Ink Update (2021 to 2026)

Having picked up the metaphorical pen a bit more of late, along with looking back over my previous posts I came to the realisation that I’ve been a bit lax when it comes to the subject of tattoos. And specifically how my collection of ink has expanded over the last few years.

In fact, since May 2019 I have seven new pieces to share with you. So I suppose the best way to do this would be in chronological order!

We will start way back in April of 2020 when the world had gone slightly mad and consequently my planned ink had to be postponed. In fact it wasn't until  July 2021 when I was finally able to get back to my tattooist Saint Heywood at Acadia Tattoo in Macclesfield.

The tattoo itself was inspired by a dream that Simon had had that involved Peter Pan & Wendy flying together. I wanted the design to represent Peter Pan flying slightly ahead, encouraging and supporting Wendy to fly along with him. This very much represents Simon and I; Simon as the ever youthful Peter guiding, encouraging and supporting Wendy (aka me). Providing me with the confidence and self belief that I feel with Simon by my side, pulling me along to achieve what I may not always realise that I am capable of.

A few hours of lying down and keeping still and I was able to take this awesome creation home with me...

Moving forward to September 2022 and I headed once more to Macclesfield, and this time moved my attention to my left leg for some 'Good Fairy' magic.

Line work completed

The finished piece

I also used this visit to get a small star added to my arm in remembrance of my Dad who had passed away earlier in the year.

Star for my Dad

It wasn't long before I was back at Acadia in November 2022 to start work on a leg piece for my right calf. This piece would ultimately have additional pieces added in July 2023 and June 2024 and honors one of my all time favourite Disney attractions; It's A Small World. With the art style being that of Jerrod Maruyama.

And I'm sure I could add more to this piece...just need to decide on what!

Whilst I had a small addition (the little Dutch boy) to my leg in June 2024 the main reason for visiting Acadia Tattoo was to get this amazing piece of ink completed...

Maleficent and her dragon

A couple of months later in August 2024 we found ourselves visiting, what has become one of our favourite places, Amsterdam. We were there on a special mission as Simon had been asked to display some of his art in a store in the Zeedijk area of the city. So we decided to commemorate the visit and our love of the city with 'XXX' tattoos. The triple X is the symbol of Amsterdam and can be found all over the city from flags to lampposts and more. We booked ourselves in at Blue Blood Studios with the lovely Coral.

Blue Blood Studios, Amsterdam

With our tattooist the lovely Coral

Waiting in style!!

Nine months later, following our vacation to Walt Disney World, it was time for some more ink and this time I wanted to represent another of my all time favourite attractions; Haunted Mansion. But as this was going to be placed on my left leg close to my existing Three Good Fairies I wanted to incorporate something from Sleeping Beauty as well. We came up with the idea of replacing the Madame Leota character from the Haunted Mansion with Sleeping Beauty herself, Aurora.

Linework and some of the black aspects

How amazing is this finished result!!

Pretty chill, enjoying a coffee mid-inking!

So to this year and in May it was time to represent another Walt Disney World attraction that Simon and I had fallen in love with during our two vacations last year. Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway is a delightful, engaging and deceptively complex ride with a catchy signature tune which seems to reflect our current attitude to life...'Nothing Can Stop Us Now'. This tattoo is my first Disney tattoo to include Mickey & Minnie along with the ride's mascot Chuuby and surrounded by some Disney inspired flora!

Getting inked

All done!

'Nothing Can Stop Us Now!

Well it is now August 2026 and we are just a few weeks away from our next Disney vacation so I wonder what is going to inspire my next piece of Disney ink?!!

Day 491...Ink Day

Day 491...

...and day one of my summer break from work. Working in education I am extremely fortunate to get six weeks off over the summer months and thankfully Simon has been able to book a couple of those weeks off too.

But I couldn't have started my summer break any better as today was ink day! I was due to have a tattoo back in April 2020 and this became one of the first victims of the initial lockdown. When restrictions were lifted this time last year I debated whether to get re-booked but with all the uncertainty and subsequent lockdowns I never got the chance.

So this morning I drove the 48 miles to see my favourite tattoo artist Simon Saint Heywood at his studio Acadia Tattoo in Macclesfield. It took me about an hour and forty minutes to get there but it was another beautiful, sunny and warm day and it is a stunning route to drive across the Derbyshire Dales.

Simon has been responsible for the majority of my Disney sleeve along with my Star Wars Rebels tattoo and my Disney Carousel thigh piece and today it was time to add some more Disney...well what did you expect?!

Today's tattoo was inspired by a dream that my Simon had a while ago that involved Peter Pan & Wendy flying together. I wanted the design to represent Peter Pan flying slightly ahead encouraging and supporting Wendy to fly along with him. This very much represents Simon and I; Simon as the ever youthful Peter guiding, encouraging and supporting Wendy (aka me). Providing me with the confidence and self belief that I struggle to maintain but with Simon by my side and pulling me along to achieve what I may not always realise that I am capable of.

A few hours of lying down and keeping still and I was able to take this awesome creation home with me...

...and now I have the ink bug once more and need more ink!!

I arrived back home to a fresh pot of coffee and once refreshed I had to pop out to collect a prescription for my dad. The pharmacy is still adopting a policy of only one person in the shop at a time and so I joined the queue outside to wait my turn and prey that the storm clouds didn't deluge me with rain. Thankfully the rain held off until I was at my dad's house, although it didn't last for very long and the few rumbles of thunder didn't do much to clear the air.

By the time I got home again Simon and Molly were in our 'gym' lifting weights...I decided to give the weights a miss tonight using my freshly inked skin as an excuse.

And with all of that Thursday was done, now it's time to chill and watch this week's RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars!

See you tomorrow.
xx

And some more Disney ink!

Anyone who has visited this blog in the past knows that I love my Disney ink and this week saw the addition of some more...but not to me!

My daughter took her first step into the world of tattoos by getting herself a Disney themed tattoo - like mother, like daughter!

So we took a trip over to see my favourite tattooist Saint Heywood over at his new studio Acadia Tattoo. And there Molly sat like an absolute pro. She went for a decent sized tattoo after chatting through with Saint about placement and detail, deciding to 'go big or go home'!

I reckon the tattoo must have taken about 5 hours or so to complete with only one short break about half way through. Saint was his usual lovely self and made sure Molly knew what was happening and making sure she was involved in the whole process to get exactly what she wanted.

Initial outline complete

Sitting like a pro!

And in goes the colour

And the final result is this awesome piece of artwork

But of course I couldn't spend the day in a tattoo studio without getting a little something done on me! And while this one isn't strictly Disney it does have a nod to Disney in it.

Earlier this year as part of a routine mammogram I discovered that I had breast cancer. Thankfully it was found at a very early stage and was very small but I still needed to undergo a lumpectomy operation to remove the bad stuff and as I type I am waiting for a course of radiotherapy to make sure we've done as much as possible to get rid of it! It therefore felt right to get a pink ribbon tattoo to symbolise these last few months. When the cancer was discovered we kept referring to it as some 'naughty pixie dust'; it therefore seemed apt to get the words 'Faith, Trust, Pixie Dust' worked into the tattoo. After all having faith and trust in those around me has certainly helped me get through this whole experience; Simon, the kids and my friends have been amazing and I feel truly blessed to have them all in my life.

Thanks to Simon (Saint Heywood) at Acadia Tattoo for looking after us girls and doing an amazing job as always. The only problem now is what to have done next...

More Disney Ink

Well here we are again to chat about my Disney ink!

It really is true what they say about having tattoos; you can never stop at just the one! I had never thought I would be the one to be adorned in ink, in fact growing up tattoos were one of those taboo subjects and always associated with 'certain types of people'!

Well here we are and I have fell in love with having tattoos! I remember watching 'Miami Ink' on TV a fair number of years ago now and gathering a whole new perspective on tattoos; it was hearing the stories behind the tattoos, watching the artists at work and realising that people of all types and backgrounds could celebrate the art-form together that got me intrigued.

Once I'd made my mind up to have a tattoo I had two conditions; first it had to be something designed by my husband, Simon, so I could have a piece of his artwork on my body and second it had to have a Disney element to it. I'd also decided that my first tattoo would be somewhere 'hidden'...I don't think at that point in time I was overly comfortable with the idea of showing off the fact that I had a tattoo...Oh how times have changed!

So my first tattoo was on my lower back; designed by Simon and tattooed by Gray Silva at Rampant Ink, Nottingham. It comprised of a Mickey head silhouette at it's centre before spreading out in a graffiti style. Simon even managed to incorporate his and the children's initials into the design.

Next I decided that my foot and ankle would make an ideal spot for a bit more ink...not one to shy away from choosing areas of the body that can be challenging to get inked. Rachael Huntington was my tattooist of choice and was very patient with me as every now and then I would twitch involuntary as the needle moved around my ankle bone area!

I thought I'd choose somewhere a little less challenging for my next tattoo and went for this Mickey design across the back of my neck. This was taken from an initial design by Simon that Rachael then embellished.

The next one I had was also taken from some of Simon's artwork. Simon had undertaken a project called '365 Mickey's' where he drew a Mickey a day for a year. One of these drawings was a take on my ankle tattoo, so Rachael took the design from his artwork and came up with this tattoo for my inner wrist.

Four tattoos in and I had the idea of a complete Disney inspired sleeve! This was started by Rachael, but with the majority of the ink completed by the ever lovely and talented Saint Heywood (now running his own studio - Acadia Tattoo)

These photos taken by my talented daughter (Molly Phipps Photography) show my fully completed arm, this was completed over a number of months and mainly 6 hour sittings with an odd 3 hour thrown in!

Then we decided to move over onto the other arm, for a Star Wars inspired tattoo - see my previous Disney Sleeve blog post which details the reasons behind this one!

And that brings us up to now...and my latest tattoo. Now this has been a work in progress that lasted about 4 months and was completed back in October of last year.

The inspiration this time came about while watching a burlesque show. One of the performers, the amazing Chi Chi Revolver, had a tattoo of a carousel around her thigh and I fell in love with it. As everyone who loves Disney knows it was watching the merry-go-round at Griffith Park in Los Angeles that is credited with inspiring Walt Disney to develop Disneyland. This gave me that connection to Disney that all my tattoos have. A carousel, around my thigh, inspired by the carousel at the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World, with horses like those seen in Mary Poppins! An idea was born!

The carousel at the Magic Kingdom, once known as Cinderellas Golden Carrousel but now named Prince Charming Regal Carrousel, was themed...obviously...after the film Cinderella. So with that in mind, plus Mary Poppins horses, plus Disney and plus a garter style tattoo I once again paid Saint Heywood a visit and after about 20 hours or more of tattooing my newest tattoo was complete. The whole tattoo was completed over a number of sittings most of which were 6 hours with a couple of 3 hours thrown in for good measure and I absolutely love it!

A big thank you to Molly once again as it proved a little tricky to get photos of this one!!

So what next? Well...I have just booked in to see Saint once again and this time it's going to be a mother and daughter affair! Molly has her heart set on her first tattoo being a Disney one while I actually have a couple of small pieces in mind...

If you'd like to know more about my tattoos and how they came about please have a look at my previous posts;
Disney Inked
Disney Ink Update
A Bit More Ink
My Disney Sleeve