27:365 girls night in

Last night one of my best friends and I got to hang out, eat Indian food, watch Bollywood movies, and I gave her henna.

Day 26 - 11th Birthday Bollywood party

SOO much fun!

25:365 more mehndi stamps

Really love these!

Days 23 and 24

Trying to catch up! Today the stain of the design I did a few days ago is at it's peak, so I made a collage of stain progression. It's not the most detailed design, as I wanted good coverage, and I did it in a hurry as a tribute to my friend Steve who passed last week (we are the two empty shapes). And the lighting of the pictures is crappy, but oh well. :)

The henna is from Darcy at HennaLounge.com


Also today I bought more foam and a better wood burner, and made some more stamps. I really love the blocks, but the new fine tip burner made it possible to do a reverse, to get an actual design as in the last picture. I'm not crazy about working with plastic foam, so I'm going to research rubber or maybe silicone.

22:365 quick Khaleeji style

Stain at 24 hours - 2012 Organic Raj

21? A quick design on my own hand.

Day 19 Amanda's belly

So now I'm completely a day late. I will post this now, and then another post later to catch up. Yesterday I got to do Amanda's henna belly again. I did one for her a couple of months back, when her belly was smaller. I'm really pleased with how beautiful this one turned out.

A little late - Day 18 - my car!

So I forgot to post yesterday, but I repainted the flowers on my car finally. The lettering is vinyl, but the flowers are done with acrylic paint made for terra cotta pots. As long as I do them on a sunny day and they have a chance to "bake on" for a few days before getting rained on, they last 4-5 months, and then I just scrub at the car wash/scrape off, and re-do!

Practical design

I made this recently for the 2013 contracts that are starting to come in. Brown paint marker and gold sharpie. If anyone has any ideas on how to get my photos to show up larger and with better detail, I would appreciate it! I use the iPad app BlogPress, and select the largest size photo and turn the resolution up to 800x1070 ... Original images are at least 1.5 mgs

16:365

Today one of my dearest friends lost his battle with mental illness and I wasn't feeling up for the big henna I was planning to do on myself for the weekend, so these are some sketches I did early today while messing around with a new stylus I got for my iPad.

Day 15 came and went!

I just got home from a late soccer game and alas, no henna today, so I'm posting a picture from this past summer that my 11-year-old son took with his phone. He had found this butterfly while on a bike ride and stopped to take a picture of it, and then on the way home it was still sitting on the side of the road so he brought it home to me. When I found the picture on his phone this morning I was so confused and impressed with the picture and the stain before I realized it was my hand!

14:365 foam stamps

Today I tried out an idea I saw on Pinterest to use my wood burner on craft foam. I couldn't get the best detail, but still pretty cute. I'm going to make more when I can buy some bigger sheets of foam.

Day 13... Color!

Today my only client got initials in black temporary tattoo ink (Colorini) so no mehndi designs to show. But I did this last night using Staedtler watercolor crayons. I had originally thought I would do a design by Darcy Vasudev of HennaLounge with my wood burner, but that thing is hard to use and takes forever. :)

12:365

More drawings for the book... Almost finished!

11:365

Farmer's market mica shimmer Mehndi design

Henna on a drum

Today I did a bunch more drawings (in henna) for my book until I got so frustrated I had to do something completely different. Of course, drawing straight lines and symmetrical designs freehand can be even more frustrating, but when you're procrastinating something important things usually work out. :)

Day 9 - Belly take 2

Today I re-did Letitia's belly (and got better pics!) as it didn't stain well the first time.

Boots!

This was one of my favorite things that I've ever painted. Unfortunately, I ruined them soon as I sprayed the sealer on them. The sealer reacted with the material of the boots and they become super, super sticky. Now there is fuzz all over them,


and I can't wear them. :(

Going to try to put a UV coat overtop, but I'm afraid it won't fix it... We'll see

Day 7

Working on my design book. Thanks, Tal (www.shopglittertattoos.com) for lighting the fire under my butt to finally get this done!

Henna belly!

One of the most touching things I get to do is paint bellies for Blessingway Ceremonies for expecting mothers. The henna is part of the ritual of pampering the mother and blessing the way for her upcoming birth. Today I was honored to do a henna belly for Letitia while she was surrounded by her circle of friends, two of whom I have done henna bellies for in recent years.

Chalkboard table mehndi

Today I had a rare day off which I spent doing laundry and cleaning the kitchen. The kitchen table was piled with my daughter's craft projects, so decided to clear it for a dedicated homework spot for her brother. I saw a post on Pinterest where she painted the table with chalkboard paint and the tabletop was trashed anyway, so I decided to give it a try!

Day 4 - Anna's henna spa party

Anna turned 11 and all she wanted for her party was the henna lady! She and her mom and brother got henna & temporary tattoos from me for the first time last October. For tonight, Anna and her friends whipped up some homemade spa treatments, and got all hennaed and glittered up. The only pictures I managed to take was of her mom's designs - But hopefully I'll post more tomorrow :)

Oops!

Well, Day 3 came and went with no post. And no henna... My client was a no-show! :(
But I've done a bunch of these in the last month and haven't had a chance to put them on Etsy yet... But soon!
Mehndi designs done with a wood burner

Day 2

Top of my hand. My stain never looks good for long, as my hands are always in water

Day One!

Happy New year! I've started this project as a way to track my change over the coming year. I realized now, almost 12 years into this, that I'm doing henna almost every day - especially in the busy season. In the slow time, I'm experimenting with henna on different objects, such as drums and candles. And with other forms of doing Mehndi designs, such as wood burners and bleach pens. So stay tuned to a photo a day of some hennaed design - at least that is my intention. Enjoy!! <3



Christmas/New Year's Eve henna on myself.