Your Tattoo Stories

We are happy to announce that yesterday, December 20th, on behalf of our book project ‘Tattoo Stories’ and Smart Imagination we made donation of $10,000 to the Starlight Children’s Foundation ( @StarlightOnline ). We would like to send a very special thanks to all the tattoo artists and people who shared their amazing stories and beautiful art work to the world. A big thanks to Jeremy Hanna, Ryan Smith and all the Sullen Family ( @SullenClothing ) along with Sean & Thora Dowdell at Club Tattoo ( @ClubTattoo ) for all their help and support of this project. And a very special thanks to Chester Bennington of Linkin Park ( @ChesterBe @LinkinPark ) for taking the time out of his busy schedule to write an amazing foreword to our book. Thanks to all of you, we were able to make this donation and help bring joy to the lives of seriously-ill children and their families this holiday season and throughout the year!

My name is Monica Rae and I am the owner of Candy Rockstar Hats. In comparison to all my friends Im a baby when it comes to tattoos. I waited untill I was 26 before I got my first tattoo. The crown on the back of my neck was the first tattoo I got. It was done by Mike Wiensz at InkVision Tattoo in Boise, ID. The day i got my tattoo was very interesting I acctually had an appointment to get it done at another tattoo shop. I had gotten myslef all prepared brought my best friend and boyfriend with me for support and the tattoo guy forgot the 
appointment. I was completely crushed so my boyfriend called up one of his 
friends who said to go see Mike. He made room in his schedule for me to come 
back that afternoon and designed my crown from scratch. I remember standing in the tattoo shop surrounded by tuff guys crying like a baby because I thought I wouldn’t get to have my tattoo done. Luckly Mike saved the day. The crown to me reminds me to always aspire for greatness never to settle for something less. Pink is my favorite color so the crown contains several different shades of 
pink.

My next tattoo is a string of pink stars the zig zag all the way down my spine. 
Those are the dividing line for my back piece I would eventually like to start. 
One side will be my good side and the other my bad. I think everyone has both 
sides to them and I want to display them on my back. I plan on getting more 
tattoos along the way I think as my life changes and as I grow as a person the 
more meaning I want each tattoo to have.

Monica Rae
Tattoo by Mike Wiensz InkVision Tattoo

Adam Connie - Irvine, CA

My ink is simple and straight forward. When people found out that I had gotten a tattoo most were shocked that I had done it. I had wanted the symbol on my body for a while but it took losing someone very close to me to have it done. My grandfather passed at the beginning of the spring and I was heartbroken. Weeks had gone by and that moment of loss was still a badly open wound. I thought and thought about having my tattoo done. It wasn’t until I was sent a picture of my grandfather’s tombstone, a permanent marker of his final resting place, that I decided to get the same type of mark on myself to remind me of that love. Only about 20 minutes after getting the picture I walked into a local tattoo shop and asked to get inked. The guy behind the counter saw that it was a now or never moment and took me right in, an hour later I had what I wanted. 

My tattoo is a simple two object symbol, a cross with a block letter M to the lower right. In Catholicism it is the Cross of Mary. It was the symbol of Pope John Paul II. In simple terms it is the greatest symbol of love and devotion. Mary the Magdalene sat at the cross the 40 days that Christ was crucified and watched her love die. For someone to have that level of devotion and love is unimaginable. I hope to find a small fraction of that in my lifetime. I wear this symbol now as a reminder to myself of the love that I have in my life, and the love that I hope to find in someone someday.