What I wore to the party

Yesterday we painted at the largest corporate Christmas party I have booked every year.  It is for forestry giant’s local employees and is always a great (huge!) event. 

We go with three painters and the system they have devised for the line is fantastic!  I’ve done this event for…umm… maybe 7 years now, and last year the organizers came up with a system for the line. 

They have “dads” doing shifts with a roll of numbered tickets and a microphone.  The kids go get tickets when they arrive, and then go off and participate in all the many different activities available… then, the dads call 4-5 numbers at a time to come and get painted.  There are chairs for the waiting few to sit on, out of our way, and it moves along briskly!  

This year, for the first time, we finished ON TIME!  Usually we do at least 30 minutes overtime, sometimes an hour, to get everyone painted (which they pay for!) but this year was great! 

We are the most popular activity at the party – always have been.  And we are already booked for next year. 

There were fewer people than normal – but it was -44C out and the people with diesel trucks (which is most people here!) couldn’t get them running so some people didn’t make it.  And I noticed too that the babies and younger kids that usually were present, weren’t.  So I assumed parents decided it wasn’t worth taking a baby out in this sort of weather. 

It was soooo freakin’ cold… it burned!  Getting the RAV4 loaded and unloaded was really painful! 

I also “test drove” the Snazaroo Pro-Palette 54 at this gig.  I got it from another painter (we traded stuff!) as I had wanted to try one but didn’t see the need to buy one (wouldn’t fit in my kit for one thing!) 

It arrived Friday so I emptied it of the containers of paint it came with, washed the tray, then removed all the paints from their plastic containers and then spent three hours filling up the tray the way I wanted… adding in some extra colours (other brands!) and arranging them the way I wanted. 

Filled up MY WAY!

I have to say… I am not thrilled.  The plastic is flimsy – just lifting this up off the counter once I filled it cause it to break along the edge… and I lifted it up gently with both hands!  The stress of the amount of paint I added obviously is too much for it. 

It was too big to fit in my kit and I didn’t want to slide it into my trolley on its side as I was afraid it would break even more on pressure points. 

We ended up carrying it by itself, separately!  My two assistants used it for the job and then afterwards I asked them what they thought of it.   1) They liked having 54 colours in front of them 2) they didn’t like the small holes as it was really hard to load a sponge (they are used to using the 18ml cakes.) 

I laid it on the backseat to transport it… and the clear plastic lid kept slipping off! 

The cost of this style of Pro-Palette is $60 USD – and that is empty!  If you buy it filled (48 of the 2ml colours and 6 of the 30ml) it is $160 USD. 

I am VERY glad that I did not purchase this (for money!) … I will also not be using it for gigs.  It will stay in my studio and it will be handy (all those colours in one tray will take up less room on my table) and as I won’t be moving it around it may last for a while. 

It would be better if made of a heavier plastic or if it was filled with some sort of light stabilizing material in the back… and for $60 I think it should come that way. 

I have always used the Snazaroo Jumbo Palettes – the blue plastic trays that have 8 holes for the 18ml cakes.  And I really like them… 

They seem to be a heavier plastic -  but not sure if it is, it may just be because they are smaller and not under so much stress.  The jumbo palettes I am using are 8 years old – a couple of chips out of the corners, and a few small cracks, but they are still holding up great.  I load them up with all the brands I use and they are convenient AND fit perfectly in my toolbox. 

Oh yeah… the weather.  I mentioned it was -44C yesterday (did you know that -40C and -40F are the same?) and we have a “Wind Chill Warning” in effect – basically exposed skin will freeze in 5 minutes. 

The forecast is for this to continue through Wednesday… but based on our experience, these Arctic weather systems are really strong and always stick around longer than they say they will! 

And… update on the renovations.  The flooring is done!  And what we can see of it, it looks awesome… but we can’t see much of it yet. 

Today the contractors are starting to install all the new doors.  Then, they will do the base boards and crown moulding. 

They promised to have it all done… by Christmas!!  Please, please, please… 

This morning… the contractor hasn’t arrived (his crew is here working … crew = guy named Jerome) because his diesel is not starting… He will get here when he can get it warmed up and started. 

I had to get up at 6:30 to get the RAV4 out of the garage, so they could set up their tools again… and had to open the hood to try to find the block heater cord!  Luckily I remembered to look before opening the garage door!  I have never had to plug-in before with this RAV4.  Took some time to find it.  It was wrapped around something down inside -  and everything is black in there… don’t know why they don’t colour the cords so you can see it when you’re looking for it. 

I pulled it out and shut the hood then pulled out of the garage… OMG… IT WAS COLD!!!!  I had to then plug the cord into the extension cord (it is a special one for cold!) and into the house… but I could not get the plug all the way in… and it was too cold to stand there trying to force it in! 

I did put on my coat to do all this but was wearing my pyjamas and slippers – with socks!  But OMG… tomorrow I am getting dressed first and putting on all the winter gear! 

I am working this afternoon and have to park a couple blocks away… I will be wearing my snow suit, mukluks and will have no exposed skin!!

Well, we are into week two of the flooring installation.  Looks like the floors will be done tomorrow, then on Monday they will start on the door installation upstairs (five of them) and all the moulding and trim.

They are expecting to be done by the end of next week… please, please… Please!!

Mom and I are so bored and tired of the basement!!  We’ve eaten out more this past week that in the rest of the year so far!  … we actually went through the phone book this afternoon trying to find a different restaurant for dinner.  Today they are installing the kitchen and have all the appliances moved into the dining room.

I’ve been painting myself – it passes the time!  And I need to get paintings done for several projects anyway.

This morning I came up with this one – an Arctic scene with an Inukshuk, Polar Bear and Aurora Borealis…

It has also given me a chance to try out DFX in a big way.  The centre of this design is Kryolan Interferenz Bach Blue and the rest is DFX Light Blue.  The white is Wolfe, the green DFX and the rest is all Kryolan.

I have to be honest.  I don’t like the feel of the DFX on my skin.  It also takes work to get off.  I’ve done three designs using the Light Blue over the past week and it lingers… have to really scrub well to remove it.

To clean it off I usually remove most of the paint using baby wipes, then wash with a washcloth and glycerine based soap.  The wipes removed all the Kryolan completely, and a good scrubbing with the washcloth and my Pears soap got the DFX off.

I do not like how it feels on my skin at all.  It pulls and gets tight and as it dries it really sucks the moisture out of my skin. I wore it for a few hours and I started to notice cracking and peeling as well. 

I’ll keep using it for photography but probably won’t be adding much of it to my working kit.  A few colours maybe, but not for bases.  I’ll stick with Kryolan and Snaz for those.  I found it really tough to blend with and I do a lot of blending in my bases, so would rather avoid the frustration!

FacePaintForum’s December newsletter is out today – my step-by-step Poinsettia Princess is featured.

You can view this month’s step-by-step newsletter here.  Be sure to subscribe if you would like to get it by email.  It has a few step-by-steps and an article about some aspect of the face painting business in each issue.

Oh… and something that has ticked me off!! 

I use a certain name brand of baby wipes “Sensitive” type (starts with a “P” and ends in an “S”) - and the last case I bought (yes, I buy them by the case!) had completely sealed packets!!  The ones previous had refill packages that had a peel-back re-sealable “lid” so you could use them directly from the refill pack, then close it again without having to put them in the plastic tub.  Now the individual packages are all completely sealed – you have to cut open the package to get the wipes! ARGH!

I liked the old package – I could stash unopened packages all over and didn’t have to have the bulky plastic tub to dispense them!  And, the re-sealable package was much better for retaining moisture too.

I’m considering keeping my last three of the “old” packages, slice them open, slide in the contents of one of the crappy packages and seal up with duct tape!  I even have turquoise duct tape that will match the packaging!!  Will just be a bit of a pain to refill.

Or… I use a ziploc freezer bag… I’m still thinking about it.

I am really sore… I worked last night, then, when I got home after 9 p.m. instead of going into the house, I decided to clear the top of the driveway of snow… then instead of stopping I cleared the whole driveway.

The sidewalks had all been cleared by our local quad-man with a blade!  He usually clears all the neighbourhood sidewalks  which is great!

And I don’t have access to my recliner which is upstairs wrapped in plastic to protect it from the construction dust.  So am restricted to sitting at the dining table or laying on the bed – it is like a hotel room in the basement, nice but not the most comfortable place to be.

The contractors have laid two rows of the bamboo – glued and nailed, from one end to the other in a continuous row upstairs!  Our house is amazingly straight – it all lined up without having to be scribed to match curves or bumps.  They will be back on Monday to continue.

We also FreeCycled two bookcases, our TV stand and the mats that we were using for “coasters” for our furniture.  The bookcases were heavy and solid, and darker than the floors will be and we decided to move a lighter bookcase and sideboard into the living room instead.  And the TV stand was a corner unit for the old style TV – now we have a nice HDTV flat unit so did not need that large heavy base for it to sit on.

On an up note, I was vote Second Place in the Snazaroo Bird Contest 2009 for my Rockhopper Penguin design.  This is one that I’ve included as a step-by-step in my book, The Business of Face Painting.

I still am having a hard time processing that today is December FIFTH… I need to get busy or there will be no candy for anyone this year!

Here is one of my best candy recipes – adapted from one in an old cookbook of mine.  This is the most popular candy I make… and it really is really really good!!

English Toffee/Almond Roca

Heavy bottom pot, heat-resistant spoon, candy thermometer
baking sheet lined with baking parchment

1 1/2 cups of milk chocolate (candy coating or choc chips)
2 cups of chopped toasted almonds (or more!)
1 1/2 cups of butter
1 3/4 cups of sugar
3 tablespoons of light corn syrup
3 tablespoons of water

Line a baking sheet with baking parchment and sprinkle half the almonds over it evenly.

Add the sugar, butter, water and corn syrup to the pot and place on the stove on medium heat. Attach your candy thermometer to the side of the pot. Stir constantly until the thermometer reads 300F (hard crack) – make sure the thermometer doesn’t touch the bottom of the pot!

Remove from heat and pour over the almonds in the baking sheet, pouring gently and evenly over the whole surface, spread out to make it even. Sprinkle the milk chocolate over the top of the hot toffee, and wait a few seconds, then spread it with a spoon or knife to cover the surface. Sprinkle the remaining almonds evenly over the top of the hot melted chocolate. Let it cool completely. Break up and store in airtight container.

I usually use about 4 cups of almonds – I like LOTS of nuts.  All the loose stuff falls off when you break it up to pack, and you can then use the bits in another thing – using for ice cream topping is excellent!

The contractor delivered the bamboo hardwood flooring yesterday afternoon!  We cleared out the back upstairs spare bedroom for it… 27 crates of planks are stacked there now warming up to room temperature!

We pulled out a couple to check out and amazingly it matches our kitchen cupboards EXACTLY!  Better than the laminate in there now.  From the samples we saw at the store and the photos in the flyers we thought it was very light “blonde” wood, but, it is more like a light warm oak colour.

I am really excited to see how it is going to look having the whole main floor covered in it.

We finished moving things down to the basement and some out to the garage.  Then rolled up our area rugs and took them downstairs.  I took apart all my computer stuff and piled it up on a desk in the downstairs bedroom.

We either will be without TV for the duration OR I have to buy a very LONG coaxial cable to run it down to the basement!

The contractor is arriving tomorrow morning at 7 a.m. to start replacing our interior doors upstairs – all the doors and jams have to be taken out and replaced with new.  This house is almost 50 years old and one of the jams is actually rotted – the door fell off a couple years ago!  When we moved in we had intended to replace all the doors but once we were in and measured them realized every single door was a DIFFERENT SIZE!!  Talk about “custom”… argh!

So, since we had the contractor “captive” so to speak, we got a quote and he’s going to do all the jams and doors before laying the new floor.  All standard sizes!  He’s going to have to cut out the jams and we hope… really, really hope, that it will be straightforward.

My studio is now our living space for the duration of this reno… so no painting in-house until we get moved back upstairs!

Can you believe that December is next week?  Another whole year is almost over.

I’m procrastinating a bit on some projects I am working on … It seemed like I had lots of time and now we are about a month from one show opening, two months from another show, 100 days till the Arctic Winter Games, and then another show opens after that… I have to design for all four events and get things ordered. 

Also, committed to submitting step-by-step designs to two publications – deadlines of Nov 30 for one and Jan 1 for the other…

I also have to get my Christmas candy making done so we can mail/ship and get the presents ready.

We’ve also had to pack-up everything on the main floor of our house and move it down to the basement as we are having bamboo hardwood flooring installed on the entire main floor.  The contractor will shift around the furniture but we had to move everything else and empty the drawers, shelves, etc.

So my office files are down in the laundry room, my kits and supplies are in the downstairs dining room… I keep going to do something and realize what I need is packed somewhere!!

We are still waiting for the flooring to arrive – it has been 3 1/2 weeks so far – they said 3-6 weeks.  We were really hoping to have it all done BEFORE Christmas…

Good thing I work well under pressure! 

Snazaroo USA Inc.’s latest book, the third in the series, is 3 Minute Cheek Art by Roberta Mandella.  (The first was Your Face or Mine by yours truly and the second was Facing the Sea by Lisa Smiley… just in case you’re interested! )

Roberta is a fantastic artist and her work in this book speaks for itself.  Beautifully executed and colourful designs that should be easy to adapt for most people who want to create effective small designs.  Roberta’s work is very detailed and her brush control is phenomenal.

The book contains 26 step-by-step designs and over 150 photos of designs and ideas.  Roberta covers most holidays and occasions as well as commonly requested items.

I really like that there are four pages at the beginning of the book explaining brush strokes with different types of brushes and the graphics used are very clear.

I have to be honest and admit that I really only skimmed the text throughout.  The 26 step-by-step designs are clear in the photos and as a relatively experienced painter I could figure out the rest.  The text was written by Gary Cole to accompany Roberta’s artwork and what I did read was quite detailed and specific.

My favourite pages are the Snakes, Lizards & Dinosaurs (pages 14, 15) and Bugs (pages 30, 31) – great designs!!  Love the ants!  I have never been asked to paint ants but I am going to suggest them to the next child I paint!!   Even if they ask for Spiderguy!   Oh… I could have some ants caught in the web… I must make a note of that so I don’ t forget!

My only comment is that the only cheek that anything is painted on is in the cover photograph (which is absolutely adorable by the way.)  None of the photos or step-by-steps in the book are actually painted on a face.  While skin is skin and all of these designs appear sized for cheek art, personally, I think seeing them actually placed on a cheek would be helpful.

I don’t do a lot of cheek art but when I do I am always annoyed with myself when I get the image so far over to the side that it is very difficult for the child to see in the mirror!  It would have been helpful to see at least a handful of designs actually painted on the cheeks of children to give an idea of placement, proportion and sizing.

Granted the term “cheek art” is being use collectively to cover any design that is small and self-contained (as in, does not involve painting over or including facial features) and this book delivers on that.  It would, for me, have been nice to see some of the designs painted on a cheek to see the scale/size that it would need to be done in to fit on a child’s face - how SMALL would it need to be to fit?

And, on a technical note for the editor… I found the Pig painting included twice (page 33 and 37.)

This book is worth purchasing.  If you are looking for ideas or are often stumped by requests for “just a small thing on the cheek” the designs in this book should meet your needs.

I find that the seasonal bookings are either massive rushes or quite slow with plenty of time to play and relax.   Our booking this weekend was one of the relaxed ones.

The party books three painters and I take along Naomi and Amy who I hire to work with me.  Both are very capable and really good with the kids! 

The day started a little off though!!  

Mom and I were sitting there watching tv and I commented that I had intended to phone the girls the day before to remind them of the gig but, since I had talked to both of them in the last two weeks and sent them both emails – and they were both so dependable…

They were both supposed to meet at my place at 11:15 a.m. and I would drive us over to the venue.

Mom laughed and said I’d better be careful or I’d jinx things… so I knocked on wood.

At about 11:10 the phone rings… it is Amy checking what time the gig starts.  I say, well, you are supposed to be here in 5 minutes… She screeches “WHAT!?   I thought it started at one!”  So… good thing she called!!! 

Naomi was still not here, which was very unusual as she is ALWAYS early… so I phoned her cell to check on her and it went to voice mail.  I left a message saying I was driving over to pick-up Amy and would be back to my place shortly.

I went and got Amy (who skipped the shower and put her hair up in a  pony-tail!) and then we went back to my place.  Mom was ready to go but still no sign of Naomi.  So I called her home number and spoke to her mom… she said she wasn’t there so I asked if she was on her way over.  She said no, Naomi was at the hairdresser’s as she had a party later.

WHAT?????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My heart was pounding a bit by now… and I said “she’s supposed to be here as we are face painting at noon at a party.  We confirmed everything when she was here on Halloween!”  Her mom said she would get in contact with her.

We had to leave to get to the venue so I asked Naomi’s mom to tell her to get there as soon as possible.

We got there a bit later than planned but still in time… Mom, Amy and I got the tables arranged and set-up and Amy and I started painting.  It was a relaxed gig so no line, just a couple kids coming up at a time…  so it wasn’t horribly stressful without Naomi BUT…

Naomi came flying in about 35 minutes after the gig officially started… said her mom had got ahold of her but she had foils in her hair so had to wait for them to be removed.  She also thought it was a 1 p.m. start.

She plunked herself down and started painting the next kid.

We painted an additional 10 minutes each to make-up the missing painter’s 30 minutes… and it was relaxed the whole time.  Painted quite a few moms too.  And there was time for me to paint both Amy and Naomi – and then forgot to take pictures of them, although I did remember to take a couple of the set-up!

My mom is coming on all gigs now as the official brush washer… Amy and Naomi got a kick out of that.

We all reconfirmed the next gig they are both booked for… several times!!  And I will be calling them a couple days prior to make sure we all have the time right!

Naomi had to leave for her party, so I took Amy and Mom to dinner at Original Joe’s and then dropped Amy off on our way home.

As expected we didn’t get  “Christmas” requests… got some winter theme requests of course, snowflakes and winter scenes… camouflage, skulls, spider-kids, Tinkerbell, princesses, a fox, a red panda… But no Santas or Rudolfs.

Some of the little guys chatted away telling us about their Halloween costumes and scary things they had seen when out trick-or-treating.

The next Christmas parties should be a little more seasonal… the snow is here and once Santa is in the mall everyone should be more “in the mood!”

This weekend my Christmas Party bookings start for the season.

First party is one of my multi-year repeat corporate parties… three face painters booked.  They also have lots of other entertainment and are booked at the largest facility in the area.  There are a lot of kids to paint in three hours so over the years we’ve gone from just me, to two painters, to three – which works well for the numbers.

I put up my usual display, but add-on the Christmas Designs – there are 16 specific winter/seasonal designs added in.  Kids actually do pick quite a few of the seasonal designs – but I have to say it is usually in December!!

Being so early this year, I’m thinking these designs won’t be as popular – Santa isn’t even at the mall yet!

Here are some of my winter designs:

My Christmas Design sheet has 16 different seasonal designs on it and it available at www.facepaintingproducts.com if you would like some ideas (I give permission to use it for display purposes too.)

Okay… so you’re going to convention or a jam and there will be vendors there selling all those lovely things that we all love to buy or maybe you are feeling a little down and cruising the internet looking at all the nice new colours and tools that are now available from your favourite stores.

I am the first to admit that I have a tendency to buy anything shiny and pretty and have a weakness for books and glossy printed paper, but I have been very diligent over the last several years about keeping my purchases at events to a minimum and I don’t buy on the internet at all.

Yes, sure, I did buy something at the last event I attended but I honestly only bought what I had planned to purchase in advance of arriving, well, okay, I did give in on one small thing!

When I was at the Living Canvas Convention in San Jose in September I bought the latest copies of American Face Painter, a couple of books that I wanted to look at before buying, and two small DFX rainbow cakes (these were the ONLY impulse buy – but I had taken Rebecca’s class with the Arty Brush Cakes – and the DFX cakes were less expensive…)

And, while in San Francisco I planned and executed a shopping mission to the Kryolan store – I even emailed my list to Joe in advance so the order would be waiting for me. But I had planned to make this purchase. Although, when I got there they had a sign up “30% off orders over $50”… well, I mean, give me a break… So I picked up several more cakes – but still stayed within my original budget!

In the past I have gone a little crazy in the vendors’ room at conferences and conventions… not as crazy as some, but I would buy colours and brands that looked really pretty only to discover when I got home that I either already had it or something really similar.

Who REALLY needs all this?????

I also would buy products that were very interesting and I admit I was impressed with the pitch or demonstration enough that I though I would have a use for it – I have several storage containers full of special effects products and tools that I am still trying to find uses for.

That’s not to say that purchasing new products or tools at a conference is a bad thing! I’ve made some excellent purchases such as discovering Reel Creations Tattoo Inks at the 2001 Make-Up Artist Trade Show in Pasadena or my first bottle of Fardel Green/Gold at my first UK Convention… those were excellent buys and I would never have seen or purchased them if not for the vendors at those events.

The point of this discourse is to say that you should have a plan when you go into the vendors’ room or decide you need to buy something, know what you need versus what you want or like but don’t really need.

This may seem a little extreme to some of you, but, it does help you focus on what you are spending and why.

The first step is to actually take stock of what you have on hand. It is not a formal inventory you just go through all your supplies, in your kit and everywhere else you store them, to see what you have and what you are short of.

Make a list of items that you are interested in as well – maybe a new brand or colour that was highly recommended by other artists or a particular brush or book.

Then make a list of things you are interested in or need to stock up on. Put everything on it that you think you would like… this is a wish list to start off with and you will weed it out so don’t be afraid to include those dream items. It is helpful to sort this list by brand or supplier as that is how the vendor’s tables will be set-up. If you know the prices of the items you are interested in note those too as you make the list.

Once you have your list read it over. What on the list do you actually need? By need I mean, for example, you are almost out of that colour, your last brush only has three hairs left, you need a specific colour for an upcoming job, etc. Mark these items – you can number them 1 or A, or colour code with a highlighter – to indicate they are your highest priority. Then mark the items you seriously want such as the new book or magazine, the highly recommended colour/brand you don’t have, the new DVD, etc. – use number 2 or B or a different colour highlighter for these items. Then mark the items that would be nice to have by that you really don’t need right now. Anything that is left is obviously not important at the moment and you can disregard them from the rest of the exercise.

Rewrite your list out in priority order based on your sorting. Then consider it carefully. What are the items that you really do need and what is the cost of those going to be? Find out the price of items that you have on your list if you haven’t already noted them. How much money can you comfortably afford to spend? Keeping in mind that if you are attending an event that there will be other costs to cover such as meals, etc, and then figure out how much money you have left.

Check out the event schedule or website to see the list of vendors or exhibitors to see if all the items on your list will be available from them. If some of the products won’t be available take them off your list.

At this point I always end up reorganizing my priorities on the items… I decide that I have an alternate colour to replace one I’m running out of so don’t need to buy more, or that the new book is more important than another pack of those nice sponges. Decide what items on the list are the most important to you right now as the other items can be purchased later on – if they are for sale you can obviously order them from the vendor at a later date.

With me the biggest factor is that everything I buy has to be shipped to me so if I can buy heavier or bulky items in person and carry them home I save on shipping costs. I have to keep in mind, though, that I need to go through customs on my way home so keeping the value of my purchases within my allowable duty free allowance is important… I don’t want to have to pay duty and taxes on my purchases as that will defeat the purpose of buying in person!

I like to see new colours and books in person before I decide to buy them. Vendors often have their whole lines on display at events whereas your local supplier may not carry all of the line so it can be a great opportunity to pick-up those hard to find products. And many vendors offer special conference prices so you can actually spend a little less than planned.

There are always items that appear that you didn’t consider in advance and there is nothing wrong with buying them if you figure you will make use of them. Often vendors will launch new products at conventions that are worth considering too, so allow some flexibility. Leave a little spending room for those unplanned items not on your list. Just consider carefully whether you will actually use the item/product when you get home. What I do is look at it, try it if there are testers then think about it overnight if possible. I take the time check my list and think about what I already have at home and whether this new item will fit in my kit easily or will it end up being one of those items that sits in my office to only be used occasionally.

The last thing is to make your final list and make sure to take it with you. I have a small hard cover coil bound journal that I take with me on every trip and this is where I record my list and I tick off items as I get them. I also get receipts for all purchases and try to keep to my budget.

I have found that once I made the decision to only buy what I REALLY NEEDED as opposed to impulse buying of new, pretty, and interesting products that my business bottom line improved. I was spending WAY too much on supplies – once I stopped the buying for the sake of buying I reduced my spending about 300%… which increased my profit margin; and since this is a business operation that is a very good thing.

I still occasionally make impulse purchases – I’m not saying you shouldn’t treat yourself once in a while, but, remember that if you are making your face painting a business you need to think like a business person and control your inventory and purchasing.

Shannon Fennell©2009

I am exhausted and my right shoulder-blade feels ready to explode! 

The last of my Halloween clients left shortly after 10 p.m. off to a local club… and as I sit here the clocks all say 10:15… tonight we switch back to standard time and mom had changed them all upstairs while I was downstairs in the studio.

Started off with my 8 a.m. being a no-show… so I had time to shovel the driveway and sidewalks.  It snowed about a foot in the last 24 hours…

Then I headed off to my two-hour booking at the Co-Op to paint the staff.  Did a zombie named Rob (took me a week to get that joke…), the grocery manager as an evil skull, lots of pretty stuff, and one of the service clerks who is Chinese had me paint her as an evil assassin named Mimi – complete with dragon tattoo - she was really cute… in a nasty way!   

Then packed up really fast to get down to the park to apply some prosthetics and apply some make-up to the actors in the Haunted House that is put on every year.  (Apparently one of the reporters I know from the paper was there taking photos and commented on “Shannon’s make-up” although it wasn’t really known that I was doing it… maybe there will be photos in the paper next week!?)

Then headed home to scarf down last night’s leftovers… and got a call from my 8 a.m. no-show who apologized and still wanted to come over so I squeezed her in… and the mask with peacock feathers turned out really nice I thought.  She was happy (and felt guilty) and gave me a 150% tip!

Painted a few more people… then had another no-show – family of three children that booked back in August.  No call, nothing.  So had a break before the big rush started…

I had a call last night from a guy that I painted last Halloween but I wasn’t able to give him an appointment later in the day, but told him to call and if I was able to I might be able to squeeze him in between appointments if I was finishing up faster than expected.

He called as I was working on a group of four women – turns out they all knew each other, so, I told him to come on over since I was getting through the girls fairly quickly and they were all friends.

The four women all had printed off photos of make-up they saw on the internet – mostly from YouTube how to videos.  Some had a couple photos that they wanted pieces of… they all turned out really nicely…  sort of zombies but not bloody really…

Their phones kept ringing and it was the guy that  was coming over… and inviting other friends over to get painted… he came, his brother came, and a bearded guy in a giant bee costume…

I kept painting…  Told them as long as we’re done by 8 p.m. you can invite over anyone, I just had another group of women arriving then.

Lots of tips… I like tips.

Turns out the women got my number from him in the first place, they phoned me and booked their appointments but HE didn’t… apparently that is “a guy thing”… so they told me.  As he was leaving he said to book his appointment for next Halloween now…

My last group was my friend/model/assistant Naomi and three of her friends who were going out as “Mardi Gras Girls”… they all had made dresses, had masks and wigs and I was painting them down the face, necks and arms to match their colours.  One was gold, one was silver, one was red and one was blue.

Did swirly things in their colours, with black accents, lots of liquid bling in their appropriate colour, matching lips… applied their false lashes, some gems, helped with the wigs and masks… they all looked pretty hot!

I always paint myself for jobs… and I was just looking at photos of myself and realized – I’m in a rut!!

Now I am multi-tasking - blogging and watching horror movies.  And thinking, I am really hungry but too tired to get up and make something to eat… and why bother when we have 75 full size chocolate bars leftover from trick or treating???  And Glossettes are raisins and therefore healthy… right??