Ring in the Holidays Event

Hey hey,

So I had this HUGE event that was supposed to be this quaint little town event. I had kids back to back lined up for 4 hours straight and I only got to spend about 1-2 minutes on each child. So it's not my 'best quality' work, but the kids were really happy with me (especially the boys, since I actually offered them some neat boy designs 'Grinch, Elf and Santa Faces') and the girls loved the typical Angels, Poinsettias and sparkly designs.

I did get a few pictures while I stopped to get drinks of water, but missed getting good pics of several I actually had wanted pics of, like this great Santa face!! But at least these were all new (for me) and first time designs. I was glad to get a few brave boys to allow me to paint anything on them, so I could get a picture for next year's board.

I did about 25 Grinch faces, and this one was my first...but it was still slow enough that I snuck in a pic! The elf boy actually let me put cheek rouge, glitter and lip gloss on him to make him more 'elfy' looking. He was cracking me up! What a brave boy!

I have been so busy this month, with several bookings, I have just not had time to do a proper entry for the Holiday contest, though I have looked at them and WOW you are all awesome! So this is just my way of putting a few images out there for the Holidays and hoping it gives someone some inspiration for upcoming events.

These were both inspired by other people's work I'd seen:


I'd seen the lightbulb design on Snazaroo and the Mistle Toe/Kiss Face I just made up, though I'm sure lots of FPs have thought of that one at Christmas!:


Sorry about the poor quality photos. It was at the end of my 4th hour...I was quite jittery and was rushing to finish up the last few children that had waited so patiently the whole time just to get painted! The glitter gel on both of these looked much nicer in person!:

These are awesome! Don't apologize for the picture quality, it's amazing you had time to even think about taking pics! It's the first time I have seen someone do the Grinch as a full face, I love it! I am painting my first Holiday party on Sat night and am so glad you posted these! I needed inspiration as I am getting really nervous

Heather,
The photos came out great of your marvelous work & inspiration! I love the misteltoe one and will use some for my big gig monday.
Special thanks,
Susan

Great job!!! The moment I am done painting I generally grab my camera and take a quick picture of the kid... then I show him the mirror!!! That way I get a cute pic before they want to run off!

Heather .............You ROCK!!!!wow girl, These are awesome!

I did a Christmas Tree Lighting this year (4 hours, with no end in site to the line....same type of situation....2 minutes per face) I wish I had the elf & Grinch as I didn't have much to offer the boys. I painted a skull with a santa hat because I didn't dare tackle the Grinch w/o reference! Oh.....and I also painted Spiderman with a stocking cap as well.........wish I had a photo of THAT one!~

Those are great ideas Linda. I have two jobs coming up this weekend and were trying to think of ways to make the regularly requested ones Christmasy.

So feel free to add to the list:

1. Santa hat on Skull
2. Santa hat on Spiderman
3. Santa hat instead of pirate scarf on pirate
4. Add a sprig of holly to any of them
5. Make a christmas split cake combo for butterflies, tigers, spiderman.
(I am making one that is DFX RED, LIGHT GREEN and White)


Copy and paste mine into your message and add more(pics if you have them!) I'll take some this weekend!

My Christmas booking last Sunday was the same old stuff...

Three of us painting and I think the only "seasonal" stuff we did between us were maybe 3 or 4 snowflake designs.

Lost count of the number of Skulls and half black/half red Spider-kids...

And we have LOTS of Christmas designs on the board... not like there is nothing to look at to get ideas!

And, yeah, I could have put holly or santa hats on them all... but that adds time to each design and we in crank 'em out mode!!

This weekend... HOPEFULLY, there are Christmas requests!!!

Heh, thanks ya'll!

I was SO sick of Tigers and Butterflies, and the organizer requested an 'all Holiday Theme' offering. So I was glad to not have to do Skulls, Tigers, and Spiderman stuff with little Christmas bits. Like I said, I was in a rush to just make sure the boys were happy, as most girl designs are easier for me.

I'm glad it helped a few of you out for ideas! The boys were practically hugging me for making sure to take care of them with Holiday Designs. They were taking my cards and telling their mom they wanted me for their birthday, that's new to me...usually only the girls are the ones begging Mom and Dad!

I was tempted to use Metina's Butterfly design from Halloween but with Christmas touches....but I can proudly say I didn't have to paint one *&^%&$ butterfly. hahah Seriously though, I love butterflies, but OMG I'm a bit sick of them!

I did a party 2 weeks ago and the kid was so happy when he came by to say goodbye with his mom he pulled a stack of my business cards out of his pocket when I asked if we would see each other again he said we would that he took all my tickets!

I painted last night at a restaurant and got very few xmas design requests. I spent so much time practicing xmas designs too. I even tried to talk the kids into at least using christmas colors for regular designs but not too many takers either.

Opps I forgot to say I love your grinch and those kisses are adorable.

I did a small private birthday and all the girls chose holiday designs which really surprised me! So cute - here in Florida we really romanticize winter because we don't really have one - so imagine these kids with their rudolph, and snow scene faces while it was 80 degrees and we were on a waterfront canal home with a dock that connected to a bay that connected to the ocean!

Heather you must be a SPEED QUEEN!!! Those designs are awsome quality for a crazy busy event!!!! My faves are the grinch and snowflake face!!!

I forgot to say, that it had been snowing all day, was probably 10 deg F and very 'Christmas Spirit' mood for everyone! That probably helped!

I tried to look at the new faces and then break them down and do them in as few strokes as possible. Ie, do all the sponging, then all the black line strokes (and smudge if needed) and then do any highlights/glitter last. It makes any design much faster.

Ie, The Grinch face I looked at like I do my Serpent Face. Quick green shading, then a few black line strokes and 'smudge' it in a few spots for shading. Then a few quickie white stokes. It was actually really fast once I'd done it a few times.

It's in the high 30s to low 40s this week, but the last few weeks, we'd had really cold weather with -20F wind chills! Brrrrrrr

I've been practicing speed painting and can't imagine reaching that speed on those designs. You rock.

Here are a few from two jobs yesterday.

Great designs ... I love the Grinch and the elf!

Oh I like the light strand off to the side, more like 'eye glam'!! That butterfly is sweet too. I'm still so glad I didn't have to paint any butterflies though! haha

Very pretty Metina, and I love the Elf, Heather.

Funny thing. Everyone talks about all the butterflies they paint. I haven't had a butterfly request in ages. Keep in mind I don't paint near as often as you all do, but I'm amazed. It just doesn't seem to happen very often.

Oh no! Maybe my butterflies are jankity and ill-built! Maybe I'll keep it that way.