Tatted Thursday: The Stories Behind MY Ink: Part One

As my blog title suggests I am HUGE into tattoos and the love for them in this house is HUGE. Earlier when I started the blog I shared my Hubby's ink in a two part series and I realized I have yet to share mine! 

If you'd like to catch up with his you can check out Part One here and Part Two here.

As for me the adventure started when I was 16 and it has blossomed into a full fledged addiction I am sure. 

Right now my count is at 16 and more planning is in the works for future ink therapy sessions.   :) 

In order to not bore you to death I broke this down into several posts and they are in no special order either... so here we go :0)

Cancer Awareness Ribbon & Cross:

Shop Name/Location:  Forbidden Images Dothan, Alabama

Artist Name: Jesse

Placement: Left Calf

Pain Scale: 4

Price: $100

Age: 28?

Meaning/Story: Cancer is something so real and since this deadly plague runs through our family line I wanted to honor family members  and friends who have fought with this unforgiving disease.

 

I <3 U

Shop Name/Location: Anchor Tattoo & Piercing Bryant Arkansas

Artist Name: Chad

Placement: Left Ring Finger

Pain Scale: 5

Price: $60

Age: 30

Meaning/Story: Last year for mine and my husbands 8 year wedding anniversary her wrote out "I heart U" and I went and tatted that bitch to my finger :) I have always wanted a finger tattoo and we had talked about getting wedding rings tattooed forever but I decided I liked this idea way better and I can still wear my wedding ring :) 

 

Semi Colon

Shop Name/Location: Anchor Tattoo & Piercing Bryant Arkansas

Artist Name: Chad

Placement: Behind Left Ear

Pain Scale: 3

Price: $60

Age: 31

Meaning/Story: I know it seems that this tattoo is a trend and you my friend are RIGHT! The semi-colon has become the sign of self harm awareness and for good reason!

A semicolon is used where a sentence could have stopped, but didn't. With that being said this tattoo (especially on a wrist, is used by survivors) A semicolon tattoo means shes a survivor of self harm/anxiety/depression and things of that sorts. She could have very easily ended her life but she was strong and got over all the pain to continue on with her life story..

As for me personally I got it for my oldest daughter who had a VERY rough year last year. Though we battle it daily still we know that she is working on herself and she knows she has the support she needs to battle this! 

 

AMJ 

Shop Name/Location: Screamers Tattoo Daleville Alabama

Artist Name: Dave

Placement: Left Side of Neck

Pain Scale: 3

Price: $40

Age: 21

Meaning/Story: If you checked out my post when I shared the hubby's ink then this looks familiar :) After a year together went and tatted each others initials on our necks. Our Parents freaked the fuck out but I told them... well he went first :)

He of course decided he was going to make going first funny and had me soooo scared... such a drama queen :)

There are plenty more to share with you guys so be sure to check back with us! 

If you would like to share your ink and the story behind it please contact me. I would love to feature you and your stories right here on the blog!

Tatted Thursday: Featuring Ant; Part Two (After Me)

 Last week I kicked off our Tatted Thursday blog series with sharing with you guys my husbands ink work (here). I had ALL intentions on throwing them all at you at once but since he started his ink collection since he was about 13 or 14 years old,

it would have just went on for what very well may have seemed like forever!

When I was writing this I realized that Ant's tats are in NO kind of order and I ask that you  bare with me on this fact. 

He has been working on his tat collection for almost 18 years and some of the older ink's information is a little fuzzy for us old folks...

They will seem pretty random chaotic ...

SO...

I tried and categorized them as best as I can...

Before Me (Part One) and After Me (Part Two) ;)

So now we can FINALLY move on to...

Part Two:

After Me

PAIN:

Shop Name/Location: Forbidden Images; Dothan, Alabama

Artist Name: Jeff

Placement: Left Calf

Pain Scale: 3

Price: $140-$150

Age: 26-27ish

Meaning/Story: He says in a way it is the summary of his life, PAIN in larger letters as the red Kanji characters read Blood, Sweat, and Tears.

Dakota

Shop Name/Location: Anchor Tattoo;  Bryant Arkansas

Artist Name: Chad

Placement: Left Shoulder Blade

Pain Scale: 5 to 7 (depending on location)

Price: $100

Age: 31

Meaning/Story: Dakota is my our oldest child and VERY much into music, I designed this tattoo for Ant to represent her. Though he is not her biological father he has been with Dakota since she was about 2 years old.

Dice

Shop Name/Location: Forbidden Images; Dothan, Alabama

Artist Name: Jeff

Placement: Right Calf

Pain Scale:  3

Price: $100

Age: 26-27 ish

Meaning/Story: This tattoo was picked out by Ant's youngest brother. So in a way you can say it represents Brad :)

The Skull

Shop Name/Location: Notorious Ink; Headland Alabama

Artist Name: Billy

Placement: Left Chest

Pain Scale: 4

Price: $75

Age: 27

Meaning/Story: There is no story or meaning behind this one, the itch for ink was present and it is what he had liked at the time.

SDJ

Shop Name/Location: Screamer's Tattoo; Ozark, Alabama

Artist Name: Dragon Dave

Placement: Left Side of Neck

Pain Scale: 3

Price: $40

Age: 22

Meaning/Story: These are my initials that he got after we had been together for a year. Our families FREAKED THE FU$& OUT! ;)

Black Tribal

Shop Name/Location: Forbidden Images, Dothan Alabama

Artist Name: Jeff

Placement: Back of Left Forearm

Pain Scale: 6

Price: $120

Age: 25ish

Meaning/Story: He has always liked tribal and decided that after talking to Jeff that they would piece two pieces into this one "custom" idea tat.

Faith

Shop Name/Location: Anchor Tattoo; Bryant, Arkansas

Artist Name: Chad

Placement: Left Triceps

Pain Scale: 6

Price: $120

Age: 29

Meaning/Story: He decided on this ink work after I have bitched reminded him over and over and over again to always have faith. I am usually the think positive about EVERYTHING type of person and I have tried to rub that trait off on him in our time together... so far it has not worked but now he at least has a reminder with him at all times and I can save my breath for something else. ;)

LEANNA/ CLOUDS

LEANNA:
Shop Name/Location: Forbidden Images, Dothan, Alabama

Artist Name:  Jeff

Placement: Right

Pain Scale: 6

Price: Free
 (this tattoo was priced into the sleeve start up at a HUGE discount)

Age: 27

Meaning/Story: Ant's youngest sister gave birth to her daughter LeAnna very prematurely. LeAnna graced us with her presence for just a few short moments before she went to heaven to watch over her family. The entire family was devastated and  her uncles paid tribute to our sweet angle with her name and halo on them for us to always carry her with us. 

CLOUDS:
Shop Name/Location: Anchor Tattoo; Bryant Arkansas

Artist Name: Chad

Placement: Around LeAnna's Tribute on Right Bicep

Pain Scale: 5

Price: Priced in with sleeve hours

Age: 31

Meaning/Story: With LeAnna's name being on the arm with the sleeve Ant wanted to make her name stand out more and not get lost in the tribal shuffle... Chad and him came up with this idea after a few hours working on the sleeve.

Patience

Shop Name/Location: Anchor Tattoo; Bryant Arkansas

Artist Name: Chad

Placement: Left Wrist

Pain Scale: 7

Price: $60

Age: 29

Meaning/Story: Ant had an old family friend who him and I absolutely ADORED!
Watt was such a character and I always enjoyed going to visit with him. Watt would always tell me as I would get ready to leave from my visit to be patient with Ant. He was a good kid and he would get his shit together he just needed someone like me to make it worth it...
After Watt had passed I had told Ant about my idea or getting the word patience or a Kanji Character tattooed to me to remind me to have patience with him through out our life together... and well the sucker totally stole my idea when I was across country :)

  Family

Shop Name/Location: Anchor Tattoo; Bryant, Arkansas

Artist Name: Chad

Placement: Right Wrist

Pain Scale: 7

Price: $60

Age: 29

Meaning/Story: Ant has become a HUGE family man, his family is his motivation for everything that he does and with 4 girls in the house GOD knows sometimes you need an extra reminder on why you go about your day to day routines.

Aaliyah

Old English 

  Shop Name/Location: Screamer's Tattoo; Ozark, Alabama

Artist Name: Dragon Dave

Placement: Backside of Right Forearm

Pain Scale: 5.5

Price: $100

Age: 23

Meaning/Story: Aaliyah is the name of our youngest daughter. After she was born he pretty much made a be-line to the tattoo shop to get his baby girl's tribute tattoo inked to him.

 Sleeve

Work in progress

Two different states, shops and artists

PART ONE- THE START- 2012
Shop Name/Location: Forbidden Images; Dothan, Alabama

Artist Name: Jeff

Placement: Right Arm Sleeve

Pain Scale: 1-10 depending on area being worked on

Price: $ 425 start up cost

Age: 27

Meaning/Story: When we left the hospital from loosing our niece LeAnna, Ant decided he would replace one pain with another and decided to start on sleeve-ing his arm after all the years of talking about it. The first initial start up of his arm was 12 different tribal pieces placed and lied out around his already existing tats and almost 6 hours in the chair.

Part Two: PROGRESS and ADDITIONS - 2013 to ONGOING
Shop Name/Location: Anchor Tattoo; Bryant Arkansas

Artist Name: Chad

Placement: SLEEVE CONTINUED

Pain Scale: 1-10 depending on area being worked on

Price: $100hr up to 6 to 7 additional hours

Age: 31 and counting....

Meaning/Story: Chad has been kind enough to help Ant bring his sleeved arm to a reality. These two have brainstormed and have added on new anchor points to the sleeve and ways to make everything "work" after it being an ongoing process..
We are all so VERY excited to see it "finished" but there are still several more hours to go...
Plus side?
I never run out of gift ideas for my so very hard to shop for hubby!

Do you want to have your ink featured?

Here's how!

*DISCLAIMER Pain scales depend on the individual getting the tattoo. These are not in anyway a guarantee  on how much a tattoo in a particular area will or will not hurt YOU.
The pain scale is based on a 1-10 scale (10 being the worst) and is just used to give you the reader an EXAMPLE. The pain scale is that of the featured person and their personal opinion on how much it hurt THEM.

** DISCLAIMER  tattoo pricing usually is charged by the hour. Depending on the location, size, detail, colors etc. will depend on the price of your tattoo. These prices listed are just to give you an idea of what some ink work could cost you. We are also DEDICATED tattoo enthusiast and are VERY LOYAL to our artist. SOME artists will show appreciation for your dedication and charge their repeat clients  with a discounted rate... This may or may not be typical in your area. Also me and my hubby always TIP our artist some pricing may or may not include the tip that we gave them... we can't remember :(

Tatted Thursday: Featuring Ant: Part One (Before Me)

 I am sure EVERYONE has been wondering where in the HELL is the posts about ink?!

How can a blog be called Inked & Sassy and there has NOT been ONE SINGLE posts about Tattoos! Jeesh! ;)

Well here you GO!

I was wanting to feature my personal ink first BUT since I have not had the chance to get them all photographed it was easier to sucker get my hubby to share his first.

I will go ahead and warn you though his will be continued through out my blogging career as will mine since we are both HUGE ink lovers AND we both have an "Ink Wish List" so to speak.

Ant's tats are in NO kind of order and I ask that you  bare with me. He has been working on his tat collection for almost 18 years and some of the older ink's information is a little fuzzy for us old folks...

They will seem pretty random chaotic ...

SO...

I will categorize them as best as I can...

Before Me (Part One) and After Me (Part Two) ;)

Without further ado... 

Part One: 

Before Me:

8 Point Star

1st Tat

Shop Name/Location: In his home

Artist Name:  Couldn't recall

Placement: Left Shoulder

Pain Scale:  2 *

Price:$ $30 **

Age: 13-14

Meaning/Story: Since this was his first tat there was no story behind it. 

Though the tattoo was done by a professional artist I HIGHLY recommend that tattoos are done in sanitized locations with health department inspections and pass within their guidelines.

Egyptian Cross

Shop Name/Location:  Screamer's Tattoo; Dothan, Alabama
(The Dothan location is no longer open BUT he does have a few shops in the local area)

Artist Name: Dragon Dave

Placement: Right Bicep

Pain Scale: 3*

Price: $85**

Age: 16-17 yrs old

Meaning/Story: He liked the uniqueness of the cross and in the area where he grew up it was a one of a kind tat. Not many folks there would have chosen the same.

Superman Symbol

Shop Name/Location: Forbidden Images; Dothan Alabama

Artist Name: Jeff

Placement: Right Shoulder

Pain Scale: 1*

Price: $60**

Age: 18ish

Meaning/Story: Superman has always been Ant's favorite super hero and now he wears him on his arm with pride.

Blue Tribal

Shop Name/Location: Screamer's Tattoo; Dothan, Alabama

Artist Name: "Frog"

Placement: Between shoulder blades on back

Pain Scale:  6*

Price: $90**

Age: 18ish

Meaning/Story: The tribal here was to be the beginning of a back piece, but years later the plans had changed and it just stands alone.... for now...

"X.S.J" 

"Vampire Script"

Shop Name/Location: Screamer's Tattoo; Ozark Alabama

Artist Name: Dragon Dave

Placement: Stomach

Pain Scale: 10*

Price: $100**

Age: 19

Meaning/Story:  The initials X.S.J. represent my hubby's first born biological child, his son, who lives with his ex out of state.

Only God Can

Shop Name/Location: B&E Tattoo; Dothan, Alabama

Artist Name: "Whitefoot"

Placement: Left Forearm

Pain Scale: 3*

Price: $80**

Age: 20

Meaning/Story: He chose this cross and saying to remind him and others that there is only one who can judge him or us and that is God. Only God Can Judge Me  is a daily reminder to let things go, and not to wrap your mind around what others or yourself may think of you.

Crown of Thorns Cross

Shop Name/Location: Screamer's Tattoo; Dothan, Alabama

Artist Name: Dragon Dave

Placement: Right side of Chest

Pain Scale: 4*

Price: $100**

Age: 18-20ish

Meaning/Story: He went through a phase where he was tattooing crosses left and right, this was a design that he personally like but had the middle letters changed to A.M.J which are his own initials.

RIP

 Shop Name/Location: Screamer's Tattoo; Dothan, Alabama

Artist Name: Dragon Dave

Placement: Left Bicep

Pain Scale:  1*

Price: No Charge**

Age: 17-18 yrs old

Meaning/Story: Anthony's grandfather dies when he was a kid and when he got older he wanted to keep the memory of his grandfather alive and with him with a tribute tattoo, when he got the tattoo he decided to go ahead and add his grandmother's initials at the same time thought she has only been gone from us for a few years. When I asked him why he decided to do that he simply stated that those two were never supposed to be separated from each other...

CROSS & SUN ACCENT

CROSS:
Shop Name/Location: Forbidden Images; Dothan, Alabama

Artist Name: Jeff

Placement: Right Forearm

Pain Scale: 3*

Price: $60**

Age: 20ish

Meaning/Story: Again this was during the cross phase in his tattoo theme (before me), he liked the cross and for many years the cross stood on it's own until he added the sun accent (after me)

SUN:
Shop Name/Location: Forbidden Images; Dothan, Alabama

Artist Name: Jeff

Placement: Accent around cross located on Right Forearm

Pain Scale: 4*

Price: $50**

Age: 24-25ish

Meaning/Story: He felt that after some time the cross needed something more to it, so he decided he would add some flair to the boring plain cross and accent it with a sunburst.

Check back next week where I will feature Ant's Ink Part Two (After Me)

Do you want to have your ink featured?

*DISCLAIMER Pain scales depend on the individual getting the tattoo. These are not in anyway a guarantee  on how much a tattoo in a particular area will or will not hurt YOU.
The pain scale is based on a 1-10 scale (10 being the worst) and is just used to give you the reader an EXAMPLE. The pain scale is that of the featured person and their personal opinion on how much it hurt THEM.

** DISCLAIMER  tattoo pricing usually is charged by the hour. Depending on the location, size, detail, colors etc. will depend on the price of your tattoo. These prices listed are just to give you an idea of what some ink work could cost you. We are also DEDICATED tattoo enthusiast and are VERY LOYAL to our artist. SOME artists will show appreciation for your dedication and charge their repeat clients  with a discounted rate... This may or may not be typical in your area. Also me and my hubby always TIP our artist some pricing may or may not include the tip that we gave them... we can't remember :(

Meet Ant

Yesterday I shared Our Story and how our family became to be and now it is time to meet the man stupid crazy enough to stick around this long...

So with out further ado..

Ant was born in Tallahassee, Florida but was raised in Headland, Alabama.
He is one of 7 siblings.

Only one of his siblings is not pictured. 

For many years he moved and set up mobile homes until we moved to Arkansas where he changed career fields and is learning to be an electrician.

 (Within the blog I shared some of my favorite pictures of Ant of the years)

I asked him a few questions for you guys and here were his answers:

Top of Bucket List:

 Visit Rome 

As long as I have known Ant he has always been interested in history. Rome is the top of his list and I hope one day to go visit it together.

Favorite Movie:

Fast and Furious Series

This should not be a shocker when it comes to a man's favorite movie now days right? And to be honest this is one I don't mind watching myself. He also enjoys martial arts movies, The Expendables and the 300 series.

Favorite Color: 
White

WHITE EVERYTHING, shoes, cars, clothes!
(as someone who likes black so much this kills me! :) )

Favorite Animal:

Kimono Dragon

I've got nothing but GROSS!


Favorite Holiday:

Thanksgiving

What can I say? You know the old saying the way to a mans heart is through his stomach...
well there ya go...


Favorite Vacation:

Gulf Breeze Island, Flordia

We were blessed enough to join my God Father one summer there and we BOTH LOVED it.
We hope to make is a tradition soon for our family

Favorite thing to do in Arkansas 

The River Market

I will be sharing more about the river market soon TRUST ME, it is a place that the whole family enjoys.

Guilty Pleasure:

Tattoos aka Ink

I have honestly lost count of how many he actually has but I know we are CLOSE if not over 30 or so. I will be sharing more details on his ink with you all soon here on the blog so maybe ya'll can count along with me?


MORE ODD AND END FACTS:

• He HATES having his picture taken (bad thing to have when your wife is a photog) but he plays nice when the lens is in his face.
  

• Our daughter Aaliyah was born the day after his birthday therefore he is a good sport and deals happily accepts birthday themes like pink and zebra stripes and peacock as party themes. 

• Pink DOES look good on him though it took me and my mom YEARS to convince him to TRY IT... and now he VOLUNTARILY wears it!

• He LOVES the water, he got hooked on the river this summer and I have to say him and the kids could LIVE there I am sure.

• He IS one of the kids, but because of this he is an amazing dad! 

• He is a basketball fan from playing to watching and everything in between

• Chinese food is his favorite but he settles for spaghetti and pot roast at home

• Rap is his favorite music but he likes and listens to it all. 

Ant is my best friend, there are times that I can say I don't really like him but I can always say that I always love him and THAT is what counts right?

Friday Favs!

I thought I would kick off the weekend with sharing you some of my favs!

These are COMPLETELY random and just off the top of my head so bare with me...

Pumpkin Flavor:

Fall is by far my favorite season of the year and ever since we have moved to Arkansas I am in love with it SO MUCH more!

Growing up in Southern California then moving to the DEEP Dirty South of Alabama you got TWO seasons... Summer and Winter!

Now along with fall comes pumpkin flavored EVERYTHING!

YAY!

From pumpkin pie, to muffins, from cold coffee to hot and you can't forget the BEER! My fall loving butt is ALL over it!

Luckily my girls inherited the love of pumpkin too... only down fall? Well now I HAVE to share...boo! and Aaliyah is allergic to nutmeg! UGH!

The Color Black:

I have always been a little obsessed with the color black. I honestly can't remember a time when black was not listed as a favorite. 

From clothes, shoes, nails, eye shadow and everything in between I can't go wrong with black... WELL except for hair... 

I can't pull that one off... I am WAY to WHITE!

Photography:

If you know me personally then you know since I first set eyes on my Grandpa's 35mm SLR camera I WAS HOOKED! Then when I had my first kid, Dakota, my mind was made up I would become a photographer. 

I was all self taught until I enrolled in school when we moved her to Arkansas. I am starting my own photography business, What the Photography (more on that later),  and EVENTUALLY the plan is to have my Master's Degree in the Art.

Ink aka Tattoos:

Again this was another obsession I have had since I know I was a teenager. My mom used to YELL at me all the time for drawing "tattoos" on me as a kid, plus I am PRETTY sure it didn't help when my ink skills found it's way to my shoes and jeans... oops...

I got my first tattoo at the age of 16 and now that I am 31 I am close to or right at 15 maybe even over. I lost count lol 

There are more that I will add but I can't tell you ALL of it now! That is for another post later so stay tuned!

P.S.: Ant is also inked up and all I can say is... men with ink...yum! :)

Who's with me?

Apps:

Okay I am SERIOUSLY starting to think there should be an addiction class like AA for these convenient little shits! I can NOT tell you how many of these damn things I have because of course I NEED them. 

Ant thinks I am absolutely RETARDED, but like I said I NEED them! 

I will share with you my favs soon but I promise I will categorize them first so you don't go cross eyed reading a half a novel on why I LOVE and NEED them :) 

Music:

I have always been a HUGE music fan and not just a dead set only exclusive kind of girl I listen, enjoy and know ALL genres. From classical to heavy metal; from rap to country there isn't much I don't like. 

If I was a single gal I could tell you I probably wouldn't even OWN a TV. I prefer music ALL day ANY day! 

Chalkboards:

Here is yet another OMG I LOVE thing and the hubby rolls his eyes at me. Granted last year I went a SHIT TON CRAZY little overboard with it. I find it SO convenient and not to mention I can reuse these items OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER again. With three kids to me that is just money smart lol

I have a free standing easel,  my coffee corner in my kitchen features chalkboard canisters, I have chalkboard banners I use for EVERY party I host and when we build our pantry in the kitchen I already told Ant I want the doors chalk board... DON"T JUDGE ME! ;)

Coffee:

Just ANOTHER thing I grew up to LOVE. I swear it is in my blood stream. I was raised as a military brat PLUS around fire houses and we ALL KNOW those men and women SURVIVE off coffee!

I have always had a taste for it from iced to hot, latte to cappuccino. If it is coffee based I am ON IT! I even got cross trained while working at Books-A-Million and became a certified Barista! Yes folks it is THAT BAD!

Oh and my kitchen theme will be cafe when I start it... LOL

My Planner: 

As a mom, wife, blogger, photographer, business starter, and future student my planner is the NEXT BEST thing besides my cell phone!

This is HOW I manage everything that goes on. 

From Doctor's appointments, school functions for the kids and hubby, sports for the kids, my work schedule, photo sessions birthdays, an

anniversaries and MORE. 

I am tell YOU I. WOULD. BE. LOST without it!

Color Coding:

SO when you are managing a household of , a blog, work, school, sports, a business AND trying to keep up with those Happy Birthday's, you learn to find a system that works for you. Mine just happens to be color coding things in my planner and my filing cabinets.

Aaliyah has pink files, Alora has purple, Dakota has red.. you get the picture LOL 

As for my planner... 

Let's just say multi-colored pen packs are MY BEST FRIEND! The more colors the better!

For example:

Light Blue: Birthdays

Orange: Anniversaries

Pink: Anything to do with the Girls Schools

( I REALLY wish they would have had a pack of pens that had enough colors though to individualize each girl because they are in 3 different schools for the first time this year and that my friends SUCK!)

ETC.

These are just few of the things that I love and I am sure there will be more to share with you very soon!

Next week I am going to be dedicating a day per family member to tell you a little bit more about them!
Have an AMAZING weekend!