Day Four - Mobster and McDonald's

I decided that I was going to go to one of my fellow teacher's classes and I had never trained with Svetlana Keller, so I quickly ate breakfast and went to her class. It was very full and I sat toward the back near Tineke Cloet, a Face Paint Forum friend.

Svetlana Keller

I have to describe Svetlana a bit, she is very, VERY pretty and very petite and has this soft Disney Princess voice with a wonderful accent. I just loved listening to her speak...it's like her whole demeanor compels you to want to hug her. But she's not a softy though, she also likes organization and order so her class was given that way, which I actually appreciate. It's one of the things I love about Pashur's classes...we get a lot done because there aren't so many distractions because they both maintain order.

Class Demo

Another thing you should know about her is she is a photographer, a good one. If you look at her gallery on her Kinderschminken website, you'll see her handiwork. Very bright and beautiful pictures. She took a photography course and it shows. Makes me want to take one. But what was cute about that is she knew how to POSE for the camera also. It was darling and we all got a good laugh in class because whenever a cameraman would approach her, she would adopt this serene smiling pose (like the one to the left) that was beautiful and could be in a magazine! I'm sure her "on-the-job" teaching photos are going to be fantastic! The class was good. We learn three designs and I picked up some really good ideas. I loved that she added some texture stenciling to her zombie face. She used crystals on her girl designs that really looked super and I love her use of color.

Innocent Mobster Shonna at lucheon.

After class we instructors went to lunch and there was a beautiful buffet with salmon and curry, which were great together. I sat by Christina and Shonna was across the way. Well, I mentioned that hardly any vendors were taking cards and there were so many paints that I wanted to try. Shonna said she had lots of euros that I could borrow but then she got this really serious face on and said "but if you don't pay me back I'll have to kill you." Well, I started laughing and that just got her going...she was telling me how she was going to chop me up and feed me to the gators where she lived...mobster style. She had all sorts of creative ways of exacting revenge..."No, Denise...I'm not kidding!" LOL! I'm sure the wait staff thought I was crazy! She had me laughing so much I had to put my face up to the ceiling to laugh out loud! Then Christina sweetly offered some euros to me. I know that Christina lives in Amarillo, Texas so I teased her that she would tie me to an anthill and pour honey on me if I didn't pay her back! I was laughing so hard! What fun company I get to keep! Needless to say...I never did borrow any euros!

Arjan the Zombie

My two classes went well. We had a lot of fun breaking up Starblends and repotting them. I had been painted by a student in the first class so I sprayed my face to show that the Starblend sticks even when the paint washes off. Made a mess of my face I'm sure!

I painted piggies and tigers this time on the models instead of traditional boy designs and in the second class, an EFABE helper Arjan had come to class to be a model for one of the students. I grabbed him and turned him into a zombie to show custom Starblend colors (I make Brownple and Ivory so I can do quick zombies.) He heard me bragging on how Starblends holds up to sweating and heat so he told me after class that he was going to put the Starblend to the test and work in the vendor room. I thought that was a great idea. I know they work pretty well because I've worked in the yard in them for a video tutorial I made.

Denise & Nathalie Cloet

Denise & Gonny

I let the students try the Starblends and they did great. I was painted as a Wolf in the first class by the darling Nathalie Cloet. Michelle Triepels-Verkaart did a really cute tiger on me and a nice skull on Gonny Kokee, first time using Starblend and she really seemed to get it and did great blending on the skull.

I hope that everyone in the class learned something about Starblends and tried them. I wanted the students to get a chance to see that you can get good results and even better results for some things than you can with traditional paints.

We took a break to clean up the classrooms and put together a small kit for the last activity of the day. It was actually really fun and turned out better than I thought it would. We were tasked, as instructors, to demo for the students for 15 minutes in teams of two. I was paired with Christina Davison. That was fun for me because I'm a huge fan of her work. We did the traveling instead of the students moving from class to class. I decided to do one-stroke roses like I had at the jam the night before so I used that grey and teal combo that looked so pretty on Elke so I only needed the two one-stroke cakes, white and black and of course...BLING! Christina did a cute heart tiger the first class and then her signature horsey design in the other classes. We were a little behind on the first class, figuring out our groove, but then in the following classes we got too fast and had to fill in the time a bit! It was fun to paint full speed and not do much talking...more like a gig and the students would clap at the end...much better than a gig!

Shonna and Mark crackin' up!

It was funny because the courtyard doors behind us were opened and we kept hearing this uproar at the beginning of each class and laughter coming from another classroom. We were pretty sure it was Mark but we weren't sure what he was up to. Turns out that he and Shonna were just having a blast being silly with the students. I guess at some point Shonna was making sexy balloons??? Is this true? LOL! Lucky students! I would have loved to have watched that!

After class everyone changed and we were going to meet and go somewhere for dinner. I met Pashur and Sean waiting downstairs. I still had drink tokens left because I hadn't had any adult beverages all week so I thought I would try something. I pled with Pashur to help me because I didn't know "how to" drink. I've had a few drinks of wine at a friends, a plum Saki with my sushi at Red Rock and one super strong martini that I couldn't even finish but I had never ordered something from a bar. So he recommended a cider called Strongbow. It was actually good. It reminded me of Martinelli's that is a Cold family tradition at New Years but just a hard cider version. It was so nice to sit with those two wonderful guys and enjoy the last of the golden sun of the day.

Stopping at the beautiful Hyacinth fields

We didn't officially plan on dinner as a group because the conference was technically over but the EFABE team was nice enough to take us to McDonalds near the hotel. I know it doesn't sound like much but it was one of my most memorable meals of my life. We piled in a car and I had Mark, Sean, Pashur & Christina in there and me. I guess we were quite the sight when we saw a hyacinth field and pulled over to the shoulder and piled out clown-car style, like the tourists we are, and took photos of the beautiful field of flowers. Brenda Rosendahl caught this photo of us...I think there is even a video floating around somewhere of the spectacle!

 When we first got there at McDonald's we weren't sure what to do so Pashur told me I could go first so I started ordering and was right in the process of paying and Saskia de Graff dove after me and stopped me. The reason we were waiting was to gather everyone together before we ordered. I teased Pashur that he was punking the newbie and he swears he wasn't! I think many of us got the "traditional" Big Mac and fries and because they were busy the fries were nice and hot. My zombie, Arjan, showed up and looked as gruesome as ever! The paint ran a little but the Starblends tolerated the heat and worked well. He tried to get the McDonald's clerk to react by ordering BRAINS...but I guess she was too professional.

Sean Avram captured one of my best meals ever!

I can't tell you how happy this evening made me. I got to sit at the table with all of these great painters and instructors. Even the silver haired man across from me is Ferry Zeeman, a body painting pioneer in the the Netherlands. We were talking about Ferry's beautiful landscaping, Sean's funny kids, crazy stories from the trenches of face and body painting and one particular crazy story about Wiser's narrow escape from a dark "snake" infested bar in Key West! They weren't really snakes... but he'd have to tell you that story himself! I love that everyone loves to laugh as much as I do. It was also a little sentimental because the conference was over and I didn't want the fun to end. Little did I know that the next three days would be just as fabulous.

Léa Selley - Muse of the Week

Lea with a happy customer

I first met Léa in Las Vegas at my first conference ever, FPBA, before I even had my first paid gig. She was the web mistress and had done a great job designing their website. I could appreciate the work she'd done for them because I'd managed websites and programmed them back in the OLD HTML days. She gave a great class on internet marketing and gave us some great ideas on cross marketing with other painters, blogging, linking to other painting content...she had a LOT of great ideas. So she was inspiring me way back when.

Wiser painting Lea at FPBA
Photo: Kim Millen

Fast forward a couple of years and Léa has put out some AMAZING Youtube tutorials, has taught a great class on FABAtv and is now taking the world by storm teaching her graffiti eyes around the world. Oh, and then there was that marriage thing to WISER ONER, the graffiti body painter, in an amazing sugar skull extravaganza at last year's FABAIC! Wow! I guess they had met at that same FPBA conference too!

Great Youtube Tutorials

Léa is not only a painting muse for me, but she's also an instructor muse. I love her high energy enthusiasm approach to teaching. I also love her Youtube channel and she's given me a high standard to shoot for in the future. She's also come up with a stenciling system that makes her graffiti design style more adaptable to all painters. She's making it easier for painters to get her great design results with her great teaching style and tools.

She's also got a great personal way about her that exudes peace and love. She seems very comfortable with herself and with others and wants to bring happiness to the world. So in this way, she's also a personal muse. Kerry Ann DePetro just did an interview with Léa on her Face Paint Podcast (and gave me a shout out too!) and I was so taken by her positive attitude about teaching and painting and getting to meet painters from all over. I was thrilled when I got to meet both her and Wiser (again) at EFABE. What a fun couple and great huggers too! Can't wait to see them at FABAIC.

I just got my Ultimate Graffiti Eyes Stencil Kit in the mail and did my first eye design. I'm getting ready for Comic Con here in Salt Lake City and I'm excited to match graffiti eyes to customer's t-shirts and outfits. I think they will be a great fit for superhero designs. That's one of the beautiful things about graffiti eyes. There are endless combinations of colors and designs that you can do so that each one is unique.

Here's where to find Léa:
Kerry Ann's interview of Léa : Face Paint Podcast
Website: TheTattooedLady.ca
Blog: The Tattooed Lady Blog
Facebook: TheTattooedLadyCA
Graffiti Eyes Group: The Tattoo Lady's Crib
Buy the Stencils: Ultimate Graffiti Eyes Stencil Kit

Day Three - First Class and Flowers

Saturday morning after breakfast I went to the classroom area but classes had started at 9:30 am so I just missed them starting. I didn't have to teach my first class until after lunch. I should have gone into Sean's robot class. I was really impressed with the work I saw on his student's arms later. The cyborg design is always a really popular one at parties but I need more depth...maybe I'll pin him down at FABAIC and have him help me out...anyway...

Sean Avram student's work

I say "should" because I ended up going up stairs to my room and made myself nervous. I had to choose the paints and Starblend colors the night before and I had decided, since Saskia had to open the colors, to only use red, white & black for the students to try. Those are the colors that I suggest people buy first to see if they like Starblends so it made sense; but, this meant I started second guessing the designs I had wanted to demo. Should I only demo designs that they can do with these colors? But then I can't show custom color combos. I can demo using white Starblends on top of paint...but then the students would need red paint and I only have black and white. Arrggh. In the end, after sketching and re-planning, I decided to stick with my plan and just demo designs using all of my paint colors and then let students play with the colors provided...but I had kind of scared myself by doing that little flip flop.

I finished packing everything I needed for the class and headed downstairs at the end of the first session. I started cleaning up and prepping the tables for my class. I had the FAQ about Starblends, three lollipop applicators for the students, little jars to have students experience repotting and each table had a red, white, and black Starblend with a black and white split of Paradise. I was about half-way through and Saskia wanted me to meet the instructors for lunch...you know that feeling before a big gig when you just can't eat? It didn't help that I'd had a good breakfast that was sitting in my stomach still because I was nervous....but I did want to see everyone.

I went to the lunch area and it was a nice set-up and I even got a plate but only got down a few bites before I couldn't eat anymore. I felt so badly because I filled my plate and had to leave so much of it behind. I mentioned that I was nervous and Svetlana Keller was so sweet and gave me a pep talk about teaching and how everyone that was in my class had requested it and I had something to share that no one else did...it was a very nice gesture and helped quite a bit.

Demonstrating Spiderman

I left lunch early and finished setting the tables and setting up my own kit. I wasn't completely ready when everyone started walking in but pretty close. It was funny that, once I started teaching, the stomach problems went away. I was still nervous and probably talking way too fast ( I KNOW I was painting too fast) but I really do enjoy teaching so I actually liked that part. I also helped that Pashur and Sean teased me a bit as they passed by the classroom and got me laughing.

I did feel sorry for my models though. Here I am painting Spiderman and Hulk on these gorgeous girls. They were probably thinking "I could have been a sugar skull in Mark Reid's class!" What good sports they were. I ended up having them use glycerin, ironically, because they had washed their faces from the previous classes. Usually with teens and adults you don't need glycerin. As I was showing the designs, I talked about the properties of Starblends and the advantages to using them. My favorite is still the piggy design. I talked the model into making grunting noises, she was reluctant but finally gave a little oink and made me so happy.

I let everyone break up brand new flesh toned Starblend makeup that Saskia had provided and pack them in the little jars. They were take home gifts too. We used these tiny little spoons I "stole" from the coffee station and they worked pretty well. We were chopping and smashing and making little piles of makeup to press. I hope the students had fun doing it.

At the end of class I encouraged everyone to come look at and test my colors. I also let them look at my birthday book at designs I liked using with powders. Many of us tried designs on each other. I think it was this first class that had two giraffes in it, they looked so cute I think they ended up going to the photographer. I'm hoping that pictures surface from that. I wanted students to try the Starblends because I think that's the biggest barrier for painters to try them. They either don't know what to expect, or when they get them they aren't sure how to get a good result.

After class was over I cleaned up but I was lucky that I would be coming back to this same classroom the next day so I just packed my kit up and went upstairs, did a little shopping in the vending room and then for a rest and to wash up for dinner.

That night was the jam. I took my whole kit downstairs. Of course, I took up a whole little table with it so it made it so that no one could set up by me. A bunch of students started getting smart and moving tables close together so we did that too so Sean and I could be together on a table and still have some room for others.

I had so much fun. It was flattering to meet new people and they wanted to get painted BY ME! What fun to have a bunch of canvases to paint. I ended up doing a bunch of roses and flowers. I don't get to do big full-fledged roses very often because most of my business are children's birthdays so it was a treat. I got to try all different color combos and pull out my bling and make sparkly pretty designs. One darling girl, Marieke, painted the pretty pansies you see on me! After she was done with me, she ended up doing her own demo of the flower.

Graffiti Eye by Lea Selley

Wiser Graffiti

It was also fun to see what the other instructors were up to. Lea Selley was doing really cool eye designs, my table mate Sean was making these fabulous dragons from serious to the cutest baby dragon ever. Wiser was rocking out graffiti arms and Pashur was making tribals and fabulous glitter decolletage master pieces. I saw this cool free-form tiger design from Christina and Mark was doing beautiful designs...amazing.

Sean's Baby Dragon

Pashur Tribal

Mark Reid Tiger

Christina's Fantasy Cat

Something I missed while I was painting was a hilarious boob painting...and not the kind of boobs you think. Richard and Sean have been mistaken for each other on Facebook when they were fully painted, so they were going to get painted the same design for a picture. Saskia even gave them shirts labeled "Not Richard" and "Not Sean" to wear at dinner on Friday as a joke. Well, what Christina ended up painting was a very realistic boob on each shaved head...and then I guess they posed...together...with the artist. LOL! And I missed it! I don't know if THAT picture will ever show up but I'm glad I got to see it later. I was WONDERING what that was on Sean's head when he came back to the table! What a great night.

Monique's Hairstyling Class

I would suggest that even if you can't attend the whole EFABE next year, that you come for the jam and see the artists at work...and the workshops were great too. There was a class on free-hand glitter tattoos from Sabine Vogel, Shonna demonstrated balloons, Monique Lily showed how to do party hair, Danielle Visser showed foam latex prosthetics, Frans Hanneman showed airbrush tattoos and Michelle Triepels_Verkaart showed one-stroke designs...see! Now you know why I wanted to go to these!

I made it upstairs about midnight, just in time for a nightly Skype with hubby but I was so tired I almost fell asleep on the spot. The day started out a little nerve racking but ended up being a lot of fun.

Day Two - Good Friends and Foul Ups

I really wanted to use THE SWEAR WORD for the title but I was afraid of an email from my mom warning me to keep my blog family friendly...so we'll call it "foul up" for now...but that isn't where day two started so let's rewind....to 2012....

Towards the end of summer of 2012, I received a amazing private message on the Face Paint Forum from Lizzie (Lisette Huinck), the artist behind the wonderful Wuppies below and owner of Kwant Face Painting in the Tegelen. She had won a contest on the forum and was gifting me her $25.00 certificate. She said that the shipping goods to the Netherlands was expensive and she'd rather give it to me so that I could paint, create and share as I had been doing. It was such a touching and kind letter, so typical of Lizzie who is always so positive and upbeat on the forum (I wish I had saved the letter, it evaporated off the server sadly.) But I wasn't prepared for what she shared next. She'd been diagnosed with breast cancer. I was so saddened by the news. She didn't want me to tell anyone yet but I was so touched by her kind note and that she would share the news with me.

All of us on the forum rooted and cried for Lizzie as she went through the treatment for her cancer. Chemo treatment after chemo treatment was tough on her, as it would be on anyone..but all through it she kept her sense of humor and her trademark positive attitude...and kept making Wuppies for all of us to love. It was the only painting she could do at the time through the treatments.

Just a small portion of  Lizzie's Wonderful Wuppies 

Fast forward to 2014 when I found out that I was going to Holland; I was so excited that I might be close enough to Lisette that she could come to EFABE, or at least the jam, because she was ONLY two hours away (that's a long way in the Netherlands though!)  Unfortunately, she discovered that it was the same weekend she was registered for a breast cancer survivor 25 km walk and she couldn't miss that (I just LOVE that she's a survivor!)

Lisette

We finally found a day that we would both be available, Friday. She asked her husband, Roger, if he would drive down with her and they would come and see me. I was very excited to finally meet my online friend for the first time. She told me she was going to spoil me with Dutch treats...boy did she!

She called up to my room and I recognized her voice right away. I rushed down and saw she and Roger in the lobby. She was so tall! She had these fabulous boots on so she seemed to tower over me and she was gorgeous with beautiful blue eyes and chic short hair. I just grabbed her and we had a nice big cuddly hug. What a joy to meet someone for the first time that you know so well! This is what I love about the forum and Facebook and our lovely face painting community. We found a table in the cafe behind the front desk.

Lisette wasn't kidding about spoiling me! She had made an entire gift bag full of wrapped gifts! Each one with a note attached that explained the meaning behind each gift. There were microfiber cloths because I'd made a removal video that recommended them, there was two bags of wuppie eyes, dutch cookies and treats, bling bling and more bling. It was like Christmas Day! I gave Lisette my crazy Wuppie hat, the one that wore to the airport. She's the reason I had it in Holland. I hope that she'll wear it when she teaches her Wuppie workshops!

Lisette and Roger were about to leave and I protested. I almost begged them (well, I think I did beg a bit) to take me with them to the beach. I was planning on spending some time with them but they weren't sure I could go with them. Oh, I'm so glad they gave in and took me...what a beautiful afternoon it was!

We found a nice parking space near the beach and we immediately saw a mermaid. What a fitting thing for a couple of face painters. We found our way down to the beach and just walked and talked for what seemed like a mile. I commend them for being able to communicate so well with me in English. My family all knows how much I love the beach. I loved crunching the bitty shells littering the beach, hearing about the sand shifting ships, feeling the breeze and soaking up the sun. What a treat!

We found a restaurant with open air dining and found a table in the sun. I got this amazing salad with a cup of warm, fresh goat cheese in the middle. It was different but very yummy. I insisted that I needed to buy the meal (and I think you will agree with me!) because they had driven TWO HOURS, brought me presents, taken me to the beach AND...let's not forget the $25.00 gift certificate...but they would not hear of it. What a perfect afternoon that they had given me.


There was one last thing that I HAD to impose on Lisette. I wanted her to paint me a wuppie. She and Roger came up to my room when we got back to the hotel and she she painted this sweet EFABE wuppie on my cheek. How cool is that! I was so sorry to see them go. It was getting late and they needed to get back to their family and hopefully avoid traffic! I do hope they get that REAL trip to the beach this summer.

After waking up all perky at 6:00 am and exercising and then walking the beach, I needed a nap. I set my phone alarm for 4:30 pm and now...THE FOUL UP portion of our story.

Notice that I DID set my alarm for the proper time. I figured 4:30 was just enough for a good nap and plenty of time to get ready for dinner. I lay down and was soon asleep. The alarm went off and I walked over to the desk and got the agenda that Chris had so thoughtfully provided for us (AND verbally told us the day before when dinner was) and read that dinner was at 18:00 hours....I don't know if I was in a sleepy stupor (I'll blame it on jet lag...yeah, that's it...jet lag) or what but I read 8 O'CLOCK!!!! I mean, people, I SET MY ALARM!!! And guess who worked for police dispatch for almost 4 years total? I pushed the little arrow making the "4" a "7" and lay down and.....

RING! RING! It was Chris on the phone wondering where I was! Dinner was nearly over and the other instructors were waiting for pictures! Well, I was saying THE SWEAR WORD over and over as I got dressed and rushed downstairs. Poor Chris. She kept her composure as I came to the desk for my shirt (I'm not worthy! I'm not worthy!) and got me my ticket for dinner...I don't know HOW she kept from beaning me with the closest stapler! I went over and apologized to the poor bored instructors (MY FAVORITE INSTRUCTORS ON PLANET EARTH)

From Mirjam Boxem

I've got to hand it to them for teasing me because if they hadn't and had given me the silent treatment, I think I would have turned into a puddle of goo on the floor. They were kind enough to let the photographer take a couple of shots with us all together and I'm not sure if there will be an official photo with me in it but THIS will be MY official EFABE photo because it's the true picture of what was happening in the moment. Pashur teasing me, Sean being all nice with the thumbs up, Christina and Mark showing the universal sign of peace (LOL!), Shonna talking, Wiser being cool and Lea checking out all the fun. THIS is the image of my horrible embarrassment and also the beginning of new friendships with these crazy wonderful people.

Richard

I have to thank both Christina Davison and Richard Nijboer. They each came to me that evening; Christina while I was eating the few cold leftovers I was able to snatch from the buffet and giving me her drink token so I could have a little sparkling drink and making me feel not so alone and to Richard giving me a pep talk about getting over the foul up and having fun that night. Just as he finished, Nancy Veefkind, another FPF friend, came over and introduced herself and and we chatted and I felt more at home as we all gathered for the evening meet and greet.



We went into a large double room where a very enthusiastic and exciting emcee said some very enthusiastic and exciting things....none of which I understood as they were all in Dutch! We were all introduced one-by-one and then they had some giveaways and then Pashur started the painting games. He would give us all a challenge to paint and then a winner from the group was chosen and would come to the front to pick the over-all winner. It was very fun. There was a "draw Richard riding a goat" challenge. My team thought they had missed something in the translation..."No, that's what he said...RIDING a goat." There was octopus in a cage in honor of Alex Hansen's fabulous body painting, Wiser graffiti challenge, earrings and the last was a tag-team challenge where each painter got a few minutes on the face and had to pass off to the next painter to continue the design. We ended up with three sugar skulls, including my team! It had been a day of ups and a very big downer so I'm glad it ended on such a fun note so I could get some sleep and get ready for my first big day of teaching!

Day One - Haarlem and Herring

I only got about 4 hours sleep the night before I was to leave for Holland. I was making last minute preparations (and of COURSE my printer was giving me fits on the ONE day I needed it most) and so I had to go to Jeff's office and do some printing. I did at least have my suitcase all packed and ready to go from the day before but I needed to get up early to be able to catch the Front Runner train to the airport. For about $6.00, I was able to save the $40.00 parking fee for a week and also save my husband driving up to Salt Lake City at O'dark-thirty. He still had to get up early, but it's only a 5 minute drive to the train station.

I WAY over-packed. I was really afraid I was going to go overweight...but it ended up being 46 lbs for my large bag. It was funny trying to weigh the suitcase on our tiny bathroom scale. I also packed my ENTIRE kit in a zebra bag...with no rollers...probably weighed 25 lbs itself, and ended up carrying that sucker through 6 airport trips. Why? Why did I do that to myself? Because it's cute!!! YES! I admit it was because it was pink and zebra and has heart-shaped zippers. I paid dearly for my vanity!

The first jet was one of those tiny two-seater Canadair Regionals so I ended up checking my zebra bag at the end of the ramp. I was lucky and had booked early enough that I was on an exit row and I had lots of leg room. The second flight (the long one) was on a large 777 jet and other than the food was a pretty pleasant flight. Each seat was given a pillow, blanket and had a TV. They had fairly new movies to choose from, music, books on tape. I think I mercifully got some sleep about half-way through Delivery Man.

Complimentary carts, what a concept!

We landed in Amsterdam about 7:00 am local time. I didn't realize until I got CLEAR DOWN to the baggage carousel that the carts that I saw all over the airport were FREE! It was a little funny though because I tried to get a cart out of a stack of them and they are reverse engineered. The brake is always on and you have to press the bar (similar to a modern lawn mower) to make the wheels free. Well, I bet I gave some locals a good chuckle as I tried to make that dang cart roll. I thought it was defective so I wrestled the next one out and it had the same problem. Arggh. Says Denise to herself, "there has to be a break that is locked" and I finally figured it out. I had to remind myself of that fact a couple of times, most notably when we were traveling up a 40 degree flat escalator and the cart (I figured it weighed about 100 lbs loaded) started rolling toward me! I kept fighting it for a bit and then I'm like...let go of the bar dummy. LOL!

Once I got my luggage on the cart (thank you Amsterdam Airport, you saved my arm!) I saw signs that said "CUSTOMS" and had one side if you didn't have to declare anything and another for declarations. I read some signs about what was allowed and what wasn't and pushed my cart what I thought was customs...and ended up in the airport lobby...Oooops. I by-passed Amsterdam customs...shhhh.

Airport Starbucks

I saw the Starbucks where I was supposed to meet Saskia Timmermans. She'd warned me that she was meeting other artists so I didn't panic when she wasn't there yet. I just wheeled my little cart over in the general area and waited. It wasn't too long before I saw her. I recognized her from pictures and FPBA in Vegas. She was so TALL and kind of like a goddess and I was
very glad to see a familiar face. She soon found Sean Avram and Shonna Flannigan inside the Starbucks area and Richard Nijboer came along shortly. We all sat at the table and I immediately LOVED visiting with everyone. We had some time to kill before Pashur came and it was so fun getting to know them. I found out that Sean and Richard have been mistaken for each other on Facebook which made for a cute gift later I'll tell you about. Of course, Sean came prepared as a good guest should and had these darling maple leaf shaped syrups for Saskia and Richard...showoff! :) I should have brought fry sauce from Utah. It would have come in handy later.

Pashur's Welcome Committee

We decided we needed to do something for Pashur's arrival. He was coming in about an hour after we'd arrived. I had brought my Wuppie Monster hat (which was coincidentally Holland orange) and so Shonna got out some balloons and made Sean a tiger crown to match (I think I found a kindred spirit for sure!) and we gave Pashur a standing ovation when he came through the door. I'm sure we looked like a crazy bunch to onlookers.

We managed to get all of our gear in Saskia's Mehron van and the guys went with Richard in his car and we with the van and took a trip to Haarlem; sounds like Harlem but is NOTHING like it. For me, it was like stepping into a story book town. It was like the real version of a Disneyland street. Bright colors, canal, little bridges, ducks, moss, little shops...really a beautiful introduction to Holland. Every turn and corner brought a new view of a church or beautiful building.

Beautiful Haarlem. Every turn a new vista.

Dutch tourist traps. Just put them out and you'll capture
a few dozen tourists every day.

Of course one of the first things we come across are a very large pair of wooden clogs and we took the obligatory tourist photo.

About lunch time Richard asked if we are hungry. The last thing I ate were some marble sized meatballs and a croissant with mustard...or something like that...so I said yes but he had a surprise in store for us, a Dutch treat so to speak.

Hollandse Nieuwe

Go Shonna!

We went up to a street vendor, more of an open air deli and I thought he was going to get one for us to taste. I was wrong. He had the nice woman prepare three whole ones for us: me, Shonna and himself. Mine was cut up like the photo. Shonna got a whole one and Richard coached her on the proper way to eat it. I don't think the lady at the counter liked all the fuss we made about eating her well prepared dishes! It wasn't bad tasting but the texture was a little tough for me since the most raw fish I'd ever eaten was about the size of my thumbnail in a sushi roll. I motioned to Pashur for help but he said "Oh, no...that's all on you!" and so I finished most of it, avoiding the onions...for Pashur's sake of course. LOL!

Our taste exploration didn't end with fish. We stopped at another little shop that was making hot Dutch Fries (not French Fries) called Patat and there were all kinds of toppings and flavorings available. I was thinking that I would be clever and make my own version of Utah fry sauce so I asked for mayo (traditional) AND some ketchup and I thought I could mix them up together. Ooops. They

Our fries were similar to these

come plopped right on top. I only made it half way through before there was just too much mayo to get my fingers around. I wonder if they can put sauce on the side? They were hot and delicious however and the warmth was welcome as it was getting cold. Fortunately, and I guess unusually, it was the only chilly day the whole trip. We Americans apparently brought the sunshine with us!

We made it back to the hotel but had to wait a bit for our rooms...sitting still was probably a mistake. I think all of us starting getting sleepy from staying up for many hours past our bedtime. I think most of us new arrivals ended up taking a short nap so we could make it through dinner. Pashur snapped this photo while we were waiting to go. Apparently I was the only one that got the memo that we were expressing our lack of sleep in a jet lag selfie. Here we are being photo bombed by perky butts Wiser, Lea & Svetlana. Is Sean making moose antlers on me? Wacky Canadamerican! :) Sweet Svetlana gave us all delicious Swiss chocolate (which I hauled 6,000 miles in a shopping bag just to have my kids polish off in a day! Luckily I got a bit of it.)

We went to dinner at the casino close by the hotel at the Flamingo Wok. It was a really nice buffet where you can also make a custom wok stir fry with your favorite marinated meat, fresh veggies, mushrooms, etc. and then you choose your sauce from super mild to spicy. The sushi roll and other dishes were quite good too and they even had homemade ice cream, lemon was my favorite. It was so great to meet all the fabulous instructors. They were so kind to say hello to the newbie and give me a place at the table. What a great end to a very LONG day.

Saying "YES!" My Invitation to EFABE

Saskia Timmermans

I was contacted by Saskia Timmermans, one of the organizers of EFABE (European Face and Body Art Event), in late December to see if I was interested to be a part of the 2014 conference and teach students about Starblend makeup. At first I was hesitant and expressed my worry about my ability to teach among such great artists. I had looked up the artists from last year and the ones that were already signed up to teach this year (read: all of my favorite artists whose work I love and admire deeply!)...but I would be foolish to pass up such an incredible opportunity, right?? So I said "yes"...one of many yeses to come. She told me that they were meeting, as a committee, to finish up the list of artists and would let me know.

Leeuwenhorst Conference Center

Soon I received an official invitation by email and at first I couldn't believe it. I called Jeff in to re-read it for me because I thought "I must be wrong!" The more I read through, the more I realized I was invited to Holland to teach at EFABE! (Squeal of delight!) The airfare and hotel were covered and what a lovely hotel they had chosen. Leeuwenhorst Conference Center They had decide to make the conference more of a special experience for all and hold it in a nice hotel near the sea. I guess last year was held in a school and had special challenges like having to be out by 10:00 pm and transportation. This way, the conference and rooms would be adjacent and we could all relax and have a very special experience.

EFABE is set up so that the instructors all teach the same class so that all the students have a chance to attend a class from all of the instructors if they choose. I like this system because I've been in that position before where I had to make a choice between two great classes. So we would be asked to teach 3 or 4 classes and then there was a meet-and-greet at the start and a late night jam (my favorite) and then a 15 minute demo on the last day.

There were also pre and post class opportunities but you needed to find a host and also get enough students and so I wasn't able to generate enough interest in my classes but I understood completely when there were so many good choices of instructors and classes available. In fact, because of this, I was able to attend a Mark Reid workshop and had the BEST DAY EVER...but I'll write more about that later.

My husband is a wiz at getting airline points so he advised me to use a United Mileage Plus credit card to book the flight. It would help me earn some points towards another flight in the future and would also give me the benefit of free baggage. What a great idea that was. I not only received some promotional points for opening the credit line, but I got priority boarding on the plane (which is good when you've packed your entire kit and have to walk the aisle with it!) and I also earned miles for the long, long flight which I've already applied toward my trip to FABAIC!

Saskia de Graaf

I mostly worked with Saskia de Graaf through email and made all the arrangements. I couldn't ask enough questions it seemed. She was very patient with me and helped me through the process of getting all of my paperwork in, pictures of my passport (so glad I already had it!), reimbursed for the flight...everything I needed to get ready to go. She was an even more lovely person when I finally got a chance to meet her at the conference, she couldn't have been nicer.

I purchased a bunch of lollipop sponges from Qosmedix.com for my students before I left because I'd heard they were very hard to get in Europe. I edited my FAQ and planned a bunch of quick designs to show off the properties of Starblends and we even planned on a repotting demonstration to show how you can destroy Starblends and fix them and pot them in smaller containers for on-the-job. I was ready to go.

I didn't want to jinx the trip and so I waited  to announce that I was going like when you don't tell anyone about a pregnancy too early. I put together my flyer for the class and when it appeared on the website, I decide to announce on Facebook and Face Paint Forum that I was going. I was so happy for the congratulations, love and support that I received from everyone! What a fantastic face painting community we have. EFABE 2014!

EFABE logo designed by Dutch Bihary

Laura Oliver - Muse of the Week

Laura Oliver

Laura Oliver is known for her elaborate flower designs and they are gorgeous (as you can see!) but I became a huge fan of hers almost two years ago because she was posting these perfect quick designs done with one-stroke cakes. They weren't elaborate, maybe just two loads and some tear drops...but the placement, the fabulous use of color in combos I would never think of and that they were DOABLE got them on my design board. Her simple blossom cluster has been my MOST popular eye design two years running. Another favorite, the rainbow roses crown, makes moms gasp at every party because it's so flattering and darling.

Denise & Laura

We invited Laura to come and teach in Salt Lake last year and I got to know her even better and what a lovely person she is. She was a generous teacher and very encouraging and kind. She had us all making these elaborate flower designs (even the most ardant "I can't do one-stroke!" painters) and then decorated us with one-of-a-kind eye designs. She got me buying gems again when I'd given up on them and girls love them. She couldn't be a nicer lady, painter and now I consider her a friend and hope we can meet up at some conference again in the future.

I chose to paint myself with the flower blossoms that I've been painting for two years in different combinations. I'll paint them in a cluster like this or as a crown or even a necklace, as I've seen her do too. They are simple and girls and ladies love them. I stuck on a cluster of Laura's favorite gems from Michaels and added lots of star bursts in her honor.

Here's her website:
Face Fancies (there's a funny story about her phone and her business name, you'll have to ask her about it.)

And her Facebook Business page:
FaceFanciesFacePainting