On the 10th Day of Christmas @Rudedoodle Gave to Me- Ten Tiny But Tremendous Finger Tattoos

Happy New Year's Eve! Wave goodbye to 2016 and pray 2017 isn't its bigger, badder brother. 

I wonder am I being a bit of a hypocrite by featuring hand and finger tattoos for the 10th day of Kitschmas countdown, or count-up. 

I rarely mention it on here these days, but I'm actually quite covered in tattoos. I've a complete upper sleeve on my left arm, with large pieces on the lower arm also. I've two swallows in the traditional chest-piece location. 

Then, there's my finger tattoo. Or there was. One night in 2005 my then boyfriend & I went to a party in South Belfast, stayed up all night & in the morning, walked into central Belfast to the tattoo studio we both went to at the time, and asked the artist to give us a black star each, on our wedding band finger. 

A good tattoo artist, like the one I ended up going to for my sleeve etc. would have flat out refused us. My tattoo artist now told me he would never have tattooed my hand when at the time I was really only someone who had two tiny existing tattoos. I wasn't someone with full sleeves, running out of room to place designs, so moving to my hands by default. 

In the business hand, finger and neck & face tattoos can be nicknamed 'jobstoppers' because of their anti-social notoriety.

There's also the fact that I'm quite sure after being up all night partying, we should have been refused for still being under the influence of alcohol. 

If that wasn't enough of a clue to refuse us that day, then maybe the fact we were still in bloody fancy dress might have helped. It hadn't even been a fancy dress party but we had turned up as Hunter S Thompson and a princess. 

Nevertheless we left that morning with a jobstopper each. Convieniently considering we had them on our ring fingers, we ended up getting married. By that point however I hated mine completely. It made my hand look grubby, and it wasn't even well drawn, one side was thicker than the other. Wearing a wedding ring over it still looked bad, as the edges poked out. 

My husband knew I hated how mine looked, but he still liked his, and said he would like to get his other fingers done too. So I felt if I did research tattoo removal it would hurt his feelings even more so than me saying I hated mine had done any time I brought it up.

Then in Nov 2014 we split- and by Christmas I had been for my first Tattoo Removal Laser session at Indulgence by Susan's home spa in Lisburn.

Goodbye tacky finger tattoo! 

I had about four sessions with Susan and as you can see there is no scarring whatsoever. I could do with one final session to just blast that little bit of ink that remains where the thicker line was, so Susan, I will see you in the new year! 

So maybe I'm being hypocritical featuring the very tattoo spot I disliked, but that's because it can suit other people. The artwork on show here is a lot better than my wonky star. 

But I would advise anyone thinking of getting a tattoo in a place that cannot be covered easily, try drawing it on for a few weeks and see how you feel and how it looks with your different clothing & in different situations, because laser removal hurts ten times worse than getting the tattoo put on! 

On the 8th Day of Kitschmas @Rudedoodle Gave to Me- Eight Splendidly Tremendous Octopus Tattoos

I know an octopus isn't Christmassy, but we are almost at New Year, so I'm tailing off for these last few daily posts.  

I hope you've enjoyed my Kitschmas countdown. I've actually enjoyed finding cool stuff to share with you, my long-term, faithful readers. 

This is actually how www.TheWorldofKitsch.com began. My room mate from 2005, @TheRonster suggested I made a blog to share the Kitsch stuff I would buy for my home from charity shops. About six months in I started having the chance to work with brands, and I've really gotten so caught up in it that I now only really blog when I've been kindly sent something to try out, or been somewhere to experience. 

How would you like me to slip in a blog post more like this again, maybe at least a week? I have old posts like one where I shared behind the scenes photos from Layrinth that has had 67 views today alone and another post about a beauty range that has the scent of Parma Violet sweets viewed 51 times today also. They are consistently in my most viewed list, and the latter was posted in 2014.

So that shows both my niche blog posts and brands that are unique and featured by me coming to them and not vice versa, have worked out as well as any of my big, exciting partnership with local, national and worldwide brands.​

So in 2017 I will make one resolution to return to my blogging roots more often. I hope you are enjoying my 12 Days of Kitschmas in the meantime.​

Her Mother's Eyes- Beautiful, Large Scarves By Bangor Tattoo Artist Kathryn Kirk, Available for Pre-order Now

It's with pride I post this particular post today. I met Bangor-based artist Kat Kirk back in 2004. Over the past 12 years I've seen her train & draw, draw, draw with the dedication needed to become adept & confident enough to take her artwork onto skin. 

Kat now has her own place in Addiction Piercing & Tattoo Parlour, Bangor, tattooing both clients' designs and her own original flash. 

I featured her amazingly cool candles previously, but today I'm sharing with you her newest venture- bringing her artwork to large scale, vivid scarves. 

Her Big Cartel store has the designs available for pre-order, or you can call into her studio to see the prints in real life. I swung by today & was really impressed by them. The scarves are huge (140cm x 140cm), the fabric is soft & flowing and the photographic prints are clean, clear and gorgeous.

My favourite scarf is the blue & white. It's a photographic image of dozens of tattoo flash stencils that you use to mark out a tattoo on the skin.​

The collection of tattoo stencils

The scarf

I look forward to seeing the future designs Kat brings us.​

Stumped for a Present for the Person who has Everything? Why not Consider Treating them to the Removal of Their Old, Now Unwanted Tattoo?

Giving the gift of laser tattoo removal may not seem like the most romantic Christmas present, but if your partner has a regrettable inking from their youth that they hate the sight of, this Christmas you could be giving them a body & life changing experience.

I have many tattoos that I love, but I've always disliked the look of the tiny star on my ring finger I had done ten years ago. Not only is it wonky, but I just don't like hand tattoos on myself, and am embarrassed by having it sometimes. 

Now even though I can recommend you the best tattoo parlours in Belfast City (White Dragon, Skullduggery) and even though I once had a monthly column in a national Tattoo magazine, Things & Ink, when it came to tattoo removal, I actually had no idea who to go to, or how it really goes down.

So, I just Googled laser tattoo removal and found a Lisburn beauty salon Indulgence by Susan, offering the treatment.

Susan's salon is based at her home, but stepping inside it doesn't feel like that. There are several rooms in the large, suburban home dedicated to Susan's beauty craft. She has ten years experience in the industry, with teeth whitening, slimming treatments, waxing, makeup and the whole works available and performed with expertise.

Over the coming while I'll share more of Susan's treatments with you, but today I'm concentrating on the laser tattoo removal specifically. 

The purple machine on the left is the laser, you can see the little gun in a holster, and it really is as straightforward a process as that- shooting the tattoo all over with little blasts of red light that help break down the ink and let it absorb into the body. 

Susan tipped me off to buy some skin numbing cream, over the counter at a chemist and apply that to the area about an hour before my appointment. It costs just under £5 in Boots.

Having the laser treatment does involve some pain, but not as bad as waxing pain, and certainly not as sore as it was GETTING my finger tattooed. The healing process was painless, but that might be as my tattoo is so small. 

This is a before shot of my star.

This is thirty seconds after the treatment.

As you can see, that's a pretty big difference. However the treatment will require return visits, as tattoos ARE supposed to be for life, and the ink is terribly stubborn and doesn't just break down after one attempt. The age of the tattoo also is a factor in how easily it can be removed.

Here is the star now after two weeks. 

You can see the top, right lines have faded a lot, but as Susan had told me, it will take a couple more sessions to fade the entire tattoo. She recommends leaving three months between sessions, which feels like a lifetime, but it limits the scarring and Susan has been doing this treatment for years, so I'm taking her advice and holding off, rather than rushing back up after a month for more blasting.

So, are you tempted? Rid yourself of that regrettable dolphin ankle tattoo from that crazy fortnight in Ibiza in 2001? Why not contact Susan herself via her website, and she can advise a treatment plan for you. 

Arguably the Best Kids' App Creator, Toca Boca, Has Created Tattoos for Your Little Ones

Toca Boca are my absolute top favourite kids' app creator. Their imagery is fresh, inventive and quirky, like being the Ikea of smart phone or tablet games, and they pride on keeping the games gender neutral .

Their latest launch is physical however, the Artists Play series. On sale over time on their online store the first collab is between themselves Virginia Elmwood and is called 'Toca Ink'. We received a pack to play about with. Michael loves it. We have almost every Toca Boca game, and the tattoos are of characters from the games.

They are applied the way all temporary tattoos are, with water.

And parents, I highly recommend the Toca Boca games (many have free previews) Click here to see what they have on the iTunes App Store, or search on your tablet's App Store. Have fun in Toca Boca world!

Toca Town

To a Train

Kat Kirk's Glorious Addams Family Tattoo Flash

Traditional tattoo art prints by Kat Kirk, including Addams Family & designs inspired by The Craft. Prints available to pre-order now priced between £8 and £10. Check out Her Mother's Eyes online store and take advantage of the free shipping.

RuPaul's Drag Race Tattoo Flash by Jenna McAleese

These amazing tattoo pieces were available from Jenna McAleese of Skullduggery Tattoo, Belfast, at the Northern Ireland Tattoo Convention this weekend past. If you wish to get in touch with Jenna about any of the remaining designs, you can email her at 

thejennerator@hotmail.com

See more of Jenna's work on her Instagram. 

"Won't You Regret Those Tattoos When You're Older?" 13 Women Who Don't.

It's one of the questions heavily tattooed women get asked, "won't you regret those once you're older?". If my tattoos are my biggest regret in my life, then I reckon I'll have lived pretty well. 

Here are some bad ass looking, beautiful older women who certainly don't seem to regret their body art.  There is a whole generation of tattooed grannies to come in the future, I think we will look pretty interesting to our future grandchildren.

 This month 888ladies.com Bingo are holding the 888Ladies Granny Awards, celebrating the coolest, kindest and most special grannies in the UK. Like their FB page to be the first to know how to win exclusive prizes.

This is a sponsored post for 888ladies.com