The third year of MBAC proved to be bigger and better than ever! With more categories, including brush &  sponge, Amateur, special FX, extreme hair and makeup & face painting. There were around 40 + competitors all painting thier hearts out!

front view: 20,000 leagues under the sea

A theme of “wired for sound” was given to all categories, and we set out to interpret this in our own way. Points are given for originality and interpretation of theme, in addition to composition, use of colour & technique. Body painters are given 6 hours to paint their piece and facepainters 2 hours.  Let me tell you, that time flies by!  The overall standard of work was very high,  I was very pleased to place 2nd.

Mem Bourke travelled from New Zealand to present the big prize: A trip to New Zealand to compete in the New Zealand Body art awards in October 2011. this is a huge event, check out the website here , Artists and Models also travelled far and wide to participate.

The event is well supported by the community, check out the full sponsors list here to see all the wonderful businesses that have supported this event. The Sunday Age photographed the event and you can see some wonderful images online here. Wow I could go on and on, there are so many involved and its hard to mention only a few, Thankyou to Ria, who’s vision, hard work and determination has created a wonderful event for us in Melbourne, I am really looking forward to next year, perhaps I’ll see some of you there? here are some pics for you:  Click on image to see larger view.

Artist: Ambah O’Brien, Model Amanda Law : Concept: 20,000 leagues under the sea. 2nd Place Brush & Sponge

FacePaintingTips.com and Clayton from Marvelous Masks in Chicago are proud to host a one-stroke face painting contest on YouTube! We can’t wait to see your one-stroke face painting entries!

Watch the Video Below for Details & to Enter! Good luck!

Click here to Leave a Comment if You Have a Question!

1st Place:
Diamond FX Metallic 6 Color Palette (includes 2 Brushes) & Sponge !

2nd Place:
DFX Big Rainbow Split Cake Face Paint, DFX Round Brush #4 & Sponge!

3rd Place:
Mini Party Split-Cake and ¾ Inch Brush!

Theme: One Stroke Designs; Face, Cheek & Body Art designs.

Rules: Must incorporate One Stroke cakes or Split cakes into your designs. Must use a brush for your one stroke, but if you want to put a base of some sort on first, sponges are fine for that. Feel free to add “teardrops, swirls, etc…. but “brownie points” for finished looking designs that don’t require anything but your one stroke cakes.

You can enter two designs.

Contest runs from May 4 to June 6, 2011 and is open to those 18 and older.

Get your entries in asap, Good luck!

Watch All The Entries Here:

 BUY FACE PAINTING SUPPLIES HERE!

Hello Everybody,

Wow can you believe it’s February already!  This month I am very excited to be an instructor at the Australian Body Art Awards Convention. This event began last year as a Face and Body painting competition, held in Melbourne, Australia, and has grown this year into a bigger competition with more categories to enter and a 3 day convention with additional pre and post convention classes being offered by a host of talented International Instructors including: Yolanda Bartram, Lucy  Bruillard and Christina Davison. Check out the website link below to find out more about this huge event for Australian Face and Body Painters. Come and visit if you can join us to either enter a competition, watch the awards or participate in one of the many classes on offer. I hope I get to meet some of you there.

I love all of the feedback and responses I get to my posts, and I really enjoy hearing about how you all do things, I have learnt from some of your tips and I am sure many others have too. This month I have decided to open up a topic that is usually a big discussion in my beginners class, the issue of Hygiene when face painting. I will post some of my tips on the topic and would love to hear your thoughts and ideas too.

common sense: plays an important role in hygiene matters. as I am sure most of you are aware that it is important not to paint over broken skin/cold sores to minimise the spread of contageous conditions. Even if the parent assures you its ok! discreetly offering to paint on the arm or elswhere instead so that the child still has a design without feeling embarressed is a tactful way to manage these situations.

regular kit cleaning: so that the paints are wiped clean, my brushes and equipent are regularly cleaned, steralized and air-dried. Throw out broken and untitdy items. This not only is essential for professional presentation, but it is also more hygienic and parents will notice that you take care.

sponges: Personally I like to use a fresh sponge per child. I find the benefit not only in presenting a hygienic approach, which parents have commented favourably on, but that it suits my technique too. I like load up my sponges with colours suitable  for the particular design and find that they end up with lots of colours on them anyway so I couldn’t really re-use them if I wanted to!

antibacterial gel: its great to have this on hand, regularly cleaning your hands with this between children will help to minimise the spread of bacteria.

I look forward to reading your ideas and comments.

CLICK HERE TO LEAVE A COMMENT/ TELL US WHAT YOU THINK!!

Get Your Face Painting Supplies Online Here!

(It was sooo hard to pick this month, thank you so much for all the brilliant posts sent in this month!)
Here are the competition winners:

The $50 Gift Certificate from Supplies
For The Best Contributor goes to:
Marion Mitchell !

For “Do What You Love & You’ll Never Work a Day In Your Life” Congratulations Marion…great article, charity work is so beneficial in so many ways and for so many people! Keep an eye out in your inbox for your prize Marion

The $10 Certificate from Supplies for the Best Commenter goes to: Kathy Stanton!

Happy to know you’re enjoying the blog You will be receiving your gift certificate within the next week!

Thank you all again for participating, your stories have been helpful to more people than you think! You can start sending in your entries for the December Competition and, of course, add to our discussion by making comments one each blog post right away!

Happy Face Painting,

Philadelphia Tivoli

www.FacePaintingTips.com
“Helping You Paint with Your Favorite Face Paints!”
Buy Face Paints for your Face Painting Kit Right Here!
P.S. Learn face painting designs by clicking here with step by step photos and instructions!

This is an entry sent in for our monthly Competition!

“No Job Too Small – Face Painting Heart to Heart”
by Alana Dill

To me, face painting is much more than a way to make a quick buck.  Certainly it’s a challenge to paint on a canvas that wiggles or giggles or wants to chat because it slows us down a bit. This kind of low-volume, quiet face painting isn’t very profitable financially, but it’s got perks. I get great referrals. I feel closer to the human race.  I’ve had the pleasure of bringing out a sense of fun and adventure in the elderly and the jaded.  I’ve helped very small children overcome fears and set aside tantrums (because I can’t paint someone who’s screaming or crying, and when I tell them that firmly, they pull themselves together).

I’ve stood up for  boys who wanted to be painted like butterflies and girls who wanted mustaches or scary faces. What more wonderful thing can there be, than to help someone feel more like their heart’s desire?  I really do enjoy the transformation and sense of surprise; but what I really hope for is to enhance my clients’ sense of self. I get the most satisfaction when I’m painting with, not just my skills, but my heart.

I’ve been painting for several years now and occasionally the person in the chair really needs to talk.  It must be something that hairdressers and bartenders experience all the time (not to mention therapists). I wouldn’t want to be a therapist, but I treasure these small moments; usually they happen when there’s little or no line and we have an oasis of quiet. Although there are tricks to keeping a customer quiet, if I have time I will try to pick up on that cue and paint their hand, arm, or a mask instead of a full face.  Several children have had me paint portraits of a deceased pet on their hand or cheek, or the name of an absent or dead loved one.

I’ve had a tough teen boy declare his love for his girl right there on his arm for everyone to see (to her immense pride and delight as she watched her name materialize). When I’ve painted baby bumps, I’ve gotten to discuss the mom’s hopes and dreams (sometimes fears) for her expected child.  One little girl at a slumber party told me how she dreaded going home on Sunday morning because the day would be ruined by her grumpy mom’s hangover.

She got to be a princess – a strong and patient princess – for the evening. I’ve had a boisterous young man at a bar confess very quietly to me that he was afraid (at 28) that he’d never find love and was a failure in life. But he was a rock star for the night, and he got some attention from a pretty girl or two, and maybe it was nice for him to hear “I’m old enough to be your mom, and I can tell you that you haven’t even started yet. So have some faith in yourself -  if you don’t like what you’re doing, you have the power to change it”.

I’ve helped “ugly duckling” sisters transform into  beautiful swans. I always tell them – “This is just glamour – it washes off. You’re beautiful and that comes from the inside out”. I’ve worked gently and carefully with learning disabled kids – who are so excited to be painted but must marshal all their will to have their faces touched, to sit still or to point their nose in my general direction. And I have honored the children who say “NO!” – if they are at all curious but not sure,  I might offer to paint their caregiver instead, or let them slowly ease in with a tiny brushstroke on their hand. In the end they make the decision of whether and where they’ll be painted (with parent permission, of course!).

I’m happy to have a big line and do 3-minute designs; I’m happy to have an hour to do a customized full-head or body design for a special occasion.  I’m just happy to paint. Of course I would LOVE to get rich painting and I know volume is a big part of that. I plan to expand into airbrush tattoos and develop my skills with freehand glitter tattoos, but painting really is my first love.  I hope that other painters who are accustomed to high-volume rush will occasionally take on those small, intimate jobs that let us get to know our subjects a little better.

I know that, no matter how fast and loose I get, I’ll always treasure those times when I’m able to provide a little extra time and attention to someone who really needs it.

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Thank you for sending this in Alana! I’ll be posting the rest of the entries until the end of November when I announce the winner.

Happy Face Painting,

Philadelphia Tivoli

www.FacePaintingTips.com
“Helping You Paint with Your Favorite Face Paints!”
Buy Face Paints for your Face Painting Kit Right Here!

This is an entry sent in for our monthly Competition!

“Memories of Amy“
By Marianne Bartley

It was time for the concert and the crowd began to flow toward the auditorium.  My eyes were blurry from the recent onslaught of children wanting to be painted and the movement of bodies up the promenade looked ever so much like autumn leaves rolling past me, guided by the brisk autumn breeze.  A young mother carrying her daughter emerged from the blur of color and stood at my booth, looking from one of the hanging photos to another.  The child, already half the size of her petite mom, squirmed in her arms but she seemed not to notice as she shifted her from one arm to another, never losing her gaze on the face designs dangling before her.  Her eyes met mine and she said, rather apologetically,

“I don’t think she will let you.  She doesn’t hold still for anyone.”

The little girl slid from her mom’s arms to the ground and stood, holding her hand, and looking at me suspiciously.

“How old is she?” I asked.  “She just turned five last week.”

“Has she ever had her face painted?” I asked?

“No, I know she would love it but she won’t let anyone touch her but me.”

She took a deep sigh and I could see the tired look in her eyes that I had seen in my own so many times.  It is not a good tired. It is one of frustration and helplessness and utter exhaustion.

“Can I try something?” At that moment, I felt that there was something more important than a simple face painting here.  This mom was hoping for help with far more than her daughter holding still.  She wanted what every mom wants for her daughter.  She wanted her to come out from behind her legs where she was hiding and peeking at me, and to be able to face new things without the fear that radiated from her now.  Her mom was seeking that first step toward making her daughter open to new experiences.

“Sure, whatever you think might work,…but I don’t think she will cooperate.”  She was so apologetic and yet hopeful.  It touched my heart.

“Would you mind giving me a hug?” She seemed surprised but smiled and nodded.  I hugged her, a warm and genuine hug.  When she stepped back, there were tears in her eyes.

“I think I needed that,” she said, her voice raspy.  “I haven’t been hugged in a long time by anyone but Amy.  She reached down and brushed the hair from the little girl’s eyes.  They were searching my face intently.

“Can I paint your hand?” I asked the mom.

“Where do you want me to sit?”  She smiled.

While I painted, slowly and deliberately, we talked.  I learned that her husband was in Iraq and that her mother, who had been caring for little Amy, had passed away from ovarian cancer just three months ago.  It was like putting together a picture puzzle and the last few pieces showed the wolf looking through the window.  Life was a scary thing right now for them both.

The little girl watched intently as the leaves and vines and flowers unfolded beneath the brush.  Her hand rested on her mother’s leg, just beneath the hand I was painting.  I lowered the brush and made a quick, bright blue line on the girl’s hand. Startled, she pulled her hand back and stared at the line intently.  I continued working on the flowers on her mother’s hand.  A moment passed and the little hand slipped beneath us and rested back on her mom’s knee.  I looked over to see her eyes searching my face questioningly.
I began making each mark on one hand and then the other, mimicking each line on the little girl’s hand.  When I finished the flower on her mom’s hand, I turned to the child, took her hand and rested it on my own knee.  The child watched every stroke, every new color with fascination.  The very last touch, I added a bright rainbow and a star in the sky at the uppermost arch of the rainbow.

“This is your grandma’s star.”  I told her.  She is watching us right now and this star is because she loves you so much.  Amy walked to the edge of the tent and held her arm out to the sun, fascinated by the light dancing upon the glitter.
“Thank you so much.  I can’t believe she let you do that.  It is so beautiful.”  Her eyes had welled with tears again but this time the pain wasn’t there.  It was something else.

“No, sweetie.  Thank you for letting me be the first to paint her.  There is something really special about a child trusting me and it is a gift for me.  I will smile every time I think of Amy.”  My eyes were blurry again, but not from fatigue this time.
Before they left, Amy gave me a hug.  It wasn’t one of those polite hugs, prompted by a parent.  It was the spontaneous, warm hugs of a child that wants to give a gift and all they have to offer is themselves.

That is why I paint…

Marianne Bartley
Giggle and Grin!
www.giggleandgrin.com

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Thank you for sending this in Marianne, so touching. Thank you for sharing this beautiful story. You’re not just a face painter you’re also a talented writer!

Happy Face Painting,

Philadelphia Tivoli

www.FacePaintingTips.com
“Helping You Paint with Your Favorite Face Paints!”
Buy Face Paints for your Face Painting Kit Right Here!

This is an entry sent in for our monthly Competition!

“Creativity in Face Painting“
By Rachel B.

Hi, I don’t know if anyone else finds they need a photo to look at for painting ideas but it makes me wonder about my creativity as I don’t seem to be able to create my own. Yet, I keep reminding myself that I do a great job emulating reality by using this pictures to create as realistic “monsters” as possible. Isn’t copying a form of flattery? Also, I think it shows my skills in being able to replicate something seen onto a face.

Secondly, I was preparing for the Adelaide Zombie WAlk but I needed some ideas and I found this awesome realistic website for zombies. I don’t like it being all blood but rather what about the makeup underneath as well as the acting too. Therefore, I recommend checking out this website cos it’s a awesome zombie makeup by Matt Cail.

This ties to my first ideas with my attempts to emulate (see photos below). Speaking of which, I’m quite proud of my own creation for the bite on the hand (eg how the zombie infection was passed on-just remember to take off bracelets or long sleeves as they rub it off).

Keep on painting don’t stop,

Rachel B.

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Thank you for sending this in Rachel! I’ll be posting the rest of the entries until the end of November when I announce the winner.

Happy Face Painting,

Philadelphia Tivoli

www.FacePaintingTips.com
“Helping You Paint with Your Favorite Face Paints!”
Buy Face Paints for your Face Painting Kit Right Here!

“Do What You Love & You’ll Never Work a Day In Your Life“
By Marion Mitchell

Hi Philadelphia,

I just wanted to share my recent experience with facepainting.

About a year ago, I started facepainting my daughter, after she had a last minute freak out over having her face painted at a local event. You could see she wanted to get painted, but was very unsure because it was the first time. So I figured that if she was going to trust anybody, it would be me!! Well needless to say, I found it to be rather excellent fun, and extremely addictive.

I recently volunteered to paint faces at my kid sister’s school fete. I had wanted the opportunity to have a go a painting a large number of faces, so this was a great opportunity. I really really enjoyed myself and was very surprised by how quick I became by the end of the day. (Goes to show what a bit of practice does!!)

Since then I have purchased your How to Start a Facepainting Business ebook, which I just have to say is absolutely chock full of first rate, practical information.

Then last night to top it all off, I received an email from the fete coordinator asking me if I was interested in some paid work, and would she be able to pass my number on to some people who had asked her for it!!! It was so exciting, and also a great lesson in the idea of people seeing your work, and asking to book your services. It has been a much appreciated confidence booster, and has given me the incentive I needed to follow this dream.

Best wishes to everyone, and I truly believe the statement “Do what you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life”

Kind regards,
Marion Mitchell
Australia

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Thank you for sending this in Marion!
Happy Face Painting,

Philadelphia Tivoli

www.FacePaintingTips.com
“Helping You Paint with Your Favorite Face Paints!”
Buy Face Paints for your Face Painting Kit Right Here!

Here are the competition winners:

The $50 Gift Certificate from Supplies
For The Best Contributor goes to:
Nikki Karn

For “Charity Work – SF Comp” Congratulations Nikki…great article, charity work is so beneficial in so many ways and for so many people! Keep an eye out in your inbox for your prize Nikki:-)

The $10 Certificate from Supplies for the Best Commenter goes to: Lisa Sandiford!

Happy to know you’re enjoying the blog You will be receiving your gift certificate within the next week!

Thank you all again for participating, your stories have been helpful to more people than you think! You can start sending in your entries for the November Competition and, of course, add to our discussion by making comments one each blog post right away!

Happy Face Painting,

Philadelphia Tivoli

www.FacePaintingTips.com
“Helping You Paint with Your Favorite Face Paints!”
Buy Face Paints for your Face Painting Kit Right Here!

P.S. Learn face painting designs by clicking here with step by step photos and instructions!

“Les Visages” By Lisa Sandiford

Philadelphia,

I am soooo grateful for all your advice, videos and newsletters. You are such a generous person when comes to your knowledge and expertise. My experience with facepainting is not as vast as yours but i certainly feel like it will soon be.

Facepainting is something i really enjoy doing. The best part is the big reveal! I always like to tell story of my first time. The school my husband teaches at were doing their first school bazaar to raise funds for updates and projects in and around the school.

They wanted some ideas for different stalls to grab the children’s interest and so i volunteered to face paint since my first love was drawing and painting. so they agreed to purchase the paints and I would transfer my skills off paper onto the children’s faces. so i went online and printed out some ideas for girls like butterflies, birds, flowers and for boys, well at the time Spiderman 1 had just come out in cinemas across the country so i decided to use pics of spiderman and batman designs.

On the said day which was a saturday i was soooo excited to paint the little girls faces especially, pretty butterflies and flowers and birds….  i also bought some lipstick and glitter to add to what paints i was provided with…but imagine my surprise when not only the boys were raving for Spiderman but the girls as well!!!….lol….all in all the day was great fun. I had a serious back pain that night but there was a smile on my face when i remembered looking out in the school courtyard to see a wide array of male and female spidermen and women…..kids too sweet!

In my country we’re not privy to stores carrying a vast array of facepainting supplies so i make do with what i can get my hands on and i even substitute. I found some paint crayons which work really well despite the fact that the colours are limited and not very bright. i also use eyeshadows and bodypaints and lots of glitter. Although the bodypaints offer lots of colours, they are very runny and dry with a stiff pulling feeling on the skin. I would like the opportunity to use some of those magnificent products that i see you using, they really pop and finish so nicely. i know my future clients will really enjoy it and it may even land me some more gigs!…. thanks again Philadelphia

Lisa @ Les Visages
Trinidad

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Thank you for sending this in Lisa!
Happy Face Painting,

Philadelphia Tivoli

www.FacePaintingTips.com
“Helping You Paint with Your Favorite Face Paints!”
Buy Face Paints for your Face Painting Kit Right Here!

“Second Job Face Painting” By Sheila Aldrich

About two years ago my mother and I were asked to volenteer our time face painting for a Chilren’s Miracle Network fundraiser in our community, which is a very small community.  We were asked because the both of us have some artistic ability and we are alway willing to try new things, so we said yes.

The only thing that we had to use was acrylics, but we were told that they work.  During the time that we were doing this fund raiser a friend of ours came up to see what we were doing and little did we know she used to face paint in Denver, professionally.

That day we got a lot of tips and of course done a lot better than we were doing.  After that, my mother and I decided that we were going to face paint at our local fair because there is not a whole lot for kids to do at the fair.

There is not as many activities as there were when I was a kid.  We went over to our friend’s house a couple weeks before fair and got some face painting lessons and we practiced a lot.  We had a excellent turn out fair and got plenty of compliments.

I have decided that I would like to get some real face paint and take more lessons and do this as a a “second job” for our community.  Like birthday parties, fair, fund-raisers, and other events that take place.

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Thank you for sending this in Sheila!

Happy Face Painting,

Philadelphia Tivoli

www.FacePaintingTips.com
“Helping You Paint with Your Favorite Face Paints!”
Buy Face Paints for your Face Painting Kit Right Here!

“Charity Work” By Nikki Karn

Many of us have causes and charities that are dear to our hearts for various reasons. It can be difficult to choose where to give your time (and supplies) when there is an endless list of worthy organizations.

So what is a charitable, but gotta pay the bills, face painter to do? Well, let me share a story…….

This past May, I donated my time to the 2nd Annual Southwest Michigan Arthritis Walk. In exchange for my time and supplies I was given much free publicity.

The chairperson listed my business as a sponsor of the event in all printed material; letters, t-shirts, posters, etc. I was also given the opportunity to do a radio interview as one of the sponsors.

Now I have to tell you, I never would have been able to afford all this advertising; not in my second year of being in business!

But there is generally a budget for advertising, especially for a well-known organization, so you aren’t taking away from the charity.

I painted for 2 1/2 hours and it was worth every brushstroke. I took donations, which went to the Arthritis Foundation.

It was wonderful to help raise well over $10,000 for this charity. Plus, I have booked many events over the summer months as a result of being there and having so much free publicity.

Truly a win-win situation.

If you have been approached by a charitable organization don’t be afraid to negotiate a

deal for your time.

Truth be told, I would face paint for a poke in the eye and a candy bar, but the fact is my time is worth more than that and supplies, insurance, gas, etc. require me to be more practical.

I will be returning next year and look forward to helping make the 3rd Annual Southwest Michigan Arthritis Walk a bigger success than this year!

Hugs & Blessings,

Nikki Karn
www.ajoyfulheartfacepainting.com

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Thank you for sending this in Nikki!

Happy Face Painting,

Philadelphia Tivoli

www.FacePaintingTips.com
“Helping You Paint with Your Favorite Face Paints!”
Buy Face Paints for your Face Painting Kit Right Here!

Here are the competition winners:

The $50 Gift Certificate from Supplies
For The Best Contributor goes to:
Tracy Mangan !

For “Fairy Garden Tea Party” Congratulations Tracey…gorgeous designs and party theme. Loved it! Keep an eye out in your inbox for your prize Tracey:-)

The $10 Certificate from Supplies for the Best Commenter goes to:

Melinda Stevens! Happy to know you’re enjoying the blog You will be receiving your gift certificate within the next week!

Thank you all again for participating, your stories have been helpful to more people than you think! You can start sending in your entries for the October Competition and, of course, add to our discussion by making comments one each blog post right away!

Happy Face Painting,

Philadelphia Tivoli

www.FacePaintingTips.com
“Helping You Paint with Your Favorite Face Paints!”
Buy Face Paints for your Face Painting Kit Right Here!

This is an entry sent in for our monthly Competition!

“Tiger Face Painting Designs”
By Annie Dunlap

Hello,

Tigers are my ultimate favorite face design.  They were the easiest to learn and because I can vary the color scheme–I can please lots of eager faces with just one design

These are my niece and nephew-Sophie and Jake.  Sophie wanted to be a rainbow tiger.  Sure enough–little brother wanted to be one too–to Sophie’s dismay!!  She didn’t want her little brother to be “the same”.

Thankfully, the ability to change colors in the design was just the ticket–two “different’ tigers, two happy kids-one happy Dad!

Annie Dunlap

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Thank you for sending this in Annie! I’ll be posting the rest of the entries until the end of September when I announce the winner.

Happy Face Painting,

Philadelphia Tivoli

www.FacePaintingTips.com
“Helping You Paint with Your Favorite Face Paints!”
Buy Face Paints for your Face Painting Kit Right Here!

This is an entry sent in for our monthly Competition!

“Ivonne’s Face Painting”
By Ivonne

Hello, I am Ivonne, I would like to thank you for all your help sending me techniques and advise to become a face painter. I started just four months ago and everything you said is completed right. I try to follow all the steps, and every time I have to work I do a little bit better.

Thank you very much, every one of your tips help, and the products help me a lot because i heve always used products from Face Painting Tips and feels like my money is really worthed. I was afraid to espend my money but know I know that the people that I work for are very satisfied and the kids are safe getting painted with the best products.

Here are some of my best costumers are my 2 boys that help me as a models when i need to practice some of the tips I learned from the book and the e-mails.

Once again . Thank you.

Ivonne from NJ 201 9063439.

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Thank you for sending this in Ivonne! I’ll be posting the rest of the entries until the end of September when I announce the winner.

Happy Face Painting,

Philadelphia Tivoli

www.FacePaintingTips.com
“Helping You Paint with Your Favorite Face Paints!”
Buy Face Paints for your Face Painting Kit Right Here!

This is an entry sent in for our monthly Competition!

“Weekend Warrior Face Painting”
By June

I work for the local fire department and we also have a sports center owned by the city.  Both the fire department and the sports center along with the police department are constantly having functions geared toward children.

Well, after volunteering to paint faces one time and having a blast doing it, I decided to volunteer for the other events to save the city some money.  One weekend we had a summer bash at the park for the children.  I began painting faces at 3:30 and ended at about 10:00 that evening.  I never took a break and had to enlist some help from some teenagers.  It was a great success and since I have done two more events.

I went online found lots of books and lots of pictures of things and just practiced on paper for about a week.  We did lots of butterfly, doggies, spiderman and batman over and over again.

It was such a success that we have decided to do it at all our events.  The children did not care how perfect we were, they were so happy to have their faces painted.

I have enclosed a couple of pics, I just wish you could have seen the line of kids and they along with their parents stood there for 3 hours waiting to have their faces painted.  We finally got to everyone. Thank you so much for your website, they were so a great help to me.  You guys are awesome at what you do, I wish I could be that good.

June

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Thank you for sending this in June! I’ll be posting the rest of the entries until the end of September when I announce the winner.

Please leave a comment if you want to ask questions, or just want to offer encouragement!

Happy Face Painting,

Philadelphia Tivoli

www.FacePaintingTips.com
“Helping You Paint with Your Favorite Face Paints!”
Buy Face Paints for your Face Painting Kit Right Here!

This is an entry sent in for our monthly Competition!

“Alicia’s Face Painting”
By Alicia Stewart

Hi,

Never even thought I would be doing something like this. I had visited a friend of mine who recently started face painting. I let her paint my face and I loved it she does wonderful work.

But I got to thinking Halloween was a month away and my 4 year old Daughter wanted to be a Clown, the year before she had been a cat and I had painted her entire face as a Cat with grease Paint. Well being 3 that halloween we had to retouch up several times Grease just smears easily and it just is not comfortable to wear. So having that experience with Grease paint for halloween I got to thinking.

Facepaint is much more comfortable to wear and the smearing is very minimal I decided the best course is to ask what paint my friend used and buy a small kit to paint my daughter’s clown face for halloween. It was a hit and just had to touch up once more before Trick or treating that night it was perfect.

Now the company I work for has a Childrens Christmas Party they do every year and invite disadvantage kids as well as the employees kids. There I Had this small kit with a good selection of colors, I decided to volunteer to facepaint I could do a few simple Cheek designs Christmas themed. I added a Few Glitters as girls do like sparkly things and got your Christmas design book to get just a few ideas on where to start. The night was a hit I stayed busy all night doing mainly Gingerbread men. I was ask several times if I did Parties I said no I work for this company and just volunteered to help out.

I had such a good time that I added a few things and from time to time I’d sit my daughter down to practice on her, like I said she is four and what four year old girl does not like facepainting or makeup. I look on you tube for ideas and techniques and practice on her.

I recently did 2 Parties one for my god daughter and then 2 months later one for her sister. I enjoy doing it so much and kids do sit so still even the little ones very few really fidget. I now plan to start doing a Few parties, just as a side job to supplment my hobby. What can I say it is addictive and there is so much out there you want to add something new to your kit all the time.

Another friend of mine had a great Idea. Go to a Park where there are lots of parties going on and set up a small stand doing a few simple designs for a few dollars depending on the size and have lots of businees cards and fliers to hand out. Not only will the kids at the parties come over but so will their parents and you will be able to drum up some party bookings at the same time.

Alicia Stewart

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Thank you for sending this in Alicia! I’ll be posting the rest of the entries until the end of September when I announce the winner.

Please leave a comment if you want to ask questions, or just want to offer encouragement!

Happy Face Painting,

Philadelphia Tivoli

www.FacePaintingTips.com
“Helping You Paint with Your Favorite Face Paints!”
Buy Face Paints for your Face Painting Kit Right Here!

“Sport Fans Face Painting!”
By Jese

Hi Philadelphia,

I am glad you are back to the Blog…

I was looking for ideas on Full Face Painting for Sport Fans…

I looked at your videos for inspiration and LOVED the helmet and the 1/2 and 1/2 game face you did on your sister…

So I wanted to share my pics with you, let me know what you think and thank you for the great ideas and amazing job you are doing.

Sincerely,
Jese

www.facepaintingbyjese.com

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Thank you for sending this in Jese!
Please leave a comment if you want to ask questions, or just want to offer encouragement!
Happy Face Painting,

Philadelphia Tivoli

www.FacePaintingTips.com
“Helping You Paint with Your Favorite Face Paints!”
Buy Face Paints for your Face Painting Kit Right Here!

This is an entry sent in for our monthly Competition!

“Fairy Garden Tea Party!”
Tracy Mangan

My son and my daughter always shared their birthday parties every year since they are both born in August.

This year my daughter, Autumn, wanted her own girly party, so we decided to have a Fairy Garden Tea party.

I always love throwing my kids their birthday parties and making it extra special.

I did a lot of research and found a great “How to” video on You Tube using your Arty Brush cakes.  She made it look so easy .

So I bought it to use at my daughter’s party to give that extra effect for Fairy eyes.  I only practiced doing the makeup 4 times before the party because it was just so easy to do.

When the party was here, I set up a pretty station for the girls to come one by one and started to paint their faces.

I was very nervous, since this was my first time doing this.  I got more confident as the girls were walking away with big smile on their faces.

Also the parents were amazed this was my first time.  The end result was just perfect.  The face paint made their outfits look absolutely perfect.

Thank you so much for making this product so easy to do and making my daughter’s party a fairy-tale dream come true!!!

Tracy Mangan

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Thank you for sending this in Tracey! I’ll be posting the rest of the entries until the end of September when I announce the winner.

Please leave a comment if you want to ask questions, or just want to offer encouragement!

Happy Face Painting,

Philadelphia Tivoli

www.FacePaintingTips.com
“Helping You Paint with Your Favorite Face Paints!”
Buy Face Paints for your Face Painting Kit Right Here!

This is an entry sent in for our monthly Competition!

“Paint Me a Tiger Please!”
Karol DiPietro (Nashua Telegraph)

Face painting isn’t just for the little ones anymore … with sophisticated artwork from local talent Karol DiPietro, anyone can enjoy a transformation. From a tiger or super hero to a princess, flower or butterfly, designs are limited only by the imagination. The painting isn’t limited to just cheek art, but extends to beautiful elaborate faces. All art is unique; specializing in full faces drawn freehand using no stencils.

The art is applied using various brushes and sponges with FDA-approved theatrical makeup, embellished with sparkles, and easily washed off with soap and water or baby wipes. Karol, the owner and artist of Make A Face Elaborate Face Painting & Body Art out of Merrimack, New Hampshire, calls the art “the face painting they hate to wash off.” “It’s similar to a snow fl ake in that every design is slightly unique from the last,” she said.

Make A Face services range from birthday parties to community events. Glitter tattoos and airbrush temporary tattoos are all so offered at select venues. She has extensive experience, and participates in many local events ranging in size, including the Hopkinton, Deerfi eld and Sandwich fairs, festivals such as the Rock N Rib Fest in Merrimack, and many Old Home Day events throughout New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Maine. Make A Face has become very well known locally, and has many steady clients that repeat business year after year. Customer testimonials and references are listed on her web site, www.MakeAFace4u.com.

Stop in at the Make A Face booth at the Kids Fair at the Radisson Nashua, Thursday, October 30, from 3pm-8pm, and let her know what you’d like to become. The fee is just $6, with ½ of the proceeds going to the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Nashua. About the artist Karol is a native of Nashua, and has always had an eye for color and a passion for art. At the tender age of eight, a mountain scape she drew was on display at the Nashua Trust Building on Main Street in Nashua. In high school her focus was in the arts, exploring many mediums such as graphic arts, pottery and crafting. She has participated in many craft shows to display and sell her creations.

Her fi rst trip to Disney with her family many years ago made her want to do the elaborate face painting. A little girl with a sparkly tiger face inspired her. She knew she could deliver that level of art locally, and it fueled her desire to become a professional face painter. She began researching and learning as much as she could absorb through the Internet, face painting forums, as well as other face painters and teaching videos. She started doing children’s birthday parties and then created her website to showcase the work and list events she will be at publicly.

The unique art form caught on like wildfi re. Make A Face was fi rst established in 2003 and has grown tremendously over the past fi ve years. This past May she attended the Face & Body Art International Convention (FABAIC) in Orlando, Florida to learn more about face & body painting as a business and bring her business to a different level. She was also recently at the NASCAR NH Motor Speedway in Loudon NH for an M&M’s promotion they were having for the Sylvania 300 race.

Karol DiPietro
Owner & Artist
Professional Face Painter
www.MakeAFace4u.com

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Thank you for sending this in Karol! I’ll be posting the rest of the entries until the end of September when I announce the winner.

Please leave a comment if you want to ask questions, or just want to offer encouragement!

Happy Face Painting,

Philadelphia Tivoli

www.FacePaintingTips.com
“Helping You Paint with Your Favorite Face Paints!”
Buy Face Paints for your Face Painting Kit Right Here!

Here are the competition winners:

The $50 Gift Certificate from Supplies
For The Best Contributor goes to:
Mollie Stofan aka “Mollie the Painter”!

For “Face Painting 300+ Kids” Congratulations Mollie…such a good post, and extremely helpful tip on painting large numbers of kids. Keep an eye out in your inbox for your prize Mollie

The $10 Certificate from Supplies for the Best Commenter goes to:

Nikki Karn! Happy to know you’re enjoying the blog You will be receiving your gift certificate within the next week!

Thank you all again for participating, your stories have been helpful to more people than you think! You can start sending in your entries for the September Competition and, of course, add to our discussion by making comments one each blog post right away!

Happy Face Painting,

Philadelphia Tivoli

www.FacePaintingTips.com
“Helping You Paint with Your Favorite Face Paints!”
Buy Face Paints for your Face Painting Kit Right Here!

By Mollie Stofan aka “Mollie the Painter”

Hi everyone!

I recently got a call to do a school festival a few weeks ago, to paint about 300+ kids!

I just about fell out of my chair when I heard how many.

I have never painted that many people at one time!

But I never back down from a challenge and I quickly taught my 14 year old sister to paint a few simple faces.

We chose to limit our choices to: Tiger, Zombie, Rainbow Butterfly, Party Eyes, Snakes & Flowers.

When we arrived at the event, we had our own pavillion and we lined up the picnic tables along the sides of the building and which created a large walk way.

As we started to paint, my sister took the right side and I took the left.  We lined up as many as 25 kids at a time and went down the line with one color and then came back for details and once again for glitter.

We painted everyone, in three and a half hours–we were hired for 4 hours!  The parents were very impressed by our meathod of getting everyone painted so quickly.  They have already booked me again for next year!

I hope this helps anyone who needs to know how to paint a large group very quickly!

-Mollie Stofan
“Mollie the Painter”
(412)401-0113
molliethepainter@yahoo.com

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Thank you for sending this in Mollie! Nice to hear from you and well done on a massive gig!

Please leave a comment if you want to ask questions, or just want to offer encouragement!

Happy Face Painting,

Philadelphia Tivoli

www.FacePaintingTips.com
“Helping You Paint with Your Favorite Face Paints!”
Buy Face Paints for your Face Painting Kit Right Here!

This is an entry sent in for our monthly Competition!

“First Time Face Painter”
By Julia Smith

My story.

I have been clowing for years now and found face art very scary and though I tried couple times it just seem so involved.

I booked a party a couple weeks ago and told the lady that hired me for her child’s party I did not do face painting, she was very insistant and gave me a book with paints in it.

I finally agreed and thought “Oh no”!!!  Well I had the one brush and a plastic cup of water and started and wow I was thrilled.

The paint was great and went on bright and dried fast.  I had done 15 of the designs in just a few minutes.  I went out and bought it.  It was the Wolfe brand.

Thanks so much for the book and paints.

New face painter,
Julia Smith

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Thank you for sending this in Julia! I’ll be posting the rest of the entries until the end of August when I announce the winner.

Please leave a comment if you want to ask questions, or just want to offer encouragement!

Happy Face Painting,

Philadelphia Tivoli

www.FacePaintingTips.com
“Helping You Paint with Your Favorite Face Paints!”
Buy Face Paints for your Face Painting Kit Right Here!

“Bear Face Painting Design”
By Ben Bonser

Hi Philly.

Here’s the step by step for a bear design.

(1) Start by sponging a white, biege or yellow muzzle around the model’s nose, mouth and chin. You should avoid the nose, lips and the groove between. Also add a round lump near the lips as shown.

(2) Next, sponge the upper part of the model’s face brown (or a butterscotch colour) avoiding the jawline and area next to the chin and a small area around the eye areas. Painting over the corner’s either side of the bridge of the nose makes the brow seem lower and this illusion will be made clearer in the next step.

(3) Using a darker shade of brown, sponge a broad area over the jawline either sides of the face, the temple’s and the eye areas you’ve left uncovered. Paint the lower eyelids and the ‘lower socket’* with the same colour. Blend the light and darker brown to make a softer appearance.*lack of better words for it.

(4) Using black, paint in the model’s nose, lips and groove. Then the whisker dots, the small lines on bridge the model’s nose (just above the muzzle), the lines under the eyes and the eyebrows.

(5) The finishing touches:-
-Paint feathered darker brown lines around the edges of the face and under the eyes as shown.
-Paint the white whisker lines and the large dot on the nose.

Final Note: I was thinking of blending both an orange patch on the upper cheeks + cheek bones and an orange column on the fore head to add a ‘luster’ to the design. I thought of this after I put the designs together. GAH! Hate it when that happens.

Anyway, hope you like this one.

Catchalatah,

Ben

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Thank you for sending this in Ben! Good to hear from you, and its great to see your artwork, you’re quite talented on the computer

Please leave a comment if you want to ask questions, or just want to offer encouragement!

Happy Face Painting,

Philadelphia Tivoli

www.FacePaintingTips.com
“Helping You Paint with Your Favorite Face Paints!”
Buy Face Paints for your Face Painting Kit Right Here!

This is an entry sent in for our monthly Competition!

“Thoughts on Surviving Facepainting Competitions”
By Robbie Pack

I’ve entered a few facepainting competitions. I’ve even won a few on them. Some I thought I might have a chance of winning. Some I never would have guessed I would have won. It took quite a while to even consider entering, but with fear and trepidation I decided to force myself to enter competitions from time to time.

I found that different kinds of competitions have provided different experiences. On-line competitions are less stressful when I’m producing the artwork since if an idea doesn’t come out the way I wanted it to, I’d try again another day. There are no time constraints when paintng, only a deadline for entry of the work. Also involved are the extra factors of photography skills to document the artwork and computer skills to submit it.

On-line competition artwork tends to live on for long periods of time. That can be an asset, or not, depending on how you feel you fared compared to other entries & if your skills are progressing way beyond what you submitted. Some on-line competitions allow for the artist to remove their entry for a fee.  Depending on the competition, the time involved between submitting the artwork & finding out who the winners are, can be short or quite long (even over a year).

Competitions at conferences can be very stressful due to limitations on production & sometimes setup time. Some allow spectators to watch the=2 0competition. Usually there is a relatively short time between the competition & the announcing of winners, a few days at the most. Having well organized competitions helps to decrease the stress on competitors. Good light, space, & environmental control, or lack of them, can affect the competitor. Clear rules, judge type & criterion posted well before the conference are assets.

The first time I entered an on-line competition; I nearly hyperventilated as I pressed send! LOL! I wasn’t laughing then. It was so intimidating to me. I still stress, but less each time, as it is getting easier and easier emotionally, though my new computer is challenging me to get the best level of quality within the range allowed. I always seem a few units over the range or way below. I will conquer that challenge eventually.

On site competitions were always exceedingly stressful to me, especially line work, as I always shook. I never felt I could do my best. The only time I didn’t in the past was one competition in which we could paint whenever and wherever we wanted as long as we presented our model at the given time. I painted in an isolated lobby casually chatting with the model and his wife. There were no time pressures. I was able to feel like I was jamming, rather than competing.

Over the last 2 years, I forced myself to compete at each conference I attended, trying to desensitize myself. More than one person had told me that you never relax. I=2 0believed them until last month at FABAIC. I was a little anxious before the competition started. However when I started painting an age progression, I was finally able to relax. I had a wonderfully encouraging and cooperative model, but I had had great ones before as well.

Was it because I chose a type of technique that I didn’t think had any chance of being considered a winning entry since it was so limited in color range?

Was it because I chose my design as a learning experience and challenge for myself rather than looking at it as something that might appeal to the majority of the type of judges there? (At some competitions the judges were professional instructors, at others my peers at that level, at others many beginning painters, advanced painters, or a mix of levels.

I took the preparation and process seriously, but actually found myself smiling and even laughing sometimes during the FABAIC competition. All those things were factors Mostly, I think I finally competed for the joy of the experience. If I had placed, it would have been a bonus. But the process, among so much inspiration and talent, was the reason to be there. I was finally able to enjoy it. I encourage everyone to press through too and be part of competitions in the near future.

Robbie Pack, Fairfield, CT
www.robbiespack.com

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Thank you for sending this in Robbie! I’ll be posting the rest of the entries until the end of August when I announce the winner.

Please leave a comment if you want to ask questions, or just want to offer encouragement!

Happy Face Painting,

Philadelphia Tivoli

www.FacePaintingTips.com
“Helping You Paint with Your Favorite Face Paints!”
Buy Face Paints for your Face Painting Kit Right Here!

Sorry about the delay guys, I’ve been sooo busy with getting ready to go to FABAIC!

Here are the competition winners:

The $50 Gift Certificate from Supplies for the
Best Contributor goes to: Julie Agcaoili!

For “Face Painting in Hawaii“ Congratulations! Keep an eye out in your inbox for your prize.

The $10 Certificate from Supplies for the Best Commenter goes to:

Bruce Barrett! Please keep asking questions and making comments on the blog, its so great to have you You will be receiving your gift certificate within the next week!

Thank you all again for participating, your stories have been helpful to more people than you think! You can start sending in your entries for the May Competition and, of course, add to our discussion by making comments one each blog post right away!

Happy Face Painting,

Philadelphia Tivoli

www.FacePaintingTips.com
“Helping You Paint with Your Favorite Face Paints!”
Buy Face Paints for your Face Painting Kit Right Here!

The following is an entry sent in for our monthly Competition!

“Face Painting in Hawaii”
By Julie Agcaoili

Aloha,

My name is Julie Agcaoili and I live on the island of Maui in beautiful Hawaii. I am a stay at home mother of 4. Since last year Halloween, I have been mastering the art of face painting. I have since then, started my own business here on Maui and have been doing good. Thanks to the help of YouTube I learned from you both (Philadelphia Tivoli & Heather Banks and countless other artists) various face painting designs.

I am a full time homemaker and wanted to bring in some extra money for my family. So I thought to myself what kind of “from home job” could I do that would bring me money all year round? Then it popped into my head “PARTIES”! Parties happen all year round. I’ve always had an artistic flair and wanted to try out Face Painting. So I waited till our taxes came in, and invested in FDA approved paints and was on my way. I practiced and practiced and have established myself as a legitimate Face Painting Business.

Thanks to the miracle of Internet service I have found alot of different designs and have created it into my own. I will find a design and post a how-to step by step soon. But until then I send all my ALOHA (love) to your newsletters and affordable prices.

Humbly Yours,

Julie Agcaoili

JNK Designs

Maui, Hawaii

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Thank you for sharing Julie, I love your business cards! Can’t wait to see more posts like this one!

Please leave a comment if you want to ask questions, or just want to offer encouragement!

Happy Face Painting,

Philadelphia Tivoli

www.FacePaintingTips.com
“Helping You Paint with Your Favorite Face Paints!”
Buy Face Paints for your Face Painting Kit Right Here!

The following is an entry sent in for our monthly Competition!

“Lions, Tigers and Bears Oh My!”
By Anne Dunlap

Hello.  I too am new at face painting but I really love it!

One snowy night this month gave me the opportunity to test out my new palettes on my snowbound children. They wanted a”Lion and Tiger and Bear” theme so I did my best.

I’m sorry I have no video to show while I painted but there are a few of me doing the work!

Hope you enjoy- the bear was quite tricky!!  Apparently she wanted to be another tiger!

Anne Dunlap

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Thank you for sharing Anne! Cool designs! I’ll be posting the rest of the entries until the end of April when I announce the winner.

Please leave a comment if you want to ask questions, or just want to offer encouragement!

Happy Face Painting,

Philadelphia Tivoli

www.FacePaintingTips.com
“Helping You Paint with Your Favorite Face Paints!”
Buy Face Paints for your Face Painting Kit Right Here!

“Dangers of Cheap Face Paint”
By Erika Cataldi

Last year, I started a business where I provide children’s birthday parties and special events with cartoon mascot characters.  Having little artistic ability, but a great idea of adding face painting as an option, I began studying the art of face painting. I went to a local craft store store, picked up the cheapest face paint and thought I could practice on my 3 year old daughter.

My first time ever doing this, my daughter wanted to be a kitty cat. I added some whiskers, gave her a cute pink nose…she tells me her stomach is hurting her. I just figure she is getting fidgety and go to add some brow lines. All of a sudden, she collapses forward onto me shaking. I pick her up and her eyes were rolled up into her head. Terrified, I hold her to me thinking I did something wrong. Her episode finally stops and I rush her to the doctor. They inform me that she probably had a seizure triggered by the smell of the paint.

Of course I never wanted to face paint again. I completely gave it up. Several months later, we went on a beach vacation, and there were face painters there. My daughter wouldn’t stop begging for us to let her get a work of art on her face.  We caved in and I stood in fear expecting the worse. Well, nothing happened! She was just a happy little girl with spongebob on her cheek.

Upon returning home, I went online and found Philadelphia Tivoli.  I read her suggestions on the type of paint to use and her beautiful designs, and I decided to give it another try. My daughter was excited to get butterfly eyes. I again was nervous. However, she came through like a champ! She is now my practice board and we have not had any incidents since.

Moral of the story is, please do not buy cheap paints. I do not know for sure if that is truly what caused my daughters one and only seizure, but it still scares me. I never should have put her in danger by using cheap paints. It’s worth every penny to get the good stuff.

I am now a good (not great) face painter, and I thank Philadelphia for giving me the information I needed to gain the courage I needed to try again.

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Thank you for sending this in Erika! I would be so scared if that happened to a loved one, I’m so glad you’ve been able to solve the problem though!

Please leave a comment if you want to ask questions, or just want to offer encouragement!

Happy Face Painting,

Philadelphia Tivoli

www.FacePaintingTips.com
“Helping You Paint with Your Favorite Face Paints!”
Buy Face Paints for your Face Painting Kit Right Here!

“Step By Step Foxy Mask Face Paint Design” By Harmony Roth Shabtai

1. start with an orange triangle above each brow and continue the outer end towards the ear from there you draw a diagonal line to the mouth. you go over the mouth in order to “close” the mask.

2. paint the nose and half of the cheeks in white.

3. fill the lower part of the mask with orange and draw a thick line on each side of the nose. continue that line under the eyebrow.

4. outine in black the mask and each eye. you can add glitter or golden lines as highlights.

5.you can add white for some more

highlights and depth to the mask.

“step by step: Foxy mask”- by Harmony Roth Shabtai from Israel

Harmony’s Websites: http://site.2all.co.il/harmony/

www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=787198834

www.myspace.com/harmonyroth

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Thank you for the helpful step by step photos Harmony! Can’t wait to see more posts like this one!

Please leave a comment if you want to ask questions, or just want to offer encouragement!

Happy Face Painting,

Philadelphia Tivoli
www.FacePaintingTips.com
“Helping You Paint with Your Favorite Face Paints!”
Buy Face Paints for your Face Painting Kit Right Here!

Here are the competition winners:

The $50 Gift Certificate from Supplies for the
Best Contributor goes to: Kim Baker!

For “How to Paint a Rose Bud Video“ Congratulations Kim…I am thrilled that you made a video (a very helpful video at that) for the comp! I really hope to see more video entries next month from everybody! Keep an eye out in your inbox for your prize Kim 

The $10 Certificate from Supplies for the Best Commenter goes to:

Lori aka Daisy Ray The Clown! Glad you’re enjoying the blog:-) You will be receiving your gift certificate within the next week!

Thank you all again for participating, your stories have been helpful to more people than you think! You can start sending in your entries for the April Competition and, of course, add to our discussion by making comments one each blog post right away!

Happy Face Painting,

Philadelphia Tivoli

www.FacePaintingTips.com
“Helping You Paint with Your Favorite Face Paints!”
Buy Face Paints for your Face Painting Kit Right Here!

The following is an entry sent in for our monthly Competition!

“How to Paint a Rose Bud Video”
By Kim Baker

Click here to view the embedded video.

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Kim, thank you soooo much for making such a helpful face painting video!!! I can’t wait to see more people sending in videos to this blog. Great work!! I’ll be posting the rest of the entries until the end of March when I announce the winner.

Please leave a comment if you want to ask questions, or just want to offer encouragement!

Happy Face Painting,

Philadelphia Tivoli

www.FacePaintingTips.com
“Helping You Paint with Your Favorite Face Paints!”
Buy Face Paints for your Face Painting Kit Right Here!

The following is an entry sent in for our monthly Competition!

“Carnaval Face Painting”
By Luísa Santos

Hi Philadelphia,

First of all, thank youfor the teleseminar, it was most useful!

I would like to share with you my latest face painting experience… As I’ve mentioned before, Portugal is not big on face painting and it is very hard to get a gig here, especially if you’re working solo.

Well, we have a festivity here which is called Carnaval, when people all get costumes and paint their faces and go party! (similar to your Mardi Gras, I think).

This year, the company I work for invited me to paint at the shop where I work. It was not a payed gig, but it was an amazing opportunity to practise, hand out business cards and have LOTS of fun with children and grown-ups. I tried lots of designs, got photos for my blog and managed to put big, happy smiles on people’s faces.

I can see from early pictures of my work that I’ve done significant progress.

I surely have to thank you and your Face Painting Tips blog for it, as well as because you have been my teachers from the beginning. I have never attended a single workshop, because I can’t find any good ones here, but your tips have made my life so much easier

I hope that, some day, I’ll be able to attend your classes in the flesh and benefit even more from your experience. Here are some photos of an amazing day.

Luísa Santos
www.pinta-narizes.blogspot.com

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Thank you for sharing all your lovely designs with us Luisa! I’ll be posting the rest of the entries until the end of March when I announce the winner.

Please leave a comment if you want to ask questions, or just want to offer encouragement!

Happy Face Painting,

Philadelphia Tivoli

www.FacePaintingTips.com
“Helping You Paint with Your Favorite Face Paints!”
Buy Face Paints for your Face Painting Kit Right Here!

P.S Click here for face painting designs  with step-by-step with photos and instructions!

The following is an entry sent in for our monthly Competition!

“My First Learning Experience”
By Laura

My first learning experience with sponges was not a fun experience….let’s just say I learned the hard way that certain sponges are not made for painting faces. Here I was, just had my first face painting class and all excited, ready to go. (Thank goodness) I decided to use my 4 year old daughter as my canvas. She wanted to be a pink princess so I said ok.

I took out a sponge that I bought from a craft store (HL), cut in in half, wet it, etc.
I looked at the sponge and thought….hmm…it did not look like this at my class….oh well, I thought.

NO sooner that I started applying the paint on her face that it started going everywhere! It was a total mess and I had no control over where the paint was going! And her face is tiny!( I assume it was too saturated)

Fortunately, she can be a patient young lady because I wiped a lot of it off with a baby wipe and made it look at least a little bit better with the designs…..I sort of saved it but learned the hard way that I should only use appropriate sponges, like the ones from Face Painting Tips…..*sigh*

LOL – Thanks!!

Laura
(very much a beginner)

P.S. My bio: My name is Laura. I live in KY, single mother of 2, full time college student, brand new to face painting and loving it so far!
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Thank you for sharing Laura! Everybody learns by making mistakes and experimenting! I’ll be posting the rest of the entries until the end of March when I announce the winner.

Please leave a comment if you want to ask questions, or just want to offer encouragement!

Happy Face Painting,

Philadelphia Tivoli

www.FacePaintingTips.com
“Helping You Paint with Your Favorite Face Paints!”
Buy Face Paints for your Face Painting Kit Right Here!

Here are the competition winners:

The $50 Gift Certificate for Supplies for the
Best Author goes to: Mollie Stofan

For “Mollies Face Paint Product Review“ Congratulations Mollie…your entry was so informative and helpful! I’d really like to see more entires like this! Keep an eye out in your inbox for your prize

The $10 Certificate for Supplies for the Best Commenter goes to:

Carol-Ann George from Florida! I wish you all the best on your face painting business. You will be receiving your gift certificate within the next week!

Thank you all again for participating, your stories have been helpful to more people than you think! You can start sending in your entries for the March Competition and, of course, add to our discussion by making comments one each blog post right away!

Happy Face Painting,

Philadelphia Tivoli

www.FacePaintingTips.com
“Helping You Paint with Your Favorite Face Paints!”
Buy Face Paints for your Face Painting Kit Right Here!

The following is an entry sent in for our monthly Competition!

“Mollies Face Paint Product Review”
By Molli Stofan

Hi Everyone, I have been trying-out different kinds of paint for the last few months, and I thought that I should do product reviews on 3 brands of black face paint: Paradise/Mehron, Snazaroo, and Wolfe Brothers FX.

Paradise/Mehron:
- Professional: 40gm – $8.50
Pros: Great smell! Children & adults enjoy it!
- Quick and easy color application.
- Great for cheek art!
Cons: Paint acts like a sponge. It soaks up water and gets too wet to work with.
Comments: I really do love this black, minus its tendency to soak-up a lot of water.  I found a solution to this problem though: after a long day of painting, I take the lid off the paint and leave it to dry overnight. If it is really wet, I’ll leave it off for a little longer.  People also really do love the “tropical” smell of the paint!

Snazaroo:
- 18ml – $8.00
- 75ml – $24.00
- Kit Size: $10.00

Pros:
- Very cheap!
- Dries on the face quickly.
- Great container sizes.
- Easy-open container.
Cons:
- The color isn’t as rich as the other brands.
Comments:
- I love the price of the paint.  You can practice for hours and hours without feeling like you wasted it.  The color is okay, but I just feel that it isn’t rich enough.  This is great for use on younger children since it is very easy to wash off.

Wolfe Brothers FX:
- 30gm – $8.00
- 45gm – $11.00
- 90gm – $19.00
Pros:
- A small amount lasts a long time.
- BEAUTIFUL application and results.
Cons:
- Expensive
- Stains the skin.
- Sometimes hard to get off.
Comments: - This is by far the most amazing black paint ever!  Although, the paint is a bit pricey.  I found that the paint is great for older children and adults, especially as eyeliner or for extended wear.  This is not the kind of paint that you practice with as it sometimes is hard to get off.  What I like the most is that even a tiny amount lasts a long time.  I usually wear a hole into the outside edge of the paint and then spray a tiny bit of water into the hole.  The resulting black-water lasts a long time.  Overall, I feel that you definitely get what pay for.

Now, back to painting =]

- Mollie Stofan
“Mollie the Painter”

BIO:  I learned the art of face painting from one of the best known face painters, Sandy Johnson, a.k.a “Sunshine the Clown”. (www.sunshinetheclown.org) I have painted at fairs and parties since my start in August. I am 19 and I’m getting ready to finish my first year of college at Robert Morris University.
____________________________________Thank you for sending this in Mollie! Nice to hear from you again and thank you for your product reviews…very helpful indeed! I’ll be posting the rest of the entries until the end of January when I announce the winner. Please leave a comment if you want to ask questions, or just want to offer encouragement!

Happy Face Painting,

Philadelphia Tivoli

www.FacePaintingTips.com
“Helping You Paint with Your Favorite Face Paints!”
Buy Face Paints for your Face Painting Kit Right Here!

So sorry about the delay…Here are the competition winners:

The $50 Gift Certificate from Supplies & a Free Copy of “How to Start a Face Painting Business“ for the
Best Author goes to:

Natalee Farrugia for
“What Goes Around Comes Around” Congratulations Natalee…I loved your entry! Keep an eye out in your inbox for your prize

The $10 Certificate from Supplies for the Best Commenter goes to:

Luísa from Pinta Narizes! I really hope face painting takes off in Portugal for you! You will be receiving your gift certificate within the next week!

Thank you all again for participating, your stories have been helpful to more people than you think! You can start sending in your entries for the February Competition and, of course, keep making comments right away!

Happy Face Painting,

Philadelphia Tivoli

www.FacePaintingTips.com
“Helping You Paint with Your Favorite Face Paints!”
Buy Face Paints for your Face Painting Kit Right Here!

The following is an entry sent in for our monthly Competition!

“Sneaky Face Painting”
By Sue Pearson

Hi, I’m rather new at face painting and was painting at a family birthday party. The Birthday girls uncle didn’t think he cared to have his face painted, so when he was napping on the couch, I snuck up and painted a sideways smile on him! He did wake up but then said “well that does feel good, like a massage, so I said let me paint your eyelids too, and he agreed to that!

Sue Pearson, Coos Bay, OR

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Thank you for sending this in Sue! Funny story! I’ll be posting the rest of the entries until the end of January when I announce the winner. Please leave a comment if you want to ask questions, or just want to offer encouragement!

Happy Face Painting,

Philadelphia Tivoli

www.FacePaintingTips.com
“Helping You Paint with Your Favorite Face Paints!”
Buy Face Paints for your Face Painting Kit Right Here!

The following is an entry sent in for our monthly Competition!

“What Goes Around Comes Around”
By Natalee Farrugia

Hi Philadelphia,

I would love to share a story with you about a Little girls birthday Party. Renee was so excited when I arrived all dressed up in my Fairy outfit that I was greeted with a huge hug!

Renee was very excited and was expecting over 20 of her preschool friends due to arrive at 11.00am. At 12.30pm only 3 had arrived… poor little thing was so disappointed needless to say the parents were a not happy either.

They asked me to leave as there was no one else to paint… I offered to stay and play games and jump on the jumping castle with her and her 3 little guests…  and only charged her for half an hour of my time.

The parents were so grateful and the little girl said I was her best friend and it was her best party eva!!…. talk about a warm fuzzy feeling!!

It did not matter about the money it was the happiness I bought to a little girl and her family that was priceless…

It turned out in the months following that Renee’s mum spread the word and Nat’s fancy faces booked 4 parties… What goes around comes around!!

Natalee

______________________________________

Thank you for sending this in Natalie! What a beautiful story and beautiful face painting to match! Please leave a comment if you want to ask questions, or just want to offer encouragement!

Happy Face Painting,

Philadelphia Tivoli

www.FacePaintingTips.com
“Helping You Paint with Your Favorite Face Paints!”
Buy Face Paints for your Face Painting Kit Right Here!

Here are the competition winners:

The $50 Gift Certificate from Supplies for the Best Author goes to:

Nancy Gervais for “Networking in the Face Painting World” Congratulations Nancy …awesome work, keep it up, and we can’t wait to see more! You will be receiving your gift certificate within the next week.

The $10 Certificate fromSupplies for the Best Commenter goes to:

Carrie Zamora! Great commentary and thank you very much for continuing to participate! You will be receiving your gift certificate within the next week!

Thank you all again for participating, your stories have been helpful to more people than you think! You can start sending in your entries for the October Competition and, of course, keep making comments right away!

Happy Face Painting,

Philadelphia Tivoli

www.FacePaintingTips.com
“Helping You Paint with Your Favorite Face Paints!”
Buy Face Painting Supplies Right Here!

Learn face painting designs by clicking here with step by step photos and instructions!

The following is an entry sent in for our monthly Competition!

“Networking in the Face Painting World”
By Nancy Gervais

Hello Philadelphia!

I would like to share a story with you that was made possible because ofyour blog.  A couple of months ago after submitting an article for your blog, I received a comment from another local face painter, who as it turns out, lives quite close by. We got to chatting by email and eventually decided to meet up for coffee. It was a bit like going on a blind date!

We met at a local coffee shop, sat down with drinks in hand and started talking. Eventually our conversation turned to face painting (of course!) and we discussed how we had gotten started in face painting and where our businesses were going.

Most importantly, we decided between us that if we were ever in a situation where we could call on each other for help, we would. For example, if we were offered a face painting job that required 2 painters, we would call each other, or if we ever woke up one morning too sick to attend a job, we could always call the other as a substitute, providing they were free.

If we ever had to refuse a job because we were already booked, we would refer the customer to each other. I think the lesson to be learned from this story is that in the “business world,” anyone providing the same service as you and competing for the same customers is considered the competition.

But in the face painting world, chances are the “competition” is someone very much like yourself: ­ someone creative and talented who adores kids and loves what they do. Because we took a chance and met for coffee, we are both in a better position–we both have a potential “substitute” face painter in case we are ever ill, and we both have the option to accept larger events (i.e more kids than we couldhandle by ourselves!) as long as the other is free and able to paint on that date. I feel better just knowing that she is there in case I ever need to call her and most importantly, I have made a new friend who likes face painting as much as I do!

The old saying “it pays to know your competition” proved true in my case and I hope some of your readers can take something away from this story and maybe make a new face painting friend themselves!

Nancy Gervais
www.doodlebugfaces.com

______________________________________

Thank you for sending this in Nancy! I couldn’t agree with you more, networkingis the best way to go if you want to grow and do well in the face painting industry. I’ll be posting the rest of the entries until the end of November when I announce the winner.

Please leave a comment if you want to ask questions, or just want to offer encouragement!

Happy Face Painting,

Philadelphia Tivoli

www.FacePaintingTips.com
“Helping You Paint with Your Favorite Face Paints!”
Buy Face Painting Supplies Right Here!

The following is an entry sent in for our monthly Competition!

“Find Your Brush!”
By Cheryl Henderson aka Mrs. Bunny, The Clown
I recently had the opportunity to do face painting for a one year old’s party. The birthday girl didn’t have a clue to what was going on, but the older kids and adults were scrambling to get into my chair. This is a far cry from my early days when the kids would take one look at my feeble designs and head for the high ground! Back then, I only did cheek art because I thought it was easier and safer for a non-artist like myself. Boy, was I wrong! A wonderful person named BeBe, The Clown opened my eyes to the world of the sponge and full face painting. I am forever grateful!

I always carry pictures of face painting designs to help me remember them. At the one year old’s party, the kids would look at the designs and want me to do their faces exactly like the picture. But since I had grown (a little!) as a face painter I was able to do the design, but in my own style. After they saw the finished product they forgot all about the picture! That taught me a valuable lesson: do it your own way! I can’t capture the style of someone else because, frankly, I’m not them! I can look at the design and make it my own by changing the stroke or color, by adding a line or tear drop or some glitter. The key thing is to face paint according to the picture you have found in your heart; your own heart! The more I tried to do a design exactly like Heather or Philly, the more frustrated I became. What made it worse was that I couldn’t remember everything they did so I would go back to the video and watch it over and over and I still couldn’t get it!

Then I remembered Heather said that we didn’t have to do it exactly like her, but to find a way that worked for us. That finally began to sink in. As I relaxed I began to “find my brush”. After this, ideas started forming and I was able to work more smoothly. Even my repeat customers could tell the difference! (I’ve attached some of my designs and a pix of me with my “Baby Bunny”. She loves to tickle!)

I did an outdoor festival recently. Although I was nervous, I saw it as a learning experience and an adventure because that’s what life is! I was concerned that I wouldn’t get many customers, but when the children (and some adults!) saw the designs the line formed and I worked about 3 hrs. straight! As I was leaving, a lady in the booth next to me jokingly said, “Maybe now the rest of us can make some money!” I guess I have arrived as a face painter. Yippeee!!!

Cheryl Henderson aka Mrs. Bunny, The Clown
http://www.mrsbunnytheclown.com

_______________________________

Thank you for sending this in Mrs. Bunny The Clown, such an awesome lesson learnt here, I’m so glad you’ve ‘found your brush’ ! I’ll be posting the rest of the entries until the end of November when I announce the winner.

Please leave a comment if you want to ask questions, or just want to offer encouragement!

Happy Face Painting,

Philadelphia Tivoli

www.FacePaintingTips.com
“Helping You Paint with Your Favorite Face Paints!”
Buy Face Painting Supplies Right Here!

“Halloween Face Painting!”
By June Thurston

Hi Philadelphia,

Had a great time this Halloween, I face painted at work all day to raise moneyfor Children in Need , it gave me a chance to practice every thing I havelearned and I had a lot of very happy children that day, with a lot of scaryfaces.

I managed to raise around £100 in the 7 hours I painted and I can’t waifor next year. Wished I had the time to take photo’s though, i thought you mightlike to see 1 face I did the night before for a Halloween party, he scaredeveryone in sight once he was dressed up as  a devil. And the other little’monster’ was a great hit.

June Thurston

http://www.freewebs.com/faeriefaces

_______________________________

Thank you for sending this in June, those are some wicked Halloween face painting designs!

Please leave a comment if you want to ask questions, or just want to offer encouragement!

Happy Face Painting,

Philadelphia Tivoli

www.FacePaintingTips.com
“Helping You Paint with Your Favorite Face Paints!”
Buy Face Painting Supplies Right Here!

P.S Click here for Halloween face painting designs  with step-by-step with photos and instructions!

Here are the competition winners:

The $50 Gift Certificate for Supplies
for the Best Author goes to:

Lisa Leyes for her entry: “Make the Child Happy” SF-Comp Entry! Congratulations Lisa, great work!  Keep it up, and we can’t wait to see more! You will be receiving your gift certificate within the next week.

The $10 Certificate for Supplies
for the Best Commenter goes to:

Mollie Stofan! Great commentary and thank you very much for continuing to participate! You will be receiving your gift certificate within the next week!

Thank you all again for participating, your stories have been helpful to more people than you think! You can start sending in your entries for the November Competition and keep making those great comments!

Happy Face Painting,

Philadelphia Tivoli

www.FacePaintingTips.com
“Helping You Paint with Your Favorite Face Paints!”
Buy Face Painting Supplies Right Here!

The following is an entry sent in for our monthly Competition!

“Make The Child Happy” – SF Competition Sent in by Lisa Leyes

Dear Philadelphia:

I am a volunteer facepainter at the Hospital for SickKids in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.  I have a tip for you.

I cannot carry around a jar or cup of water to wash my brushes off in, as of spreading infectious diseases.  I carry two small spray bottles:

One is for spraying the PAINT with water.  This makes the colors very intense.  I paint on the child’s face, wipe off on a paper towel, and dip in rubbing alcohol.  The second spray bottle holds rubbing alcohol.  Everything in my kit must be clean, clean, clean.  I go up to hematology/oncology sometimes, and I must have a sterile kit.  My brushes never touch a paint after touching a child’s face.  I carry a lot of brushes and natural sea sponges, as there are lots of latex allergies in the hospital.  The rubbing alcohol dries very quickly in the brushes.  I wait a few minutes before using again on a child’s face.

I have the best volunteer job in the whole world. All I do is make people happy. My job description is as follows:

“Make the child happy”.

If that means that I paint Grandma like a tiger, then that is what I do.

I also do special effects.  It seems the most innocent, happy boys want to have the most evil, disgusting, fake pus, fake blood dripping fake wounds to scare the nursing staff.  The nurses here are pretty calm, so I go to them and ask them to emote.  The boys revel in the stir they create in the staff with their very real looking black eyes, bloody noses, chunks of ripped up skin, fake gangrene, etc.  It is a delight to make them happy.

I am glad I hooked up with your website. I hope to share more small tips with you.

Lisa Leyes Facepainter SickKids Hospital Toronto, Ontario, Canada

P.S. My little sister lives in Nerang on the Gold Coast.  I have a soft spot in my heart for Australia.

*********************************************************************
Happy Face Painting,

Philadelphia Tivoli

www.FacePaintingTips.com
“Helping You Paint with Your Favorite Face Paints!”
Buy Face Painting Supplies Right Here!

The following is an entry sent in for our monthly Competition!

“Face Painting Pumpkins” – SF Competition
Sent in by Mollie Stofan a.k.a. “Mollie the Painter”

Face Painting…Pumpkins?

This fall, I was hired to face paint at a local farm, Janoski’s.  Their “Pumpkinland” activities go on every weekend in October.  After my first weekend painting, my boss told me that she was very impressed by my designs and detail.  She then asked me if I would paint 32 apple-sized pumpkins for her.  She wanted to give the pumpkins out as party favors.  I eagerly agreed and took the pumpkins home.

My first thought was, “What paint should I use?”  I decided on using acrylic paint that I had lying around the house.  I sat down and began to paint.  My happiness turned to panic as I painted because the acrylic was not sticking well to the pumpkins skin.

Skin!  Now I knew what I needed! I went downstairs and took out my face paints..  I started to paint again, only this time with my Paradise and Snazaroo paints.  Painting on the pumpkins was as easy as painting on your arm or leg.  The paint also went on very smoothly.

The only problem that I ran into was that the paint would smudge if you touched it.  I fixed this problem by spraying each finished pumpkin with clear polyurethane.  That way, the design became permanent and the pumpkin also now had a beautiful shine!

Each pumpkin took me about 16 minutes each to complete.  I did each pumpkin differently, mostly because I had a lot of fun coming up with different designs. So if you are looking for another way to use your face painting talents, why not try face painting pumpkins!

Happy Halloween!

–Mollie Stofan a.k.a. “Mollie the Painter”
e-mail: molliethepainter@yahoo.com

BIO:  I learned the art of face painting from one of the best known face painters, Sandy Johnson, a.k.a “Sunshine the Clown”. (www.sunshinetheclown.org) I have painted at fairs and at a couple of parties since my start in August. I am 18 and in my first year of college.

*********************************************************************

Happy Face Painting,

Philadelphia Tivoli

www.FacePaintingTips.com
“Helping You Paint with Your Favorite Face Paints!”
Buy Face Painting Supplies Right Here!

“Face Painter Discovered Online Becomes a Star on CBC”
- SF Competition
Sent in by Erin Wainwright

Hi Philadelphia and fellow face painting enthusiasts!

I just wanted to write to you and share a funny thing that recently happened to me. About two weeks ago, I received a voice mail message from a television show called Living Montréal that is shown on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). They wanted to know if I’d be interested in taping a show about face painting to teach mothers how to do three simple designs for Halloween. Of course I called back immediately and accepted!

A week later I was in downtown Montréal getting ready to tape the segment for the show. From 5:30pm until 10:30pm I got to learn all about the secrets of television. What a learning experience! Every movement, every brushstroke and every swipe of the sponge had to be redone a million times from a million different angles!

The three children who were the models for the designs were so patient and wonderful! The oldest boy was ten and I painted him as a skull, the seven year old girl was a butterfly and the four year old was transformed into a Dalmatian puppy.

I have to state that the designs I painted were not my most detailed or best work, as the point of the show was to show mothers easy designs they could do themselves at home.

What I found the most amazing about the entire experience was the fact that the show found me through my free online web ads. They cost me nothing to post and they really work! What is also really great is that the show will be posting my contact information on their website for a year.

Talk about free advertising!

If anyone is interested in watching the show it will be aired during the week before Halloween at 3pm weekdays on CBC Montréal. As of yet, I do not know the exact dates, but I do know that the show will be shown in two parts, on two different days. After the show is aired on TV, you will be able to watch the segments on the Living Montréal website at the following link. http://www.cbc.ca/livingmontreal/

And so that was my big surprise! I cannot begin to express how excited and nervous I was to talk on camera, but as I became a little more comfortable, it was less and less difficult to explain and paint at the same time.

I cannot emphasize just how important web-ads really are. But as you can tell from my experience, it just goes to show what a little free advertising online can lead up to!
**************************************************
Happy Face Painting,

Philadelphia Tivoli

www.FacePaintingTips.com
“Helping You Paint with Your Favorite Face Paints!”
Buy Face Painting Supplies Right Here!

The following is an entry sent in for our monthly Competition!

“The Best Bearcat” – SF Competition
Sent in by Courtney Gann

My first face painting experience since I have been subscribed to facepaintingtips.com was a completely gratifying experience.. Our school had decided to give an impromptu spirit day in honor of our first football game ever. Since our mascot is a bearcat, I decided that I would put my lessons to the test and attempt to paint a tiger on my face. It took me over an hour and a half to complete, as I was not yet used to my brushes and paint, but my hard work and time was rewarded. I was unrecognizable even to myself.

So, after my brother woke up, and demanded I paint his face too, we were off to school. I was still nervous about my face paint. What was I going to do if people laughed? I had firmly decided that if that happened, I was going to wash my paint off and just do the traditional half black, half red face that most people adorned on this particular day. However, on the way to school, I was so nervous that I didn’t see my speedometer jump up to 80, and as you can imagine, that didn’t go over well with the local police. I got pulled over. The officer walked up to my vehicle and knocked on my window. But, as I rolled it down, and he saw my face paint, he was impressed.

Instead of giving me a ticket, asked for my number and told me if he ever needed a face painter for his children’s birthday parties, he would give me a call. My confidence was boosted slightly and so I pursued on, deciding to stick with whatever reactions I received. I had made it. There were several kids already bustling about the school, and the principals were standing outside. After several deep breaths, I exited my vehicle and made my way up to the building.

Within minutes, kids were flooding me, begging for me to do their face paint. With neither the time or all the materials to do what they wanted, I declined the more intricate designs, but told several if they would be at the school early on homecoming week that I would do my best to accommodate them. Later that day my school had a contest to see who had the most school spirit. In an overwhelmingly unanimous vote, I was voted most school spirited. My picture was taken for the yearbook, and I was given a hundred dollars in cash for being the “BEST BEARCAT.”

*==GOD’S CHILD==*
Courtney Gann

Happy Face Painting,

Philadelphia Tivoli

www.FacePaintingTips.com
“Helping You Paint with Your Favorite Face Paints!”
Buy Face Painting Supplies Right Here!

The following is an entry sent in for our monthly Competition!

“Doodlebug” – SF Competition
Sent in by Nancy Gervais

Hi Philadelphia,

As a graphic designer, I work in front of a computer for 8 hours a day. As a result of this, I am always on the lookout for more “hands-on” ways to express myself creatively. It wasn¹t until an impulse purchase of a face painting kit in 2005 that I found my true passion. Painting on a living, breathing person was not an easy transition, but after much practice and many parties I learned the ins and outs of painting on a “living canvas.”

Although I am currently working on promoting my business on the internet and through local networks, most of my bookings come to me through word of mouth. It is very rewarding when I receive a job in this manner, knowing that someone was pleased enough with my work to recommend me to someone they know. The happiness I see on a child¹s face once I have completed their transformation brings me great pleasure, and even more rewarding is the number of parents who shyly step forward and ask if they too, can be painted!

I have drawn so much inspiration and learnt so much from your website, and I look forward to new posts in the future. Keep up the good work ­ you are an inspiration to us all!

Nancy Gervais
Doodlebug Face painting
Montreal, Canada
www.doodlebugfaces.com

Happy Face Painting,

Philadelphia Tivoli

www.FacePaintingTips.com
“Helping You Paint with Your Favorite Face Paints!”
Buy Face Painting Supplies Right Here!

Here are the competition winners:

The $50 Gift Certificate from
for the Best Author goes to:

Erin Wainwright for her entry: Erin’s Face Painting Tips – SF Competition! Congratulations Erin …awesome work, keep it up, and we can’t wait to see more! You will be receiving your gift certificate within the next week.

The $10 Certificate from
for the Best Commenter goes to:

Nancy Gervais! Great commentary and thank you very much for continuing to participate! You will be receiving your gift certificate within the next week!

Thank you all again for participating, your stories have been helpful to more people than you think! You can start sending in your entries for the October Competition and, of course, keep making comments right away!

Happy Face Painting,

Philadelphia Tivoli

www.FacePaintingTips.com
“Helping You Paint with Your Favorite Face Paints!”
Buy Face Painting Supplies Right Here!

“Face Painting Experience”
Sent in by “Miss Sparkle” the Clown

A bad experience can be a learning experience.

I am a clown and was hired to do a birthday party for a friend I work with for his 5 year old daughter and her friends.  The day before I had started putting together an extra face painting kit so that if I ever had a large party and needed someone to help me I would have a spare kit.  Each kit is in an identical brightly colored tub.  The only difference was that my kit had my paint set in it and the other kit had everything else but no paint kit.  Both tubs have a handle so I can easily carry them and they are lightweight and not too bulky.

Well the day of the party I loaded my car with everything I would need to do balloons, magic and facepainting, including my face painting kit (or so I thought).

I started the party with magic and balloons and then was ready to do the face painting. The children were so excited and as I opened my kit  my heart skipped several beats. No face paint pallet was in my kit. I had grabbed the wrong tub. It was a 45 minute drive to get them so that was not an option.  I kept my cool and looked through all the supplies in the kit and discovered I had a very small container that had thin slices of 3 different colors of paint that I use for a basic rainbow. Thank goodness I had that.  I proceeded to paint all the children using just those three colors and glitter of coarse.  The children did not seem to notice or care but I know I could have done much better with more colors.

This is where you have the opportunity to learn from my mistake.  I have been clowning and face painting for about 3 years since that fateful day and I have never had that happen to me again.  I have 2 important rules to share with you:
#1 is this, after every party the first thing I do when I get home is wash my brushes and sponges and let them air dry overnight before putting them back in my kit. I then re-organize my kit so that everything is ready to go for the next party. Even if it is late and I am tired I take care of my face paint kit first.

And my # 2 rule is just as important, I have an index card taped to the inside of the tub lid that has a list of every thing I need to take along for a face painting gig. Some of the items on the list are paint, brushes, sponges, glitter, table cover, wipes, mirror, face design sample sheets.  Make sure to check your list even if you think you have everything. Being over confident and forgetting to check your list may cost you a party and your reputation. Be pre-pared.
I hope this has helped you.

“Miss Sparkle” the Clown

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Thank you for sending this in “Miss Sparkle” the Clown, such an important lesson to be learned here! Please leave a comment if you want to ask questions, or just want to offer encouragement!

Happy Face Painting,

Philadelphia Tivoli

www.FacePaintingTips.com
“Helping You Paint with Your Favorite Face Paints!”
Buy Face Painting Supplies Right Here!

Sent in by Kim Baker

Hi Philadelphia- I wanted to show my display boards.  I got the ideas from other face painters.  I used a black board 30″x40″ (76x102cm) that is about a 1/4″ thick.  My mother picked them up at Office Depot I think.  Then I laminated my pictures using Self- Adhesive Laminating Sheets (also bought there).  No laminator needed.

Then I velcroed the backs of the pics and attached them to the board.  Since I am new at painting, I cannot always remember how I painted something.  This way, the child, takes the pic off and hands it to me so I can reference it.  When I am done I stick it back on.

I have 3 of these boards- they each hold 25 4×6 pics.  Then I have a cheek art display.  I bought a piece of white poster board, I painted cheek art samples on this board and then I took it to a print shop to get laminated for about $5.

Other ideas……I LOVE DaVinci Soap to clean my brushes.  You wet the brush and stroke the bar of soap back and forth and the color keeps coming off.  It’s wonderful!  I also heard Ivory Soap works well but have not tried it- I am sure it is cheaper.  I just keep my soap in a plastic soap box.  Also, here are 2 recent pics I did.

Kim Baker
www.PartyFacePaint.com

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Thank you for sending this in Kim Baker, great to hear from you again!

Please leave a comment if you want to ask questions, or just want to offer encouragement!

Happy Face Painting,

Philadelphia Tivoli

www.FacePaintingTips.com
“Helping You Paint with Your Favorite Face Paints!”
Buy Face Painting Supplies Right Here!

“Face Painting Tips”
Sent in by Erin Wainwright

My name is Erin, elementary teacher and face painter located in Montréal, Canada! Since I wrote on your Blog last, my small business has picked up and I am actually doing quite a lot of work! Since I started off quite small, with very little money, I’ve decided to divulge how I got my small enterprise up and running.

SAFETY FIRST!!!

I searched the net and learned as much as I could about safety. Being a teacher has taught me a lot about liability, and since children are most often who we paint, you can never be too careful.

I spoke to my bank and found out that I could purchase public liability insurance through them. I did not start taking jobs until I knew I was fully insured.

I learned what paints were safe to use, and how to properly clean my brushes and sponges. I use a mild anti-bacterial soap on my tools; I make sure that everything is COMPLETELY DRY before putting it away for long periods of time.

MARKETING!!!

Since I was starting off on my own, I did not actually have heaps of money to invest. I began researching free advertising sites that would allow me to post pictures and contact information for free. I found the following websites extremely helpful! craigslist.ca , kijiji.ca , mypartyplanner.com , eclassifieds4u.com , classifieds.ivarta.com , olx.ca , classifiedads.com , isell.com , buysellcommunity.com , canadianbusinessdirectory.ca , partypop.com , peoplefield.org , ifind.ca .

To figure what to charge my clients… I called other face painters in my area to give myself an idea of what my prices should be. I have two pricing systems in place now. I charge by the hour, but the cost of a party with a limited number of people is lower than a large event with an unlimited number of faces to paint.

I bought perforated business cards from a local paper store and began printing my own cards and brochures. I always make sure that when I’m at a party or event, that my cards and brochure are visible. People often just pick a card up, even if their child isn’t getting painted.

VOLUNTEER AT SCHOOL EVENTS!!!

Since I’m a teacher, this one was easy. I painted at the end of year event at my school, I made sure that everyone I painted got my card and through this I was able to reach many potential clients.

I sometimes paint my nephew and give him my cards when he is invited to a friend’s birthday party, that way the other parents can see my work and give me a call if they are interested.

TOOLS OF THE TRADE!!!

I needed to find a professional face painter’s kit, and I wasn’t having much luck in the “real world”. It is easy to buy individual cakes in our local stores, but I was having a hard time finding large kits. I finally found the SNAZAROO Canada e-commerce site, run and operated by Ontario’s own Dotsy the Clown. www.dotsytheclown.com . I am very happy with their service and I intend on using their website as much as possible to replenish my supplies.

I wanted to be as self-sufficient as possible, so I bought my own portable pic-nic table, parasol and buckets. This way, when I arrive at an event, all I need from my client is access to water.

It is also very important to have a cell phone with an answering system. I make sure that my phone is turned off when I’m working and that my business name is on the voice mail. This is professional and allows you to get back to people who may have called.

I hope that my story will be of help to those who are just starting out. My initial investment to start my business was about $600.00 and I turned a profit after my sixth job! I wish everyone who is in this field of work the very best! I love what I do and I hope that I get to continue working as a face-painter for a very long time!

Sincerely,

Erin E. Wainwright
Maquillage Faceforward Facepainting
Montreal, Québec, Canada
514-603-0692
erin@erinwainwright.ca
www.erinwainwright.ca

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Thank you for sending this in Erin, those are some very helpful tips and its great to hear from you again!

Please leave a comment if you want to ask questions, or just want to offer encouragement!

Happy Face Painting,

Philadelphia Tivoli

www.FacePaintingTips.com
“Helping You Paint with Your Favorite Face Paints!”
Buy Face Painting Supplies Right Here!

The following is an entry sent in for our monthly Competition!

“Face Painting Asleep” – SF Competition
Sent in by Natalee Farrugia

Hi my name is Natalee, I am a mum with two young boys who has been face painting for about a year and a half now. I love your tips and look forward to all your blogs.

I would like to tell you a story about a beautiful little girl aprox 18 months of age who sat down to get her face painted. With each stroke of my brush her little head got heavier and heavier in my hand and before I went to dip my brush in to get some more colour, this gorgeous little girl was fast asleep in my hand.

I have had several comments on how nice it feels to have your face painted but this is a new technique mums could try at home to relax young kids…(my tips are good quality soft brushes and WARM water) and in winter I like to warm my paints up a little by soaking my paint pallet in really hot water before I begin.

I also LOVE using starblend white powder with a (wet) foundation brush for my tiger designs it looks fantastic (see pic attached)… I am loving every minute of face painting and am looking forward to learning more and more.

Natalee Farrugia
Fancy Faces
68 Ridgecrop Drive
CASTLE HILL NSW 2154
ph: 02 9634 8119
mob: 0414 505 982
www.LittleGrippers.com.au

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Thank you for sending this in Natalee, thats a beautiful story, boy i can understand how easy it would be to fall asleep while being painted, its sooo relaxing!

Please leave a comment if you want to ask questions, or just want to offer encouragement!

Happy Face Painting,

Philadelphia Tivoli

www.FacePaintingTips.com
“Helping You Paint with Your Favorite Face Paints!”
Buy Face Painting Supplies Right Here!

Okay, this month was quite hard to pick between authors… so I added another prize just for this month! So, there are 2 authors I want to give a prize to, one will win $50 Gift Certificate from Supplies and one will win FacePaintingTips.com’s very own GOLD Cheek Art & Full Face Designs Guides Package! Here are the competition winners:

The $50 Gift Certificate from Supplies
for the Best Author goes to:

Kim Baker for her entry: Face Painting Retreat! Congratulations Kim… great work and beautiful designs! Well Done. You will be receiving your gift certificate very soon.

*The Special August “GOLD Cheek Art & Full Face Designs Guides Package”* for the Best Author goes to:

Harmony Roth Shabtai for her entry “My Fun in Austria”! I loved this entry, you have some AMAZING designs, your tips for going to workshops were great, thanks for sharing what the wolfe bros. workshop was like and I’d love to see more entries like this one, well done!!! 

The $10 Certificate from Supplies
for the Best Commenter goes to:

Red Herring! Congratulations, thank you for leaving such a thought provoking comment about face painting and child psychology. You will be receiving your gift certificate very soon!

Thank you all again for participating, your stories have been helpful to more people than you think! You can start sending in your entries for the September Competition and ofcourse keep making comments right away!

**IMPORTANT**…For September, I’d like to see some different kinds of entries than before. I want more entries with:

* Helpful tips and face painting techniques,
* Your opinions on different face paints, brushes, powders, glitter, like product reviews etc
* Helpful info for the business side of face painting.
* Face Painting photos and stories…

And I want you to send in more photos, or even video if you can, that would be awesome!

Happy Face Painting

Philadelphia Tivoli
Learn face painting designs by clicking here with step by step photos and instructions!

The following is an entry sent in for our monthly Competition!

“My Fun in Austria” – SF Competition
Sent in by Harmony Roth Shabtai

Face painting is always on my mind, so this year when I went to compete in Austria, I took 2 face painting workshops, and they were very nice.

It seems that the most important colors are black (for shading) and white (for highlight)- that’s what can make or brake your design.

At the Wolfe brothers workshop- which was amazing- I learned much more about monster faces, and how it’s important to consider the morphology of the face when doing face painting. I also got the great tip of keeping butterflies small- that way you get the same result of a happy child but it takes less time, and Nick also painted my face as the Troll princess for the party that took place that night.

Then, at the fantasy workshop for advanced face painters, I learned of new ways to do blending and some more monster designs.

My Tips for Workshop are These:
-always bring a paper and a pen and write anything new- so you can look at it later.
-try to bring a camera to take pictures.
-experience and be braver- the workshop is a good place to practice any new technique. Try new color combinations and new products so you can decide what’s right for you.
-look at the process rather than the result. Try to look at blending and line technique, and fish for parts of the design you like. You can merge teardrops from 1 design, color combinations from another one, and details from a third design to come up with a new design of your own.
-look at the workshop as a place that can boost your creativity, and look at the techniques of the other participants as well, if you can. You can always learn from anyone, so keep your eyes open.
-If you have something you’d like to learn- ask the teacher and don’t be shy.
Learning by the web is nice, but when you see it in reality, it boosts confidence and creativity, at least for me.
Of course the festival was such an amazing experience, and I was happy to go to the finals of brush and sponge. As last year the face painting competition was great and the bodypainting competition includes facepainting as well, so there were a lot of interesting creations.

Happy painting.

_______________________________

Thank you for sending this in Harmony, great to hear from you again! I’ll be posting the rest of the entries until the end of August when I announce the winner.

Please leave a comment if you want to ask questions, or just want to offer encouragement!

Happy Face Painting,

Philadelphia Tivoli

www.FacePaintingTips.com
“Helping You Paint with Your Favorite Face Paints!”
Buy Face Painting Supplies Right Here!

The following is an entry sent in for our monthly Competition!

“Erin’s Face Painting”
Sent in by Erin E. Wainwright

Hi Philadelphia!

I’m an elementary teacher who has been face painting for around 10 years now. I had always done it as a volunteer in daycares, campgrounds and schools, but this year I decided to try it out as a business.

I can’t begin to explain how much I’m enjoying myself! I’ve always loved transforming little faces into bunnies, monsters and butterflies, but now that I’m face painting more regularly, I’m learning so much! I am taking online workshops, watching videos and learning many new techniques!

I have to say that your website Face Painting Tips has been inspirational for me, I feel as though I’ve finally found my passion and I am eternally grateful to people such as yourself for all the help you offer online!

Sincerely,

Erin E. Wainwright

Maquillage Faceforward Facepainting
Montreal, Québec Canada
514-603-0692
erin@erinwainwright.ca
www.erinwainwright.ca

_______________________________

Thank you for sending this in Erin, great to hear from you! I’ll be posting the rest of the entries until the end of August when I announce the winner.

Please leave a comment if you want to ask questions, or just want to offer encouragement!

Happy Face Painting,

Philadelphia Tivoli

www.FacePaintingTips.com
“Helping You Paint with Your Favorite Face Paints!”
Buy Face Painting Supplies Right Here!

The following is an entry sent in for our monthly Competition!

“Face Painting Retreat”
Sent in by Kim Baker

I just took a face painting class taught by Jodi Carr in Virginia 2 weekends ago and had the most incredible time!  Myself and 6 other women absorbed everything Jodi had to say and demonstrate for 2 full days.

What heaven to have 2 days straight of nothing but face painting!  We stayed overnight at Carol Turman’s house who hosted the class and jammed that night.  I plan to make it a yearly retreat, if not more!  Here are a few pics of what I painted today on my kids based on what Jodi demo’d.  I have a bunch more to try this week- if I can get my kids to sit still  long enough!

The biggest trick I learned, yet soooooo simple is how to make a perfect teardrop: really load the brush (I had not been taking several swipes), twirl as you load to make a fine tip, start with the tip every so lightly touching down and then add pressure directly down- it makes a great shaped tear drop.  I had been dragging my brush along into the tear drop shape, when all it really needed was a press downwards (brush is perpendicular to skin).

I started face painting for fun last November, starting with Philadelphia’s great ebook.  I have done a handful of bday parties and am getting ready to dive in a bit more.  I work part-time from home and have 2 small kids, so finding the time to paint is the trick!  It is my new great love.

Kim Baker
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Thank you for sending this in Kim, beautiful designs and some great tips! I’ll be posting the rest of the entries until the end of August when I announce the winner.

Please leave a comment if you want to ask questions, or just want to offer encouragement!

Happy Face Painting,

Philadelphia Tivoli

www.FacePaintingTips.com
“Helping You Paint with Your Favorite Face Paints!”
Buy Face Painting Supplies Right Here!

Here are the competition winners:

The $50 Gift Certificate from Supplies
for the Best Author goes to:

Kari Ivey for her entry: Face Painting Tips – Competition! Congratulations Kari …great work, keep it up, can’t wait to see more! I really loved all the great face painting tips and info that you shared with everybody. Well Done. You will be receiving your gift certificate within the next week.

The $10 Certificate from Supplies
for the Best Commenter goes to:

Mrs. Bunny, The Clown! Congratulations, I couldn’t give this to anybody else, you’ve left so many informative comments and helped people who have been asking questions on the blog so thank you very much for continuing to participate! You will be receiving your gift certificate within the next week!

Thank you all again for participating, your stories have been helpful to more people than you think! You can start sending in your entries for the August Competition and ofcourse keep making comments right away!

**IMPORTANT**…For August , I’d like to see some different kinds of entries than before. I want more entries with:

* Helpful tips and face painting techniques,
* Your opinions on different face paints, brushes, powders, glitter, like product reviews etc
* Helpful info for the business side of face painting.
* Face Painting photos and stories…

And I want you to send in more photos, or even video if you can, that would be awesome!

Happy Face Painting,

Philadelphia Tivoli

www.FacePaintingTips.com
“Helping You Paint with Your Favorite Face Paints!”
Buy Face Painting Supplies Right Here!

The following is an entry sent in for our monthly Competition!

“Face Painting Tips”
Sent in by Kari Ivey

I am Kari Ivey from Huntington Beach, California, USA.

*I recommend that you get a business license as many organizations like you to have this before you can be hired.

*I use Snazaroo paint cakes. I like the variety of colors although I find that some colors react to heat and change consistency such as pale green, and black. I pop them into the refrigerator and this helps to reset them.

*Glitter gels may smudge your design, so I find that using Snazaroo sparkle colors over the matte colors leaves a similar effect, as well as shimmer powders, or loose glitter.

*I find that the best place to practice is on my thigh! I find that painting on the arms and hands of small children is best because they like to see the design. When you paint their faces, they tend to “follow” your brush with their eyes and this results in a difficult job!!

*To preserve the shape of my brushes, I roll them in the paints as I load, rotating the brush between my thumb and forefinger.

*I present a photo album of my work, as well as my entire palette when I paint because it attract people to my table. “The Princess Glove” is an easy and popular piece that I do for girls (even women like it!). Questions?? please email me at kciechoski@socal.rr.com
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Thank you for sending this in Kari, those are some mighty fine face painting tips, and beautiful designs too!

Please leave a comment if you want to ask questions, or just want to offer encouragement!

Happy Face Painting,

Philadelphia Tivoli

www.FacePaintingTips.com
“Helping You Paint with Your Favorite Face Paints!”
Buy Face Painting Supplies Right Here!

The following is an entry sent in for our monthly Competition!

“First Face Painting”
Sent in by Jan Volkmann

I’m hooked!  After downloading Philadelphia’s e-book and watching her tutorials, I knew I had to give this craft a try!  I was asked to do face painting at a Independance Day celebration July 13, and admitted needing some instruction.  I’ve painted on lots of surfaces, but never on faces!

I ordered the Snazaroo cake paints and couldn’t wait to get started.  I found it’s one thing to paint on my own steady hand or a glass plate, and quite another to paint on a mobile 7-year-old.  But my granddaughter Hope allowed me to “practice” on her, and the attached photo shows the result of my first attempt.

Thanks to a great website and fantastic tutorials, with a little more practice I think I can do it!

Jan Volkmann

Mosinee, WI

_______________________________

Thank you for sending this in Jan, an amazing first attempt and beautiful designs! I’ll be posting the rest of the entries until the end of July when I announce the winner.

Please leave a comment if you want to ask questions, or just want to offer encouragement!

Happy Face Painting,

Philadelphia Tivoli

www.FacePaintingTips.com
“Helping You Paint with Your Favorite Face Paints!”
Buy Face Painting Supplies Right Here!

The following is an entry sent in for our monthly Competition!

“Face Painting in South Africa”
Sent in by Sarah

Hi! My name is Sarah, I work as a missionary in South Africa. I got in to face painting a few years ago. We started out doing face painting for underprivileged children and now we use it a lot as a fund raiser for our work.

Recently I felt that I needed to upgrade my face painting so therefor I started to search the web for idea’s.  I’m so happy I did as I found this very inspiring Blog  with so many tips  etc. and I can see a big improvement in my face painting. I would like to thank everyone involved in giving tips and especially the video tutorials.

Thanks again!

Keep up the good work it’s a big help for many, I’m sure!

Bye!
Sarah

_______________________________

Thank you for sending this in Sarah, great designs! I’ll be posting the rest of the entries until the end of July when I announce the winner.

Please leave a comment if you want to ask questions, or just want to offer encouragement!
Happy Face Painting,

Philadelphia Tivoli

www.FacePaintingTips.com
“Helping You Paint with Your Favorite Face Paints!”
Buy Face Painting Supplies Right Here!

Here are the competition winners:

The $50 Gift Certificate from Supplies
for the Best Author goes to:

Marilyn for her entry: Face Painting Designs Practice Photos – SF Competition! Congratulations Marilyn…great work, keep it up, can’t wait to see more! You will be receiving your gift certificate very soon!

The $10 Certificate from Supplies
for the Best Commenter goes to:

Debbie aka Daisy. Congratulations Debbie, thank you for leaving helpful and informative comments on the blog. You will be receiving your gift certificate very soon!

Thank you all again for participating, your stories have been helpful to more people than you think! You can start sending in your entries for the July Competition and ofcourse keep making comments right away!

**IMPORTANT**…For July, I’d like to see some different kinds of entries than before. I want more entries with:

* Helpful tips and face painting techniques,
* Your opinions on different face paints, brushes, powders, glitter, like product reviews etc
* Helpful info for the business side of face painting.
* Face Painting photos and stories…

And I want you to send in more photos, or even video if you can, that would be awesome!

Happy Face Painting,

Philadelphia Tivoli

www.FacePaintingTips.com
“Helping You Paint with Your Favorite Face Paints!”
Buy Face Painting Supplies Right Here!

The following is an entry sent in for our monthly Competition!

“Face Painting Designs Practice Photos”
Sent in by Marilyn

_______________________________

Thank you for sending this in Marilyn, you’ve some simple yet fun design ideas! I’ll be posting the rest of the entries until the end of June when I announce the winner.

Please leave a comment if you want to ask questions, or just want to offer encouragement!

Happy Face Painting,

Philadelphia Tivoli

www.FacePaintingTips.com
“Helping You Paint with Your Favorite Face Paints!”
Buy Face Painting Supplies Right Here!

Firstly, I’d like to say a big thank you to everyone who entered our Supplies Competition for this month. It is really a treat for me to get to read these stories and share them with my readers. I gotta be honest with you though, I really don’t like having to pick a winner…. I really think every entry is worthy of winning but I can only pick one! (in each catergory)

So, without further or do here are the competition winners:

The $50 Gift Certificate from Supplies
for the Best Author goes to:

Harmony Roth Shabtai for her entry:  Step-By-Step Eye Face Paint Design! Congratulations Harmony, and thank you for putting in the effort that you did to help out other face painters with your fantastic design (And thanks for your  entry last month)! You will be receiving your gift certificate early next week!

The $10 Certificate from Supplies
for the Best Commenter goes to:

Ventura. Congratulations Ventura, it’s always a pleasure to see you on the blog. You will be receiving your gift certificate early next week!

Thank you all again for participating, your stories have been helpful to more people than you think! You can start sending in your entries for the June Competition and ofcourse keep making comments right away!

**IMPORTANT**…For June, I’d like to see some different kinds of entries than before. I want more entries with:

* Helpful tips and face painting techniques,
* Your opinions on different face paints, brushes, powders, glitter, like product reviews etc
* Helpful info for the business side of face painting.

And I want you to send in more photos, or even video if you can, that would be awesome!

Happy Face Painting

Philadelphia Tivoli

www.FacePaintingTips.com
“Helping You Paint with Your Favorite Face Paints!”
Buy Face Painting Supplies Right Here!

The following is an entry sent in for our monthly Competition!

“Making a Little Girls Day”
By Dee Crane

About a month ago I was hired for a birthday party that was to be held at a local park for a young lady turning 9. The birthday girl was so excited about me being there that not only did she tell all her friends, but also called me several times to make sure I’d be there and had the correct directions.

The day of the party I arrived a bit early just to calm the fears of the little girl. I went ahead and painted her before hand so I could give her extra special attention. The mother was so happy I did this and confessed to me that she wasn’t sure how many kids would actually show, as none RSVPed and that the weather forcast called for rain.

As the party began and wore on I realized little girl was highly upset and crying. Unfortunatly the mom could do nothing to chear her up. I asked why and eventually found out it was due to none of her invited guests showing up, other than a few family members. This nearly broke my heart let me tell you!

Being a mom of 4, and knowing how hard a situation like this can be, I asked if it would be ok if I did something different for the girl. The mother was at her wits end and of course was happy to let me try! So I ran back to my car, grabbed all my youngest daughters dress-up stuff which thankfully I had left in the car from her friends “dress-up sleep over” from the night before, and asked the little girl if she would like to be “Queen for the Day”.

This got her interest peaked, so agreed. We got her dressed up in a princess outfit, tiara, feather boa, play jelewry and what not. I then painted her nails, her arms with butterflys, and a pretty flower necklace with my face paints and all bedecked with glitter and jewels. Then to top it off her family pretended they where her subjects, one even acted as her court jester! And of course all got painted to play the parts! LOL This got her laughing so hard she nearly fell over! Everyone, even the adults had a blast.

When it was finally time to go, the little girl came up to me, gave me the biggest hug and thanked me for making her birthday party the best she’s ever had. Needless to say the family is already talking about having a family reunion with a theme and haveing me back!

Just goes to show, not unpacking your car can be a good thing!

Love and light,

Dee Crane

Tweedle-Dee’s Face Art

_______________________________

Thank you for sending this in Dee, great story! I’ll be posting the rest of the entries until the end of May when I announce the winner.

Please leave a comment if you want to ask questions, or just want to offer encouragement!

Happy Face Painting

Philadelphia Tivoli

www.FacePaintingTips.com
“Helping You Paint with Your Favorite Face Paints!”
Buy Face Painting Supplies Right Here!

P.S Learn how to face paint, with our step-by-step face painting designs photos and instructions now!

The following is an entry sent in for our monthly  Competition!

“Step-By-Step Eye Face Paint Design”
Sent in by Harmony Roth Shabtai

Step 1. Paint with white over the eyelid, living the center empty.

Step 2. Make a blue circle in the middle, and fill it with a lighter shade of blue.

Step 3. Draw a black dot in the middle of the circle, and outline in black the white and the blue.

Step 4. For a more realistic eye add 2 white dots on the black in the middle.

Step 5. Even more realism is achieved by adding dark red to the Sides and some thin lines across the white.

By Harmony Roth Shabtai

_______________________________

Thank you for sending this in Harmony, great design idea! This is exactly the kind of entry I want to see more of!

Please leave a comment if you want to ask questions, or just want to offer encouragement!

Happy Face Painting

Philadelphia Tivoli

www.FacePaintingTips.com
“Helping You Paint with Your Favorite Face Paints!”
Buy Face Painting Supplies Right Here!

Firstly, I’d like to say a big thank you to everyone who entered ourSupplies Competition for this month. It is really a treat for me to get to read these stories and share them with my readers. I gotta be honest with you though, I really don’t like having to pick a winner…. I really think every entry is worthy of winning but I can only pick one! (in each catergory)

So, without further or do here are the competition winners:

The $50 Gift Certificate from Supplies
And a Copy of Face Painting Tips’ NEW Cheek Art Guide
for the Best Author goes to:

Darell G. Victoria for her entry:  Happy Easter Bunny !
Congratulations Darell, I really enjoyed your story, (and the story you sent in last month aswell) Thank you so much for contributing to the blog and sharing your stories with other face painters. You will be receiving your gift certificate by the end of the month and the new Cheek Art Guide on May 1st!

The $10 Certificate from Supplies
And a Copy of Face Painting Tips’ NEW Cheek Art Guide
for the Best Commenter goes to:

Bonita Evans! Congratulations Bonita, it’s always a pleasure to see you on the blog (and your hubby too!) Your comments are very much appreciated! You will be receiving your gift certificate by the end of the month and the new Cheek Art Guide on May 1st!

Thank you all again for participating, your stories have been helpful to more people than you think! You can start sending in your entries for the May Competition and ofcourse keep making comments right away!

**IMPORTANT**…For May, I’d like to see some different kinds of entries than before. I want more entries with:

* Helpful tips and face painting techniques,
* Your opinions on different face paints, brushes, powders, glitter, like product reviews etc
* Helpful info for the business side of face painting.

And I want you to send in more photos, or even video if you can, that would be awesome!

Happy Face Painting

Philadelphia Tivoli

www.FacePaintingTips.com
“Helping You Paint with Your Favorite Face Paints!”
Buy Face Painting Supplies Right Here!

The following is an entry sent in for our monthly Competition!

“The Power of Imagination”
Sent in by Jane – Rainbow Rascals

Hello Philadelphia,
I am enjoying your website and all the links and blogs it is great to feel ‘connected’ with other artists from all over the world. I would like to share some thoughts with you …..and I have so many wonderful ideas tips, and stories but thought this one would be helpful as well as amusing. Its all in the imagination…well at least some of it!

I was painting at a large event a few years ago and had settled down to a steady stream of eager Spiderman and Butterflies and all the usual lovely requests that we all get. When a little boy sat down in my chairs and when I asked him the magic words ‘Who would you like to be today?” he replied that he would like to be his Hamster!Not just any Hamster but his Hamster. Now as you will all know some designs reach and and grab you with their wonderful bold colours and designs like the Tiger with its Orange and bold markings etc and the Butterfly with the opportunity for the artist to perhaps colour co-ordinate the wings with the models outfit and the mask like boldness of a Spiderman… but a Hamster~ little beady eyes and lots of fur spring to mind. He was really set on this idea so I proceeded to question him on the colour of his Hamster and set about with  a little trepidation to reproduce his Hamster for him.

He closed his eyes and sat patiently whist I flicked furry marks with my paintbrush and busied myself doing my very best Hamster (hopefully!) when the time came for the ‘reveal’ I was little nervous I must admit but when my little model beamed and said excited ‘Wow that looks just like him!!” I was was thrilled and a tickled too because at that point I realized that so much of what we do is already in the child’s head.

From the moment they join the queue and decide and the wait and wait and finally sit in our chair and ask, by the time they close their eyes before our brushes and sponges touch their face they are beginning to ‘become’ that creation and our artwork is the delightful confirmation of that when they get to look in the mirror. I like to let them have a good long look in the mirror (as long as time will allow) because often we forget they queue for a long time they, sit for 5/10 mins and then perhaps only get a few seconds to glimpse their face so this bit is so important to remember. So the lesson I learnt from this is that we join our models on this wonderful journey of fantasy and never to underestimate the power of their imagination!

Kind Regards
Jane
Rainbow Rascals
www.rainbowrascals.co.nz
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Thanks for sending this in Jane, great story! I’ll be posting the rest of the entries until the end of April when I announce the winner.

Please leave a comment if you want to ask questions, or just want to offer encouragement!

Happy Face Painting

Philadelphia Tivoli

www.FacePaintingTips.com
“Helping You Paint with Your Favorite Face Paints!”
Buy Face Painting Supplies Right Here!

The following is an entry sent in for our monthly Competition!

“Happy Easter Bunny”
Sent in by Darell G. Victoria
(Written on 28.03.08)

Hi, I have been following your face painting tips and I am doing great now since I started. Last week it was a busy week for me since it is the Lenten Week and here in the Philippines we celebrate it with commemorating the suffering of Christ.

It started on Palm Sunday, and people go to church bringing palms to be blessed. Then from Monday to Saturday you can see live performance of Jesus carrying the cross and to be crucified. Friday night a long procession of different patron images. Sunday is the much awaited during the week long event. It begun 4:00 a.m. in the morning where the image of Jesus and Mary meet and the vial of Mary been remove because Jesus had return from the dead.

It is followed with church mass and an Easter egg hunt to all the children. Before we went that morning I face painted my son as an easter bunny.  So when he exchanged the eggs he have found, the committee gave him additional prizes, ‘coz he is the only child with face painted!

He was so Happy and so do I.

Darell G. Victoria
Lance ‘n Larke Business Center
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Thanks for sending this in Darell, great work! I’ll be posting the rest of the entries until the end of April when I announce the winner.

Please leave a comment if you want to ask questions, or just want to offer encouragement!

Happy Face Painting

Philadelphia Tivoli

www.FacePaintingTips.com
“Helping You Paint with Your Favorite Face Paints!”
Buy Face Painting Supplies Right Here!

The following is an entry sent in for our monthly Competition!

“Costumes and Face Painting”
Sent in by Darlene Cookson

My son likes to play in old halloween costumes. He came to me one day and wanted his face painted like a motorcross driver since he did not have a helmet to wear. He had a small dirt bike with a rider on it.

This is what I used to get my inspiration. I like using pictures with the kids painted and in costume for my flyers and business cards it sure adds to the overall effect.

I have also attached a picture of him for picking your favorite character from a book that is not a super hero or cartoon character. He picked Sher-Khan from Jungle book.

I made the custome and the face. Again the effect with a costume adds to the painted face or vice versa. I only had a few minutes in the morning while getting us both ready for work and school to do the face. I hope you enjoy these photos.
_________________________________________

Thanks for sending this in Darlene, great work! You really put alot of thought and effort into your face painting and costumes, that looks great

Please leave a comment if you want to ask questions, or just want to offer encouragement!

Happy Face Painting

Philadelphia Tivoli

www.FacePaintingTips.com
“Helping You Paint with Your Favorite Face Paints!”
Buy Face Painting Supplies Right Here!

Watch this video to find out who won the Competition for March…(sorry if I end up babbling on a whole lot, I didn’t want to miss anything)

Click here to view the embedded video.

To get all the info on the competition click on this link: Competition.

Happy Face Painting

Philadelphia Tivoli

www.FacePaintingTips.com
“Helping You Paint with Your Favorite Face Paints!”
Buy Face Painting Supplies Right Here!

The following is an entry sent in for our monthly Competition!

“My Love for Painting”
Sent in by Maykao Fredericks

I have always enjoyed painting on canvas and took a couple of classes in high school and college.  As my life moved forward it got harder and harder to find time to take painting classes.  Before I knew it I was married and had two babies now 1 and 3.  My husband tried to help me find time to paint by offering to care for the kids in the evenings but the only painting class logistically possible was on the one day he had Bible study.

Life got more complicated when we heard news last Christmas that 8 siblings had been abandoned by their parents and was living in a homeless shelter.  Long story short we decided to take all the kids home with us and are now raising them as legal guardians.  We hope to adopt them if after a year the mothers makes no attempt  to get them back. 

It has not been easy and many sacrifices had to be made but the rewards of being part of divine intervention makes it all worth it.

Because foster care would only allow us to care for 3 kids we chose to raise these kids without foster care support.  I knew I would need to get second job.  But because life is too short to be a workaholic, it would have to be enjoyable, flexible and include my kids in the process.

Face Painting came to mind.

I did extensive research, purchased your online manual, studied it and was soon ready to invest $150 worth of snazaroo paint, brushes and a pound of glitter (okay maybe I spend a little more than that).   I paint my kids faces on a regular basis and if I never get paid it’s okay, I’ve finally found a way to be reunited with my brushes and my creative self.

I look forward to painting at my kids’ school fund raisers and I hope to get a few corporate contracts for community events.  It’s not always easy to get my kids to let me paint on them, but when I’m done, they don’t want to wash it off.

Also, Many Many Many thanks for your blog on websites:  I followed your advice and viola, take a look (totally free and still professional): http://mulanmagicandfacepainting.googlepages.com

Who would have thought that at the most hectic time of my life, it would be the one opportunity to get back to my love for painting.

___________________________________
Thanks for sending this in Maykao, truly inspirational and very moving – I wish your family all the best, and hope that you continue to have fun face painting.

Please leave a comment below if you want to ask questions, or just want to offer encouragement!

Philadelphia Tivoli

www.FacePaintingTips.com
“Helping You Paint with Your Favorite Face Paints!”
Buy Face Painting Supplies Right Here!

The following is an entry sent in for our monthly Competition!

“Lines, Dots and Determination!”
Sent in by Harmony Roth Shabtai

My name is Harmony Roth Shabtai and I am a makeup artist and face & body painter from Israel.

I began body painting and face painting on 2004 and before that never drew.

If anything, I thought I have no talent.

All that changed for me when in 2005 I went to do body paintings in a festival named boombamela (http://www.boombamela.co.il/site/gallery.php?g=12 ) where the atmosphere is so light and relaxed- and fell in love with face and body paintings.

Since then I took some private painting lessons, added face painting to my makeup artistry, and in 2007 went to the amazing body painting festival (http://www.bodypainting-festival.com/ ) in Austria to have fun, meet people and compete.I came in the middle and enjoyed myself so much!!!!

This art has given me so much pleasure. I enjoy it and enjoy teaching it. I came a long way from when I started- now folks are amazed with my ability.

I always say, though, that all paintings are composed from lines and dots, and with enough determination, anyone can do it.

Happy painting!
Harmony Roth- Shabtai
Israel

__________________________________
Thanks for sending this in Harmony , beautiful story and beautiful designs, well done! I’ll be posting the rest of the entries until the end of March when I announce the winner.

Please leave a comment below if you want to ask questions, or just want to offer encouragement!

Happy Face Painting

Philadelphia Tivoli

www.FacePaintingTips.com
“Helping You Paint with Your Favorite Face Paints!”
Buy Face Painting Supplies Right Here!

The following is an entry sent in for our monthly  Competition!

“Face Painting for Military Families!”
Sent in by Lauren Kalal

I should preface this story by saying that I am the wife of an airman and we live overseas in Turkey. As most people know, military families move a LOT. The moving process is always long and never smooth. All of a family’s earthly belongings are packed up about a month before they leave, and it can be another month on the other end of a move before the family’s household goods are delivered.

My daughter’s friend, “Vicky”, was getting ready to move last month. Their household goods had already been picked up when Vicky’s mother invited my daughter to Vicky’s fourth birthday party. She asked us not to bring a present because they were already packed.The day of the party arrived and I brought my face paints as our present to Vicky. I painted all the children’s faces (Vicky was a clown, by the way) before relaxing and chatting it up with the grown-ups. Everyone loved the face paints and thought it had been a great present idea.

When the party was over, Vicky’s father pulled me aside. With tears in his eyes he thanked me for the present. “It’s been so boring at home for Vicky,” he told me. “All of her stuff is gone and she’s had nothing to do. I wanted to give her a really great party because of that, and your face painting made it better than I ever could have. Thank you.”

It touched me so much I almost started crying too!

Lauren Kalal
http://mrskalal.multiply.com
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Thanks for sending this in Lauren, beautiful story, good on you for creating such a special party for Vicky!

And to leave a comment about this story or ask questions click here.

Happy Face Painting

Philadelphia Tivoli

www.FacePaintingTips.com
“Helping You Paint with Your Favorite Face Paints!”
Buy Face Painting Supplies Right Here!

The following is an entry sent in for our monthly Competition!

Face Painting Up a Storm
Sent in by Sherri MacLean

I always wondered what Marilyn Monroe felt like when a rush of air blew up her skirt – until it happened to me on this very day when I was facepainting.  I will begin my story……

It was a beautiful, sunny afternoon and I was facepainting at a 4th of July celebration (2007) with another painter. This was the first time we had painted at this event and the city was giving us “a try”.  We were under a city tent with a henna artist and things were going very well. Our line was at least an hour long, everyone was happy, our designs were all red, white, and blue (including the tigers) and everything looked great!  It was going to be getting dark soon, so we put out our last face of the day sign and went happily on painting, anticipating the wonderful fireworks display as soon as the sun went down.

What we did not expect was the sky to grow dark and cloudy and winds to pick up to 35 miles per hour with a torrential rain pour. The wind was so strong, our tent and supplies; brushes, sponges and glitter were flying everywhere.

This is where the Marilyn Monroe part comes in – I was running around trying to catch my supplies when my billowy skirt flew up around my head for all to see. Thankfully, I was wearing a slip!  The person who got the biggest show was a city employee who was holding down our tent so it would not fly away.  He was very kind to snatch up my collection of brushes as they whirled past my head.

He must have seen the panic in my eyes as I was screaming, “Not my brushes! all the while trying to get my skirt back down over my legs!”.  I lost my sunglasses (they literally flew off my head), a lot of glitter, at least 50 business cards, hair clips and some sponges. The part that cracked up my partner and I was a mom who came back and asked  me, “Are you ready to start facepainting again?”.  I looked at her and said, “Besides the 35 mile an hour winds, AND the torrential downpour AND I am lacking supplies, AND we have ALSO run out of light AND I can’t see anything, we are forced to close”  She replied with, “I have a light on my cell phone that you can use.”

All I could do was look at her in complete shock. What I really wanted to say was, “Woman! Can you not see all the panic and chaos all around you?  Women, children, men and in some cases animals are running around screaming! Tents, lawn chairs, ice cream cones (no joke) hats, sunglasses, sunscreen, hot-dogs, blankets, and in some cases people are flying by us right now! My supplies are flying away and the world has gotten a peep show from my Marilyn Monroe display!  I’m practically soaked to the bone and YOU want me to paint your child’s face????? But, being the professional I am and very able to hold my tongue, I simply said, “I am sorry, we are closed.”

My friend and I still laugh when we relive that day.  This case was extreme, but it goes to show what people will do to get their child’s face painted even AFTER your booth is CLOSED!

Sherri MacLean – Fantastic Facepainting, Colorado
www.fantastic-facepainting.com
“Where a face can be transformed in seconds.”
www.ActivityBags.com
“Where fun and education fit in the same bag.”

___________________________________________

Thanks for sending this in Sherri. What an amazing story! I guess it shows just how popular face painting can be, no matter what the weather! I’ll be posting the rest of the stories throughout March until the 31st when I announce the winner.

Happy Face Painting

Philadelphia Tivoli

www.FacePaintingTips.com
“Helping You Paint with Your Favorite Face Paints!”
Buy Face Painting Supplies Right Here!

Firstly, I’d like to say a big thanks to everyone who sent in their entries. The blog is so much more diverse because of it and our blog readers all around the world are enjoying checking it out.And I’d like to add, that it was sooooo hard to pick the winners, you all did a wonderful job!

But, without further or do here are the competition winners:

The $50 Gift Certificate from Supplies for the Best Author goes to:

Patrice Bowes for her entry: Face Painting in Spanglish – SF Competition!

Congratulations Patrice Bowes, you will be receiving
your gift certificate very soon!

And the $10 Certificate from Supplies for the Best Commenter goes to:

Kim Baker!

Congratulations Kim Baker, you’re contribution through comments to the blog in February (and all those months before) is very much appreciated! You will be receiving your gift certificate very soon!

Thank you all again for participating, your stories have been helpful to more people than you think! You can start sending in your entries for the February Competition and ofcourse keep making comments right away!

For March, I’d like to see some different kinds of entries than before. I want more entries with:

* Helpful tips and face painting techniques,
* Your opinions on different face paints, brushes, powders, glitter etc
* Helpful info for the business side of face painting.

And I want you to send in more photos, or even video if you can, that would be awesome!

Happy Face Painting

Philadelphia Tivoli

www.FacePaintingTips.com
“Helping You Paint with Your Favorite Face Paints!”
Buy Face Painting Supplies Right Here!

The following is an entry sent in for our monthly Competition!

“Mum Loses Her Models When They Become Face Painters!”
Sent in by Karen Witt

For the past year I have been getting right into face painting. I love it! But of course every eager face painter needs eager, patient (and forgiving) models to practice on in the early days.

Lucky for me, I am a MUM! My daughter Azura, who is 5 and her best friend Lauren jump at having their faces painted at every possible opportunity. They love to feel that they have thought up their own designs and elaborately explain the colours and images they want painted. It’s so cute.

I have recently given them a couple of old paint brushes and a few colour samples of face paint to have a go on themselves and each other. Bad move by me! Now that they have been liberated with artistic freedom, I’ve lost my two best models! :0

They want to paint each other’s faces instead of sitting for me. But it’s great to see that what I enjoy doing so much is also a fun activity for them. It will be part of their many happy memories of childhood.

Happy painting everyone!

Karen Witt, Australia

__________________________________

Thanks for sending this in Karen Witt! I’ll be posting the rest of the entries until the end of February when I announce the winner.

Happy Face Painting

Philadelphia Tivoli

www.FacePaintingTips.com
“Helping You Paint with Your Favorite Face Paints!”
Buy Face Painting Supplies Right Here!

The following is an entry sent in for our monthly Competition!

“Face Painting in Guam for a Spring Play in Guam!”

Sent in by Mister G/ Frederick Rosal Gonzalez

Just wanted to share with you that last Saturday, I conducted a workshop for parent volunteers for our school. I shared with them some techniques that I have been using all these years and also the many, many, great advices I picked up from your ebooks. They had a blast and they were all so eager to learn!

I also shared with them your website, so hopefully they all visit your site!

I am sharing pictures with you from the workshop, We are doing C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe based on the musical created by Trumpets, Inc. a theatre group in Manila, for our Spring Play!

Again, Thank you so much!

Mister G/ Frederick Rosal Gonzalez
- An Art teacher here at Santa Barbara Catholic School on Guam.
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Thanks for sending this in Mister G/ Frederick Rosal Gonzalez! I’ll be posting the rest of the entries until the end of February when I announce the winner.

Happy Face Painting

Philadelphia Tivoli

www.FacePaintingTips.com
“Helping You Paint with Your Favorite Face Paints!”
Buy Face Paints Supplies Right Here!

The following is an entry sent in for our monthly Competition!

“Beginner Face Painting Success!”
Sent in by Mylene Losier

I am very new to the face painting world, but wanted to share a great experience I had starting out.  I was recruited to do face painting for a childrens christmas party at my work.  Needless to say I had no idea what I was doing, but I like challenges and accepted the position.

I went out and got books, ideas and practiced during the week I had to prepare.  Yes!  I only had a week to prepare!  So here I am on the morning of that day, nervous, but also excited.

The first child I did wanted a dolphin, and I thought “Oh boy, I only studied christmas stuff!” But I smiled and said “Sure sweetheart!” and did the best I could.  It wasn’t the prettiest dolphin out there, but she was so happy, it gave me the confidence to keep going.  All the kids came to get cheek art or their face painted, some even came more than once!

At the end of the day, I had enjoyed myself so much, I decided to keep doing face painting.

Mylene Losier, Alberta Canada
_________________________________

Thanks for sending this in Mylene Losier! I’ll be posting the rest of the entries until the end of February when I announce the winner.

Happy Face Painting

Philadelphia Tivoli

Face Painting Tips
“Helping You Paint with Your Favorite Face Paints!”
Buy Face Paints Right Here!

P.s Learn how to face paint, with our step-by-step face paint designs photos and instructions now!

The following is an entry sent in for our monthly Competition!

“Face Painting for Smiles”
Sent in by Darell G. Victoria

Hi, Just as eager as I am to master my Face Painting talent, I volunteered to do a party for underprivileged children. When I was about to setup my things at the party, a child approached me and said “Can you do that to me?” curiosly pointing to shirt with picture of a face painted boy. When I replied to him and said “that’s why I am here for!” he smiled and was the first on the line.

After I had face painted all the children. A happy face with a beautiful smile is already a payment for my services. I said to my self, I will do this on a bi-monthly basis. Facepainting is something they usually don’t get the chance to have and can make them very happy!Darell G. Victoria
__________________________________

Thanks for sending this in Darell G. Victoria! I’ll be posting the rest of the entries until the end of February when I announce the winner. 

Happy Face Painting

Philadelphia Tivoli

Face Painting Tips
“Helping You Paint with Your Favorite Face Paints!”
Buy Face Paints Right Here!

The following is an entry sent in for our monthly Competition!

“Cheetah Face Painting Design”
Sent in by Valerie Hanson

I don’t have a story, but I did want to share my pic of the cheetah face I did on my 6 year old daughter for Halloween. Hope you like it! The costume was made with a Cheetah patterned leotard and rows of matching feathers sewn on the collar and cuffs of the leotard.

Regards,

Valerie Hanson
_________________________________________

Thanks for sending this in Valerie Hanson! I’ll be posting the rest of the entries until the end of February when I announce the winner.

Happy Face Painting

Philadelphia Tivoli

Face Painting Tips
“Helping You Paint with Your Favorite Face Paints!”
Buy Face Paints Right Here!

The following is an entry sent in for our monthly Competition!

“Rainbow Face Painting Fun”
Sent in by Polly Ester Clown

Recently I was face painting at a park and gentleman and his dog came over to watch me paint a very cute little butterfly on an even cuter little girl. As they watched he started talking about getting his own face painted. I finished the little girl and started talking him into it.  He was a little shy so I suggested that I spray my colored hairspray on his dog and then match his beard and hair with his dogs.

I guess because he was in a fun mood and a younger gentleman he decided to go for it.  After spraying both of my customers a fun rainbow on both of their beards they walked away happy customers. He then went and got his wife and little girl.  They wanted in on the fun. They had a rainbow painted on their cheeks to match the rainbow hair of their dad and dog.  I guess you could call this experience finding gold at the end of the rainbow, because the family had a very good time laughing and playing together even if it was for a short time. Just thought I would share this fun time at the park with you.

I have been a clown for over 20 years.  I face paint, do animal balloons, magic and ventriloquism.  I tell stories and jokes and have a great time helping people to find some giggles in their bellies. Polly Ester Clown

______________________________

Thanks for sending this in Polly Ester Clown! I’ll be posting the rest of the stories until the end of February when I announce the winner.

Happy Face Painting

Philadelphia Tivoli

Face Painting Tips
“Helping You Paint with Your Favorite Face Paints!”
Buy Face Paints Right Here!

The following is an entry sent in for our monthly Competition!

“Face Painting in Spanglish”
Sent in by Patrice Bowes

Hi everyone! I thought I would share a quick story that happened recently. I am fairly new in the world of face painting, but having a blast. Recently My company was asked to provide our services at a festival celebrating the Hispanic culture. I thought it would great – there are kids there right?

When I arrived I realized I was one of the few that did not know spanish, I tried in school. I thought – “great, what am I going to do?”

Well as it turned out … no worries… fun and smiles are universal! By using the few pictures and a lot of hand signals, we managed to satisfy over 400 clients that day!

And I learned a little spanish! so it goes to show we may not be able to fix the world but we can sure paint it brighter!

Patrice Bowes
Director
THE BOREDOM BUSTERS
www.theboredombusters.net
___________________________________________

Thanks for sending this in Patrice. Short and sweet, great story about the universal language of art! I’ll be posting the rest of the stories until the end of February when I announce the winner.

Happy Face Painting

Philadelphia Tivoli

Face Painting Tips
“Helping You Paint with Your Favorite Face Paints!”
Buy Face Paints Right Here!

P.s Let us help you learn how to face paint with our step-by-step face painting designs photos and instructions today!

I know you’re all excited to hear who has won, but firstly I’d like to say a big thanks to everyone who sent in their stories. There were so many that I couldn’t even fit them on the blog for this month! It has been a such a pleasure reading your heart felt, funny and inspiring stories and I know that our blog readers all around the world are enjoying your words too.

And I’d like to add, that it was sooooo hard to pick the winners, you all did a wonderful job!

But, without further or do here are the competition winners:

The $50 Gift Certificate from Supplies for the Best Author goes to:

Dana Chavez from New Mexico!

Congratulations Dana, you will be receiving
your gift certificate very soon!

And the $10 Certificate from Supplies for the Best Commenter goes to:

Cheryl M. Henderson (aka Mrs Bunny the Clown) from St Louis!

Congratulations Cheryl, you will be receiving
your gift certificate very soon!

Thank you all again for participating, your stories have been helpful to more people than you think! You can start sending in your entries for the February Competition and ofcourse keep making comments right away!

For February, I’d like to see some different kinds of entries than before. I want more entries with:

* Helpful tips and face painting techniques for other face painters,
* Face painting supplies/Product Reviews and
* Helpful information for the business side of face painting.

And I want you to send in more photos, or even video if you can, that would be awesome!

Happy Face Painting

Philadelphia Tivoli

Face Painting Tips
“Helping You Paint with Your Favorite Face Paints!”
Buy Face Paints Right Here!

Want face paint designs with step by step photos and instructions? Check out: www.FacePaintingTips.com

The following is an entry sent in for our monthly Competition!

“Passion for Face Painting”
Sent in by Dana Chavez

Passion + hard work = happy living!!!

Growing up, I would always be the person everyone would go to for their halloween make-up. Having twelve male cousins who lived just down the street, I’d spend halloween afternoon creating skeletons, monsters, vampires, frankenstein’s monters, werwolves, gallons of home-made fake blood, gashes, scrapes, black eyes, knife wounds, wrinkled necks, tattered clothing, even a laddel filled with brains dripping from my brother’s ear once. The possibilities were endless.

It was always so much fun doing costume after costume, coming up with all these crazy ideas. In school I would do make-up for the theatrical performances we did. As a young person, I never thought that painting faces would ever be more than a fun hobby. I never figured there would be a way to make a living at it. And now I’m finding that I was wrong!

My son is 5 and in pre-school. His school is always doing fundraisers and carnival events. And I am always more than delighted to help! One windy afternoon, last October, we were painting faces as a fundraiser at a local festival. We started at noon and I actually didn’t stop until it got to dark for me to see. It was a wonderful afternoon. Kids lined up and one after the other came and sat at my station. I painted face after face, tigers, dogs, cats, monsters, aliens, snakes, you name it!

To my surprise, I also received a lot of parents asking for my phone number. I had never considered face painting at birthday parties, but the door swung wide open, with parents willing to pay me to paint faces! So, I gave them my information and by the next week, I had already booked four birthday parties and a stint at my office’s children’s party.

Now we are heading into February, and our 13th Annual Community Arts Party, were I will be painting faces for five hours! With over a 1,000 attendees I’m sure I’ll be able to create some exciting new faces!

I guess it just goes to show everyone, that when you find something you love doing, really love doing, that with enough determination and vision, you can turn that passion into a budding career! I’ve always believed that you should enjoy and love your job, what good is making gobs of money if you wake up miserable and go to sleep just as unhappy? The average person spends 80% of their lives at work, why not have an occupation that makes you dread 5:00pm?

You’ll live a healthier, happier life!

Dana Chavez
NM Tech Performing Arts Series
____________________________________

Thanks for sending this in Dana. Life is short and we should spend our time doing the things we love, and its great to hear about somebody else who is also doing this! I’ll be posting the rest of the stories throughout January until the 30th when I announce the winner.
Happy Face Painting,

Philadelphia Tivoli
P.s Do you hate your job? Want to do something you love instead?

Start your own face painting business
with the help of our home study course!!

Happy Face Painting

Philadelphia Tivoli

Face Painting Tips
“Helping You Paint with Your Favorite Face Paints!”
Buy Face Paints Right Here!

The following is an entry sent in for our monthly Competition!
____________________________

A Lucky Face Painting Student
Sent in by Barb McMillin

My name is Barb McMillin and I work for the Children’s Museum in Oak Lawn. One of the services that the museum offered when I first started was “face painting” at children’s birthday parties.  It was something that I felt needed to be restructured.  The quality of everything was not what it could be.  So I began to research this industry.  I called local costume shops, tried to contact fellow face painters in the area and got nowhere.  I was looking for a place to learn and purchase product.  I kept running into dead ends, and nobody would help.

Until one day the museum got a mailing from the Haunt Fest Convention being held at Rosemont. As I am reading the flyer I see that there is this woman who will be there and she had something to do with face painting!  A real live person!! I was thrilled.  So I called this lady and begged her to give me a class and she agreed.  Little did I know who she was, Marcela!! Of all the Luck.

She took the time to answer all my questions and point me in the right direction.  She recommended I attend the convention in Florida and I took her advice. Her passion for her work has not just helped me but all of our painters and the museum.   I have never met a group of people so willing to share their knowledge and talent.

I was able to bring all of the information back to our staff and volunteers and turn our face painting into a marketing tool that has helped the museum financially and become a viable service to our community.

In Marcela’s books she has many inspiring quotes that I think that try to explain her philosophy.   But the one I think expresses it best is her pay it forward example.  She could have just blown me off.  Instead she took that extra effort to help me get started. The museum would never be where we are now if she had not taken the time to share her knowledge and talent with a very naive rookie. Thanks Marcela you’re the best!

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Thanks for sending this in Barb. I completely understand how a great teacher like Marcela can make a huge impact on your life! I’ll be posting the rest of the stories throughout January until the 30th when I announce the winner. To find out more and enter the contest click on this link:
http://www.facepaintingtips.com/blog/competitions

Happy Face Painting

Philadelphia Tivoli

Face Painting Tips
“Helping You Paint with Your Favorite Face Paints!”
Buy Face Paints Right Here!

The following is an entry sent in for our monthly Competition!
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Face Painting by Glowstick!
Sent in by Debbi

Last year, summer 2007, I donated my services to a picnic for the Dream Factory in Kansas City. This is a 100% volunteer group that grants wishes to kids who are terribly ill or dying. I am a baby in the world of face paining and they offered to refund my expenses for supplies. A win-win situation for all involved.

The afternoon started off slow but before long we had lines! Not one line but three with 8 to 10 in each line! A few volunteers, not face painters, agreed to help me. I gave them spray on hair color and tattoos. Another volunteer felt comfortable using stencils and doing hand and check art so I could stay with the full face stuff.

Although this may not sound like much in the ways of an interesting story, what happens next is what made it so incredibly memorable for me.

Dusk came, the hair coloring and tattoos were all gone and most of the other volunteers had left. It was just me and the cheek art volunteer. This was an outside event in a park, no lights. The lines were still there. I was not going to disappoint these special and deserving kids.

By the time the scheduled fireworks show had ended (you can imagine how dark it was for that to happen), we were still face painting by GLOW STICK!!!

I was laughing my head off and the kids thought this way of painting was great. A few times some of the moms would open and close their cell phones open so we could use the light from the phone displays.

I still laugh when I think back on that evening. This summer is already lined up. (Although I was thinking, I might bring a lantern with me this time).

BIO

Debbi – private school administrator/teacher & mom of four face/body painting models. Started face painting to help out a community carnival about four years ago and really liked it. I have continued over the years just for fun.  It is a great stress reliever and no where near as fattening as chocolate.  I donate any earnings from my work to the Dream Factory of KC to help grant wishes to seriously ill and dying children.
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Thanks for sending this in Debbi! What a magical event that must have been for you, I wish I was there, it sounded like a lot of fun! I’ll be posting the rest of the stories throughout January until the 30th when I announce the winner. To find out more and enter the contest click on this link:
http://www.facepaintingtips.com/blog/competitions

Happy Face Painting

Philadelphia Tivoli

Face Painting Tips
“Helping You Paint with Your Favorite Face Paints!”
Buy Face Paints Right Here!

Learn how to face paint with step-by-step face painting designs today!

The following is an entry sent in for our monthly Competition!
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Clown Turned Face Painter
Sent in by Cheryl M. Henderson

My name is Mrs. Bunny, The Clown! I’m fairly new at face painting because my clown business just started about 3 years ago. I must say face painting has not been easy for me because I’m not a very good artist. In fact, I’m not an artist at all! My drawings were limited to paper dolls and stick figures. It was pitiful!

As I studied to be a clown, I saw that face painting was a highlight of the business. I knew I was in trouble. I started practicing with markers, but the color wasn’t vibrant enough and my designs were limited. I honestly didn’t know what to do to improve my skills. I wanted to take classes, but where can you find such classes? That’s when the light bulb came on: check online! That’s where I found facepaintingtips.com! It was a life saver! What I learned was immeasurable! I began practicing everyday for hours. Little by little the skill started developing. Although I’m not at the caliber that you guys are, I can now turn a simple flower into something dazzling!

For people like me who were not born with artistic gifts, the help I have received from facepaintingtips.com have taken my abilities to new heights. I am very grateful to you all!

My Bio:

My name is Cheryl M. Henderson. I was born January 29th in St. Louis, MO. I love kids and love to make people laugh. Being a clown just fits my personality. My friends say that I was born to the part. I wonder if I’ve been insulted??

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Thanks for sending this in Cheryl. I’ll be posting the rest of the stories throughout January until the 30th when I announce the winner.

Happy Face Painting

Philadelphia Tivoli

Face Painting Tips
“Helping You Paint with Your Favorite Face Paints!”
Buy Face Paints Right Here!

This is the first entry sent in for our monthly  Competition that I only just announced yesterday! I can’t believe how quickly you guys responded, and so far the entries have been pretty different which is fantastic, thank you all!
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Last Minute Clown Costume!
Sent in by Debbie Hughes

“This is very appropriate as what I did was silly, and I should be sent to the silly farm. It was my first paid job and I was to face paint at a 5yr olds party. I had everything ready, but at the last minute decided that I wanted to be in costume.

So I ran down to the local OpShop and purchased some material to make a clowns outfit, this was the day before, so without a pattern I ran myself up a costume, looked pretty good too, so the next day I painted my face got into the costume and went to the party.

It was a great day and I thoroughly enjoyed my first outing. After painting about 14 faces, I packed up and waved goodbye to everyone and walked down the driveway to my car.

When I got home and took my outfit off…horror…all the stitching at the back had come undone and all I was wearing underneath was my pink knickers…I’m not sure if anyone noticed, but I made sure I ran them up on the overlocker and sewing machine a few times after that…”
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Thanks for sending this in Debbie, its a funny story and a great learning experience that will be shared and learnt from by other face painters and children’s entertainers.

I’ll be posting the rest of the stories throughout January until the 30th when I announce the winner. To find out more and enter the contest click on this link:
http://www.facepaintingtips.com/blog/competitions

Happy Face Painting

Philadelphia Tivoli

Face Painting Tips
“Helping You Paint with Your Favorite Face Paints!”
Buy Face Paints Right Here!