Entry for @foxyspirit's #tattoocontest

I've been wanting to show off my tattoos on Steemit for a while now. That's why when I saw @foxyspirit's post, I knew I had to enter! I can't help it, I just love my tats. My whole life growing up, I was the palest kid in the room. Always. If I wore shorts to school when it was hot, I was teased and called "Casper". Hell, if any part of my skin was exposed kids would be cruel. I grew to hate my skin. I wished I could at least get a tan. But I never had that luck. Just burn and peel.

When I was 18, the guy I was dating had just started getting tattoos. It just seemed like the thing to do. I knew my dad especially was going to hate the idea of my getting a tattoo though. So I decided my first one would be of a cute little frog. Yep.. a frog. Because that's been my dad's nickname for me since the day I was born. He likes to tell the story of how the Dr handed me to him to hold and he says I was just all legs sticking out of a little blanket and looked like a frog. The nickname stuck. And so it became my first tat.

When I came home and told my dad I had gotten my first tattoo, his reply was, "It better not be some skull and crossbones bullshit." I showed it to him and he got quiet. I put my shirt back down and turned around to face him and see his reaction. He just looked up at me and smiled slightly and nodded his head in approval. He never said another word about my wanting or getting tattoos after that.

My second tattoo was just flash I picked off the wall. I did pick out the colors she used, but it's hella faded over the years. It's a sun. It has no meaning really, I just liked it. It may get incorporated into a large back peice at some point. Who knows. lol.

Most of my tattoos didn't happen until I had graduated college and had some money to pay for one. HA! This one started out as just the key. If you look closely at the key, it has a "k" and a "c" at the top and the bottom is 2 "H's". K for my name, C for @chackett and H is our last initial obviously. After the kids were born, I added on the roses and their names. The cover pic is actually the same session that this piece was done. (We did 2 tats in one sesh) The artist is a friend of mine from High School. Nick D! He's out in Cali, if anyone wants his info lemme know.

The one on the back of my neck I guess I did get before college, but it was a freebie from Nick who was doing his apprenticeship. I don't even have any pics of it before he retouched it for me. Before it was just the lightening bolt and some faded yellow and orange and red around it. He went ahead and refreshed it with a galaxy look for me last time I was in. I really love it now!

Then I got these teeny tiny stars in my ear while we were Vegas one year. The artist was not that great. I wanted a black, a white and a red star. He tells me he can't outline the white star in black like I had wanted, not enough room. Ok. Fair enough. I just wanted the damn tattoo so here's what I ended up with at first.

Surprisingly enough, this didn't hurt at all. But once the white star healed, you couldn't even see it. I found an artist when we got home and had him outline it for me.

Much better

For my mom's 60th birthday she told me she wanted to go get her first tattoo with me! I made an appointment with the same artist that outlined the star for me. I got the Gwen Stefani tat and my mom's is the kitty cat.

Here it is all healed

Her nose seems to have disappeared over time. Gonna have to get that fixed. 😄 👃

My favorite peice by far though is my space sleeve. It's still a work in progress. I started this tattoo when we lived in Denver. Bound By Design Studio on Colfax. I highly recommend this studio. The artist for this sleeve is "porno Jim". Don't let his name intimidate you, he's the chillest and nicest guy. Also one hell of an artist! I took him images I wanted to include, like the moon, saturn and the Zephyr from Battlestar Galactica. He free handed the stars and the color fill. This piece has taken about 20 hours total so far. Split up over 5 sessions.

I hesitate to let anyone else finish this tat because I get SO many compliments on it. If I'm ever back in Denver for more than a few days, I'm definitely hitting up Jim to do some more! The plan is for a full sleeve. There will be an astronaut and a Tardis somewhere in the lower half, and hopefully David Tennant's autograph also. (Since I got one at comic con last weekend, might as well tat it right?!)

That's it you guys! If you've got tats, come show them off in @foxyspirit's contest. Just use #tattoocontest and see THIS POST for details.

Thanks for reading and as always, love and light to all who read this.