I’m A Mom With Tattoos – Angel From Being Angel

Welcome back to another installment in our new series – I’m A Mom With Tattoos.  In case you have missed the last couple, don’t forget to check them out here.

It’s Friday again – I think.  All those holidays have a way of confusing an already disorganised person.  Thankfully things go back to normal soon, which will no doubt leave me begging for more holidays.  Nevertheless I will be spending the morning at the girls school watching their plays and making crafts – I cannot wait!

Today we meet Angel who is a canvas of interesting tattoos!  The nerd in me can’t get enough of the binary code one – so awesome!  Do you still need me to tell you get your cup of liquid gold before continuing on with reading this post?

Your name and blog deets:  I’m @AngelConradie and in May 2014 I will have been blogging for 9 years on Being Angel

Your age:  OMW I still shudder when I have to admit this to myself… I’m 40!

Your Occupation:  Technically, I am currently self employed as @TheCupcake_Lady, but as my email signature says I’m a wife, mom, cupcake maven, ADHD champion, wedding planner, guide dog puppy raiser and tattooed cat slave.

A Mom’s favourite thing to do is talk about their children – tell us about your family:  My knucklehead, my son, is 23 years old. Wow. Time flies when you don’t know what you’re doing! And yes, if you do the math, I was a teenage mom. I was also a single mom until I met my darling husband when my son was already 15!

We are a family of 3 humans, 4 dogs, 3 cats and a lizard. Its busy and noisy and I love it.

If you work, tell us a bit more about your working environment – are you regularly in contact with new “clients/public”.  With my baking I have a lot of customers- they either fetch their orders from me or I deliver to them, so I see a lot of people.

I’ve never had any of them give me any flak over my ink – they seem to accept that my tattoos go with my creative line of work, and my cupcake tattoo gets a lot of compliments. 😀

Tell us a bit about your tattoo’s, what they are, why you have them, where they are located.

I have 8, one on each upper arm, one on the side of each calf, the small of my back, across my shoulder blades, my wrist and my inner forearm.

My first one was my dragon- cliché maybe, but I do love them- its on my upper left arm.

Next I got the tribal on my upper right arm, which I got pretty much on impulse because of something I was angry about, and it reminds me that I don’t have to settle.

My third one was the strawberry in the small of my back. I got this because my son’s nickname as a toddler was “Strawbreez”, and its my favourite fruit!

My fourth one is the dragonfly wings across my shoulder blades. My son’s name is in a scroll in the centre. I wanted wings for the longest time and I could never find something I liked, so I designed one.

My fifth tattoo is the cupcake on the side of my right calf. Its my own design, and it was a gift from my darling husband! It was done by Cathy- the same tattoo artist who did my strawberry tattoo!

My sixth tattoo is on the inside of my left forearm. Its supposed to be a purple ribbon symbolising my championing of ADHD awareness, but instead of waiting for Cathy to finish what she was busy with at the time, I had it done by another guy in the shop, and now I need to have it fixed. It got infected and lost most of the purple colour, and I would like a wider ribbon…

My seventh is my “geek stamp”! My son and I were out on a date and I took him to Cathy to get his first tattoo – a dragon of his own design (he had to wait until he was 18 years old). When his was done, Cathy put my son’s name around my left wrist in binary code, with a little heart separating each letter.

My most recent ink, from way back in 2010, is a tribute to my photographer dad and artist mother, and its also my own design.

How old were you when you got your first tattoo?  If I remember correctly I was 22 or 23… I had always wanted a tattoo, but I waited until I thought I was grown up enough to be sure about it. 😛

Which tattoo is your favourite and why?  I don’t think I could pick a favourite… Each one marks a significant point in my life.

Do you plan on getting more?  Abso-fargin-lutely! I have big dreams about sleeves… half or full, perhaps half on one arm and full on the other but I just don’t have the money! And I always forget how much they hurt! 😀

How do your family and friends feel about your tattoo(s)?  My family isn’t terribly concerned, although my beloved Ouma Jean didn’t like them at all and was terribly concerned about how I was going to hide them on my wedding day! She could not understand how they were a part of who I am…

My friends don’t bat an eyelid, many of them having their own ink!

What is the general reaction that “the Public” have towards your tattoo’s?  Have you run into any negativity or adversity because of them?  I have had some, thankfully nothing too antagonistic. I have had several people ask me when I’m going to stop getting inked and whether or not I’m concerned about what they will look like when I’m old. I just tell them I avoid areas that can stretch really badly like my tummy, boobs and backside…

Once when I was talking to colleagues about tattoos I still wanted to have done I was asked by one of them about how professional I thought it would come across… Needless to say that conversation ended abruptly.

Any advice for those interested in getting tattooed?  Ask around to find a reputable, professional tattoo artist. And in my humble opinion: if you can’t read the language yourself then don’t have it inked on your body, cartoon characters and brand logos will not always be cool, and unless its your child’s name don’t make it forever.

Angel has written a couple of awesome posts about how people still perceive getting inked in this day and age and defending getting inked on her blog.  Definitely worth a read.

And as usual, if you’re a Mom who wants to share your tattoo story, please in touch with me cindyalfino(at)gmail.com