ONE DAY LEFT FOR FANTASY FALLS!

Fantasy Falls has been good this year. There were more attractions including the Star Lab shows, some previews of the Legend of Sleepy Hollow play that will be at Wallace Hall of Gadsden State Community College and a tall dragon that would walk around and growl.

There is one day left - Halloween night. We will have one painter out there that night so get there early if you don't want to wait in line. The event starts at 5:00 and lasts until 9:00 at Noccolula Falls in Gadsden, AL. There is an admission fee and the facepainting is $3.00 cheek art, $5 half faces, and $10 full faces. You can get your hair colored with color hairspray for $2.00.

Thank you to my wonderful models from Georgia in the photo above. They were painted last year as well and they made sure they got in line early so they wouldn't have to wait this year. They just made their school basketball team and were so excited to have their numbers painted on their basketball faces. Congratulations girls and thank you for the photo!!

New Packages!!

We have added some new birthday party packages and festival packages. Call us for current pricing on the following choices:

CURLY SWIRLY LET'S BE GIRLY: This is the ultimate party for your little princess. Full face designs include fairies and princess designs as well as fun swirl and curl masks. We add crazy hair or glamourous hair styles including glitter spray or colored hair spray and your fun is topped off by a glitter body art design in your choice of colors. These designs can last 3 or more days with care. Finally, a take home gift for each girl includes two glitter art stencils, two cosmetic glitter colors, body adhesive, glitter spoon, and full instructions. This party is priced per person with a 5 girl minimum.

TIRE TRACKS AND MICA TATS: The ultimate party for the guys in your life. We have fun full face designs for guys ranging from super heros, to tire tracks and flames. Add to that some fun hair colors and styles like mohawks and spikes. The fun continues with a mica or glitter body art design in the color of their choice. Finally, a take home gift for each child includes two body art stencils, one cosmetic glitter color and one black mica color, body adhesive, glitter spoon, and full instructions. This party is priced per person with a 5 person minimum.

CHEEK ART: We have added a cheek art option for by the hour events. This is a less expensive option to our full and half face designs and is great for school events and events where free face painting is offered. Designs are limited to small sizes for the cheek and include our fast designs for super busy events. All designs include glitter if chosen.

GET YOUR GAMEFACE ON!!

It is gettting to be that time again...football season!!

Starshine Faces is willing and able to make your spectacular tailgate season much more colorful and fun with fabulous face paint designs. Wear your school colors or become your school mascot and cheer your team on to victory. We have packages for painting at your family and friend tailgate socials and we also have corporate and school packages for those larger homecoming festivities. Tell us about your event and we can put a package together for you!!

Dates in the fall are going fast and so call today to get your contract to reserve your date.

Kristin

Springfest

Thank you so much to Kell Realty of Springville for hiring us to be a part of Springfest in Springville, Alabama. As usual with free events the line was extremely long, but we painted a record amount of people in the time we had available. I wasn't able to get some photos because of the frantic pace, but we had a lot of fun and there were some colorful designs all over the event.

If you have never been to Springfest, try to make it out next year, but don't forget your chairs and blankets and expect a huge crowd. The music is great and the fireworks are awesome. If you have blinky lights to keep track of your kids in the dark I suggest bringing those. One of the local churches handed out glow necklaces that evening and the kids loved them.

We hope to be back next year.

Kristin

The Art of Henna

We did our Henna lecture last night for the North Shelby Library's Teen event. Everyone seemed to be very interested in the information about Henna and how it has been and is used and how it actually works. I spent a good bit of time educating them about Black Henna and how it is different from pure Henna. You can find a lot of information at www.thehennapage.com and look under the heading Black Henna. Once the educational part was finished I put a small henna design on each of the girls and decorated the last one with some gold glitter gel as well. Once I get the photos uploaded from the camera, I will post them here and also on the www.starshinefaces.com website.

If you are interested in having a Henna party or adding it to your fall festival line-up. Give me a call at 877-504-5977!!

July events

We will be at the Porsche 250 this weekend on Saturday (20th) and Sunday (21st) in the Children's Activities areas. We will be painting race inspired designs and we look forward to seeing you there!! This will be the first time for us at this event and we are looking forward to a great time and lots of fun and excitement.

Tomorrow is our last library show for the season and we are at the library in Montevallo, AL. The library shows have been tons of fun and we have had a great response to our storytelling and facepainting. We are getting ready for next year's theme of Be Creative at your Local Library, so get ready for some craziness next year. Remember we have holiday themes as well for Halloween and Christmas.

Hopefully this fall will be as busy as last year with public events as well as private ones. Thank you so much for your support of Starshine Faces.

Talladega Superspeedway

I can't believe that I never put an update for the Talladega Race we painted in April. I posted the pictures at our My Space site and you can also see more photos at our main website of http://www.starshinefaces.com/.

We were hired to paint in the KidsZone and let me tell you, I had a blast. I had never been the race before and I was AMAZED at the number people who were there. I was also impressed with how the KidsZone area was set up. In order to enter the area you had to have a child with you and the entrance area was watched by not only a KidsZone volunteer, but I also saw a police officer who would keep an eye on the area as well. There were bathrooms just for our area which was great for the kids and their parents.

We painted all kinds of different designs. The tire track, flames of all kinds, and of course the car numbers in various designs were our most popular. We had a few butterflies, lions, tigers, and fairies, as well. We even painted one Ricky Bobby Wonder Bread design :) With two painters, we didn't have a long line at any one time which suprised me considering the number of people who attended the race. We painted a lot of parents as well. On Sunday we let the parents know that we would paint s if there weren't any kids in line. That worked out really well.

Shanda and I had a great time and lots of fun being creative with smaller designs. I hope that the KidsZone coordinators were pleased with our work and enjoyed being painted as much as we enjoyed painting them. We will let you know if we are invited back so you can look for us.

Riverfest in Gadsden

Wow! Riverfest was hot and wet, just like I remember it from last year and the year before. I decided to have a vendor booth this year hoping that it would work out as well as or better than two years ago when I shared a booth with another painter from Birmingham. We had tons of fun and painted more teens than I thought we would, but we won't be back at Riverfest as a vendor.

In order to make back our costs we have to paint a lot of faces and there just weren't a lot of faces that wanted painting. We offered glitter tattoos and crazy hair and both went over well. The Glitter Tattoos looked great in the sun and of course didn't wash off in the rain shower of Friday night. We had a lot of people stop by the booth AFTER they had gotten an airbrushed tattoo from another vendor and told us they wished they had gotten a Glitter Tattoo instead. The Crazy Hair was so much fun we have decided to add it as a stand alone birthday party package or an upgrade to a facepaint package.

If we are hired to allow free facepainting in the children's area or by another booth to draw attention, then we will return to Riverfest. We had a great time with the people that we painted (we will post pictures ASAP - we have some great ones), but the event just doesn't work out financially for us to continue.

Library Shows

Thank you to everyone who has come out to see us at the various library shows we have already particpated in this year. It has been tons of fun. Here is an updated list of where we will be going. Some of these events are public events and some are for school programs that are not open to the public. Not all of them will have facepainting available for all the children. Those programs who hired an extra painter to paint all the children have a note next to them. We look forward to seeing you there.

June 23 Cahaba Heights school program 9AM
June 24 West Elementary school program 9 AM
Central Elementary School Program 1PM
June 26 Lincoln Public Library (painting for everyone) 10 AM
June 27 Gadsden Public Library 10 AM (show only)
Ragland Public Library 1PM (painting for everyone)
July 15 Montevallo, AL Library show 2PM (painting for everyone)
July 17 North Shelby Library Henna Presentation for Teens (tentative - by reservation through the library only)
October 29 Emmet O'Neil Public Library, Mountain Brook, AL (sign up at the library)

Here are some other places we will be painting, but not telling stories at. These are tentative as we do not have a contract in, yet, so check back for confirmation on these events:

June 28 Community block party in Southside, AL - post VBS event for a local church
July 19-20 Porsche 250 at Barber Motor Speedway - Kids areas

We have dates open for parties and festivals as well, so if you are interested in hiring us to help bring fun and color to your event we look forward to hearing from you. Thank you so much for your support of Starshine Faces.

Kristin

New Events

Next Wed, April 16th come and see the new storytelling session and get your face painted at the Ohatchee public library at 2:00. Kristin will be telling stories about Beasts and Bugs and painting some special volunteers as she tells her stories. It is a lot of fun to see the paintings come to life with the story characters and she goes through the various adventures of some fairy tale and folk tale people.

Some tentative events include Adoption Day, Saturday, April 12 at Petco in Gadsden, Alabama. We will offer pay per face paintings ranging from $5-$15 and while you are there, be sure to check out the wide variety of pet adoption agencies and shelters. If you are interested in adopting a new pet for your family, this is the day to look around and talk to someone who can help you find the perfect pet for you.

Keep checking back for the next BIG announcement!!!

Chocolate Festival Recap

Chocolate Festival was good in a wet, sloppy, muddy sort of way. The festival was moved from the Food World parking lot area to the soccer fields next to Rainbow Middle School. Although the rain caused some delays in setting up and getting started, our booth was ready for the crowds when they arrived. As usual I loved the fact that the festival staff continued to check on the vendors to see if they needed anything. They have a great group of people looking out for the vendors that actually make the festival and that is a good lesson for a lot of festivals I go to.

I don't think anyone was really prepared for the mud, though. There were children and adults who looked like they had been dipped in chocolate from slipping in the mud. Honestly it was kind of humerous to look at although not all of them looked very amused. I doubt the school or soccer teams were smiling when the looked over the fields on Monday either.

I could hear the bands play from where I was and they sounded great. We didn't stay to hear Emerson Drive play because it started to sprinkle and rain again. I didn't want the sky to open up on us while we were breaking down the festival set up, so we started putting things away a little early. We weren't the only ones, but we were one of the last ones to break down and leave.

Overall we were pleasantly pleased by the turn out. I was concerned because of the location change and the entry fee (which was new this year), but considering the weather, we did o.k. and there were more people than I thought there would be. I am not sure how the other vendors faired, but the carnival seemed to be busy.

The only complaints I heard from festival goers concerned the lack of Chocolate. I think they must have gotten there late because we ran out of chocolate towards the end. Every vendor had to provide chocolate, but I think people were looking for homemade chocolates to purchase or try. There was a pudding eating contest earlier in the day (it just gives me a tummy ache thinking about that!) and some people were looking for the chocolate milk dunking booth. They could have just rolled in the mud.

I personally like the Chocolate Festival and right now we plan to be a part of the festival until they decide it has run it's course. Everyone loves Chocolate, so I think it is here to stay.

Now on to the next event.....

Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Walk

This past weekend I was able to participate in a Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Walk for the Cure in Southside, Alabama. The weather was questionable, but everyone involved hoped for the best as the event started. It was actually a lot of fun and just about everyone wanted the same types of designs which were quick and fun. We did a lot of matching of clothing colors and so we had some colorful faces walking around...till the rain started...and the weather sirens started to sound.

Everyone went inside the high school with the numerous members of the sheriff's department helping to get items and people to a safe location. There were people lined up in the hallway as we waited for word on what was going on...severe weather or tornado? Turned out to be a tornado warning and about that time my husband called to let me know the tornado was right up the road from our house and he was in the basement with my other two children and the dogs. I had my oldest child with me.

There were a lot of scared crying children, including my daughter. I was able to incorporate what we had learned in our Bible lesson for the week about the "Joy of the Lord is our strength" into a life application through this event for my daughter. She said she thought we were going to have fun and this was not very much fun and she didn't feel very happy and she was very scared. Our lesson had talked about things that make us happy and how those things can be temporary, but the Joy of the Lord is forever. She asked what strength meant in this lesson and I was able to tell her on Saturday that it can mean courage to face any situation and by knowing that God is in control, we can lean on him when we are scared because he is stronger than anything we will face. Once she relaxed a little after we prayed, we listened to the 2008 VBS music I had downloaded into my cell phone. That helped as well.

So, I had left all my paints and brushes and well...everything outside under the tent that we had lowered to cover everything. After a little while, I decided to run out and grab them up to bring in. I figured if we were going to be in a while and the tornado was going the other way, we might be able to set up inside to paint. So, the sheriff deputies let me run out and grab everything and actually helped me. I brought it in, but the lighting was kind of dim for painting and I decided to wait just in case we ended up having to take immediate cover. I still wasn't completely sure what the weather was going to do. Are we ever sure what it will do?

Luckily, Big Sam the Balloon Man was at the event as well and was able to bring his balloons and balloon pump inside. Before he even got everything set up inside, the children saw him and started lining up. The occasional loud pop of a balloon would make everyone jump, but the children were distracted from the weather concerns for a while. My daughter was so excited to get in line. She had brought her balloons to the event with her to twist balloons for the children in line to get their faces painted. She is able to do some basic things and she was amazed at the skill and abilities of Big Sam.

So, finally the severe weather cleared, but the rain continued to pour down outside. I made the decision to not continue to paint since there was only an hour left and with the rain pouring down, there was a very large chance of children crying because the rain destroyed their face paintings. I didn't want to cause any additional parental stress especially after the stress of the weather.

Luckily the tornado didn't hit us or my family at home, but it did hit a community up the road from where I live. A friend of ours who lives there said her home is the only one that was undamaged on her street. She looked out at her neighbors house and thought that it was fine. When she went over to check on them and no one answered at the front door, she walked around the house to see if they were out back and the back of the house was pretty much gone. She found out they were actually out of town on a vacation and were not at home when it happened.
My husband had to go to work when I got home on Saturday and said that there was some major damage and that from what he could tell of the path, it did skim right past our house.

So, that is my update from this past weekend's activities. I am interested in returning for this event next year (when the weather might cooporate a little more), and it will be posted on the calendar if that works out. There were a lot of photos taken as well and as soon as I get a link to where they will be posted I will put it on this and the www.starshinefaces.com websites.

Kristin

Here is our 2008 calendar so far. The TBA dates are waiting for contracts to come in. Our policy is to confirm the dates once your signed contracts are received.

If you have seen us or were painted by us, feel free to leave a comment. We would love to read your opinions!

April
5 - Chocolate Festival in Rainbow City, Alabama.
27 - TBA

May
18 - 1:30 - 4:00 Summer Reading Program Kick Off and Carnival -- Emmet O'Neal Library Mountain Brook, Alabama

June
2-6 - You are invited to Vacation Bible School at FBC Ashville, Alabama - (not a face painting event) Join us on Outrigger Island learning about TRUTH. Pre-register on June 1st from 2-4.
7 - Company Event - private
9- Anniston/Calhoun County Public Library - Summer Reading Program 10:00-12:00
10 - TBA
14 - Riverfest in Gadsden, Alabama -
26 - TBA
27 - TBA

July
4 - Private Event
15 - TBA

August
9 - TBA

September
20 - TBA

October
Fantasy Falls in Gadsden, Alabama
18 - Attalla Heritage Festival
25 - TBA

November

December
13 - Private Event

New Slideshow

Calendar for Spring/Summer so far

Want to get painted? Here are some public events that are on the calendar. Check back often because we are adding events everyday.

March 15: Walk for the Cure for Juvenile Diabetes. Glencoe, Alabama 8:30-12:00.

April 5: Alabama Chocolate Festival, Rainbow City, Alabama 11:00AM - 7:00PM. Pay per face fees apply

We are getting requests for library shows and other festivals in. As soon as dates are confirmed, I will post where we will be.

Thanks for checking in.
Kristin Simpson

Library Showcase and Kidsfest

Well, after some changes in scheduling I was able to attend the Library Showcase in Montgomery last Tuesday. I had a wonderful time and let me tell you there are some GREAT entertainers in our state. My face was honestly hurting from so much laughing and smiling.

I was very nervous, but the stories that I have put together for the Summer Reading Program this summer fit so well with the Catch the Reading Bug Theme, that I really felt like it would be well received. And it was. I have already started booking library shows and registration events. I am excited to be able to share this unique presentation with the children and parents alike.

This past Saturday I was able to participate in Kidsfest 2008 which was put together by Jay Carr of Birmingham Kids Directory in Birmingham, Alabama. I offered free facepainting if the parents were willing to sign a photo release and so I have some new photos to put on the website. Look for those to go up on Thursday of this week to the Myspace site and a link from our main www.starshinefaces.com site. I was excited to be able to paint another pregnant belly while there. Our "festival bellies" are not as detailed as our regular painted bellies, but they give you an idea of what we can do to make your pregnancy experience a little more colorful.

Elaine of Painted Personalities was there as well and it was good to catch up with her for the brief few minutes we had before the event started. She was able to stay all day (I had to leave for a birthday party that afternoon), and based on the crowd, I know she was busy all day.

Check back in for updates on what is coming up next, what libraries we will be at this summer, and for updates on new photo postings of facepainting in Alabama.

Library Showcase in Alabama

As of this moment we will be unable to attend the Library Showcase in Montgomery, Alabama next Tuesday. Needless to say I am really disappointed, but right now I am the only one who is ready to do the storytelling shows we have created. The rest of the Starshine Faces artists will be trained and ready by the time the summer reading programs start so that cancellations won't occur. I hate to not show the new storytelling shows that we have put together for the Alabama State Library theme for this summer "Catch the Reading Bug." So, unless there is a change and I can work it out, we won't be in Montgomery, Alabama next Tuesday, but we do thank you for visiting us to see what we can do for your program.

For those who had asked why we are unable to attend, my children have doctor's appointments that will be next to impossible to reschedule. I had to get the date available when I had to reschedule because of a previous hospital stay and it ended up the same day as the Library Showcase. The doctor is filled for months in advance and you have to get what you can.

We are still available to book for the summer reading program or anytime program for that matter (we have a super fun Christmas Party program). Our story telling / face painting program features Spider stories and we are perfecting the one featuring butterflies and other bugs. A select number of children are invited to participate in our unique storytelling show by having their faces painted as the story is unveiled to the audience. The stories are from books that are probably already in your library from children's picture books to multi-cultural folk tales.

If you have already booked your entertainment for the summer, don't count us out just yet. What do you have planned for an early registration day? Invite the children to come and register early, get their faces painted, and check out the really cool selection of Bug books you have picked out for the summer. For a super special award program at the end of the summer, invite Starshine Faces to transform your children into the Bugs that they have read about and learned about all summer. Capture a photo of the buggy children and send them home with a wonderful keepsake of the fun they had in your program the summer of 2008.

So, don't just Catch the Reading Bug this summer, invite your children to BE a Reading Bug! Invite Starshine Faces to your library and we will transform your audience!

Kristin

Spring is on its way!!

Spring is coming and weekends are filling fast. Here are some public events that we will be at over the next couple of months. If you have a festival in Alabama that you would like Starshine Faces to add fun and color to through fabulous facepainting, be sure to give us a call.

March 1st - KidsFest in Birmingham, Alabama. This event is held from 10-4pm in front of the McWane Center in Birmingham, AL. You can go to http://www.alkidsfest.com/ for more information on this event. Kristin will be painting faces for FREE with a signed photo consent form for us to use the photo for marketing materials and display books, etc. If you have any questions, just send us an e-mail or give us a call. We will also be demonstrating our Balloon Twisting skills.

March 15th -Walk for the Cure for Juvenile Diabetes. This will be held in Glencoe, Alabama and we will be painting faces. Look for more details to follow, but the times will be from 8-12 on this Saturday.

April 5th - Alabama Chocolate Festival, Rainbow City, Alabama

We have been painting at the Alabama Chocolate Festival in Rainbow City, Alabama

since the first year the festival started. We LOVE this festival because the response to what we offer has been so wonderful and hey....we love chocolate. Every booth gives away free chocolate, so bring your sweet tooth. This is a pay per face event and prices will range from $5-$20 with a $1 special of chocolate kisses painted all over the face. The location of the festival is different this year, so we will see if that changes the participation. You can find more information here...oh and the kitty face on the page was painted by Kristin the first year of the festival. http://www.rbcalabama.com/html/chocolate_festival.html

June 13-14th - Riverfest, Gadsden, Alabama. We are planning on being at Riverfest for this year. We are not sure, yet, if the painting will be pay per face at our regular festival rate fees, or if the painting will be reduced or even free. Once we confirm we will let you know.

IF you have a business and you want to either attract HUGE AMOUNTS of attention to your festival booth or business, give us a call. Our facepainting attracts attention where ever we set up and you can use this to attract attention to your product or service.

We are currently sending letters to restaurants from Gadsden to Trussville, Alabama areas. If people have to wait for a table or wait for their food, isn't it better to have something fun to distract them with? Once I find out where we will be on a regular basis, I will be sure to post it so you can come see us.

Thanks for looking and we look forward to seeing you at ALL of these public evetns.

Kristin

Happy New Year!!

It is hard to believe it is 2008 and time to do a 5 year update of our business plan. Starshine Faces has continued to grow with your support and each year brings more smiles and color to the various events we have worked.

We hope to return to so many venues this year like the Boomdays festival in Fort Payne, The Alabama Chocolate Festival in Rainbow City, Attalla Heritage Festival, and so many more. We have updated our school/church prices and packages as well and we are looking forward to working at more school events.

This February we will be doing a presentation for various librarians of Alabama as they look for entertainment and storytellers for their Summer Library Programs. Combining face painting and storytelling, we hope to offer something new and exciting for the children to participate in this summer.

I was able to visit with some fellow facepainters and shop at the Face and Body Art Association Convention vendor room while she was on vacation in Orlando the second week of this year. Although I wasn't able to attend the actual convention, it was fun to shop and meet the people whose work I have admired in books, online, and in magazines. I will be doing my best to attend the convention in May.

Keep posted for more updates especially as the festival season starts this spring to see where we will be next. We are also available for private parties and corporate events, but be sure to contact us early for the dates you desire. We already have parties booked into June of 2008.