  My sister was born at around 2 a.m. on a day in May so we'd show up at her place then for the same little party.  Well, my parents don't stay up as late anymore, so the tradition has morphed a bit, wherein everyone shows up at some crazy hour of the morning and we have ice cream cake for breakfast, with balloons and gifts.

This past Sunday was my brother-in-law's birthday, so we all met at their house at 7 a.m. for the mini-party.  Unbeknownst to me, my husband made a deal with my mom to surprise me with a joint celebration, thereby getting out of having them descend on our house on Wednesday morning at 6 a.m., two hours before he had to leave for work and an hour and a half before he normally gets up.

Ice cream cake for breakfast is the best!  I got some great gifts...

... and then later that day was my self-planned birthday party.  First, we spent several hours at the Turtle Back Zoo, where I hadn't been in years.

After that, and just in time because as we left the zoo the sky turned black with an impending storm, we continued on to Monster Golf, an indoor mini golf venue that's all lit in blacklight and laid out in UV-reactive paint!  Of course, I had to pull out my UV face paints and painted myself and my friend.

I loved the glow, and we matched the whole place!

And how amazing would it be to do a blacklight body painting photo shoot.  Anyone?  Anyone?

Dinner with friends was a terrific finish to the day.

Lots of Henna

I was hired to do henna tonight at a birthday party for a 14-year-old girl.  The kids were great, though I was really disconcerted to hear "Oh, this is from Glee" when songs from my junior high and high school years were playing.  Wow, am I that old?  Really?  When did that happen?!

At any rate, the party was outside, where the humidity was wreaking a bit of havoc with the henna's consistency, but I got some decent results and the kids loved it.  Mom had set up a great little table from me, with printed paisley designs to "set the scene."  That was great!

Some of my pieces...

(The girl pulled this one up on her smartphone; it apparently means "love.")

And my very last request of the night, from the birthday girl's younger brother, a penguin.  I drew it first in surgical marker to be sure I'd get it right, and you can still see it behind the henna.  The marker is easily washed off, while the henna stain will remain.  It was quite dark at this point, and I was working by a dim porch light, so I wasn't quite as "on" the marker as I thought I was.

And yes, the penguin is holding a little fish.  I just had to.

Afternoon of Henna

I was hired to do henna today at my client's daughter's 50th birthday party. Yes, 50th. I was a surprise, part of the birthday gift, because the birthday girl is a huge henna fan. It showed when my client introduced me to her daughter, and she kept looking back and forth between me and her mother saying, "Really? Seriously? You have henna?" and then sort of squealed.

She wasn't the only one; I was a hit at the party in general, and people got henna even though it meant they couldn't get back in the pool on a nice, warm day. My takers were mostly girls and women, though some men went for it too.

I think the only person who might not have loved me to death was a teenage boy who wanted to use my henna himself to "graffiti" inappropriate words or pictures on another boy. With young kids at the party, I didn't think this was the proper venue for such things and refused.

I do lament the fact that I wasn't able to get good, clear photos of these last two. I really liked them, but it was headed toward evening and with the dim light, I had trouble getting the camera to focus properly. I figure they're worth posting anyway.