Blog posts of '2015' 'February'

Care Bears are lovable little fuzzballs that live in a wonderful world called Care-a-Lot high in the clouds. Their job is to help the children of the world learn to care about each other. However, they also happen to be introducing all lovers of rainbow colored bears with designs on their tummies to the fascinating world of body art. Each Care Bear has two distinct tattoo designs that serve very different functions and display very clearly two of the most common reasons that people get tattoo designs. Every Care Bear sports a small, red heart on their haunch. This heart tattoo is not always visible in the cartoons - perhaps it is masked by fur? - but all the toys show them clearly. The heart indicates that the Care Bear is part of the Care-a-Lot family, and Care Bear cousins (a later addition to the Care Bear family who are not bears but rather jungle animals) do not have this membership tattoo. Care Bears and their cousins also have large pieces of art on their little fuzzy tummies. These tattoo designs indicate something that the Care Bear or Care Bear Cousin holds particularly dear, or a personality trait typical of that character. For example, Love-a-Lot Bear has a large red heart tattoo, Birthday Bear has a cupcake tattooand Funshine Bear has a large, yellow, smiling sun tattoo.

Carly Smithson has a prominent tattoo sleeve on her right arm, featuring a geisha. During her run on American Idol, Smithson's tattoo was often mistakenly identified as a tattooportrait of Amy Winehouse. "It's so funny. Even Andrew Lloyd Webber said, 'Oh look, you have Amy Winehouse on your arm.' I was like, 'No.' It was funny," says the songbird. "But I love my tattoo. That was one thing on the show that really bothered me--that it wasn't finished and we never get any time. I really wanted to go and get it finished. Her facewill be white. Her lips will be red and she'll look nothing like Amy Winehouse once it's finished." Contrary to popular belief, geishas are not high-class Japanese prostitutes. The word geisha actually means "performance artist" and these women train for many years to become experts in beauty and entertainment.

Carly Hennessy Smithson(born September 12, 1983) is Irish rock/soul singer. Although she released a widely ignored studio album for MCA Records called ''Ultimate High'', sheis best known for appearance on the seventh season of American Idol. During her time on the hit television talent show, Smithson was criticized because the show is supposed to be looking for unsigned talent and she had already been signed previously. Also, Randy Jackson, one of the judges on the show, had been working for MCA during the time shewas recording her album. However, Smithson was a fan and judge favorite and her elimination from the show in April of 2008 resulted in booing from the audience as well as allegations that the show was fixed. Smithson is lives in Sand Diego with her husband, Todd Smithson. She works in her husband's tattoo shop, Nothing Sacred.

The cat is one of the most well known domesticated animals in the world. They were first domesticated by the Egyptians who believed that cats held immortal power. However, felines have not been domesticated for so long that they have lost their feral roots. Cats are notoriously independent, limber, and uninterested in learning tricks. The myth that each cat has nine lives comes from the cat's inborn ability to use quickness and flexibility to escape life threatening situations. Cats also have an innate ability to automatically twist their bodies when falling so that they land on their feet. 

Many ancient religions and societies revered the domesticated cat as all knowing companions or guides for the human owners. The Egyptian goddess Bast watched over the home and took the form a cat. So it was considered good luck to have a pet cat living in your home. In Japan, the Maneki Neko (or the Beckoning Cat) is a cat that is a symbol of good fortune and the inspiration for common Japanese sculptures. The cat is seen sitting on his back legs with one paw raised. Freyja, the Norse goddess of love, beauty andfertility rides a chariot driven by cats. And although the cat is not sacred in Islam, its founder Mohammed had a favorite cat and he loved cats so much that he would rather dowithout his cloak rather than disturb one that was sleeping on it. 

There are also negative connotations about the cat, though mostly the black variety. The black cat became known as a witch's familiar or servant during the Middle Ages. Thecat's natural tendency to slink about only fueled the notion that the cat would sneak around doing the witch's bidding. The belief that a black cat crossing your path brings bad luckis a direct result of its link to witches and witchcraft. Black cats also hold an association with anarchist ideology. 

Those who wear cat tattoos hope to emulate the spirit of the cat: independence, quick recovery and freedom of thought. Cat tattoos often incorporate elements of the moon orstars, symbols also associated with paganism or witchcraft. The tattoos may also have Egyptian imagery in reference to the origins of the domesticated cat.

Show me more Cat Tattoo Designs

Celebrity Tattoos:

Tattoos aren’t just for sailors, “outcasts” and outlaws anymore. They’ve superceded bikers and gangsters, gone beyond heavy metal and punk rock bands. Royalty, rock stars, movie stars, sports icons, supermodels and heads of state have all adorned themselves with various types and kinds of body art. And, because of celebrities’ constant media exposure and sheer popularity, members of the masses are transforming and emulating their favorite celebrity tattoo designs.

Movie Stars

Tattoos have become accepted (and perhaps somewhat expected) on the big silver screen. Hollywood is all about scandal, so what was ever “taboo” is now in high demand. So it goes with tattoos, and other forms of body modification. No longer is it just the bad boys and bad girls brandishing body art, but also the wholesome family stars and supporting actors and actresses. All kinds of celebrities are wearing tattoos.

• Julia Roberts This star of Pretty Woman, Dying Young, Something to Talk About, and Erin Brokovich has a few tattoos. One is a Chinese kanji character surrounding a heart that she wears on her shoulder and a butterfly tattoo on her lower back.

• Sandra Bullock has a tribal tattoo design below her navel.

• Gillian Anderson (Scully on The X-Files) is also decorated. She has a turtle shell tattoo on her ankle and the Sanskrit script for “Everyday” is on her wrist.

• Drew Barrymore is quite notoriously tattooed with her own personal gallery of body art, and just a few of her designs include a cross, a butterfly, and angel tattoos. She also wears a blue moon smiling, and a bouquet of sweet peas on various areas of her body.

• Christina Ricci (Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Casper) wears a lion tattoo on her shoulder and a bat tattoo on her bikini line.

• Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy the Vampire Slayer Series, Scooby Doo, Scooby Doo II) bears a Chinese kanji symbol on her hip, and has a beautiful pair of purple dragonfly tattoos on her lower back.

• Jennifer Aniston This Friends star has a small heart tattoo on her stomach.

• Christina Applegate This star of Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead and the sitcom Married With Children has an apple tattoo design and a climbing vine tattoo.

• Pamela Anderson of Bay Watch has a few tattoos, including a barbed wire armband and a tribal design on her lower back.

• Alyssa Milano (Charmed) has a tattoo of a chain with a cross, fairies, the Sacred Heart and angels in her designs.

• Angelina Jolie Famous for her roles as Lara Croft in The Tomb Raider, Angelina has several tattoos, her most recent design being an authentic Thai tattoo of a tiger on her lower back.

• Ben Afflek also bears a few tattoos of his own, including the incredibly popular barbed wire armband.

• Nicholas Cage (Face Off, National Treasure) has an incredibly unique tattoo design of a monitor lizard wearing a top hat on his upper back.

• Robert Deniro Despite the number of tattoos he was shown with in the thriller Cape Fear, Mr. Deniro only has one real tattoo, a panther design.

• Jeff Corwin The Animal Planet hit, bears a snake tattoo design on his upper left shoulder.

• The nine actors who made up the “Fellowship” in The Lord of the Rings trilogy (except possibly Rhy-Davies who played Gimli, and is rumored to have sent a stunt double) all got an Elvish tattoo meaning “The Nine” on their ankles.

However, in this case, there is one top movie star that doesn’t belong in the ranks of the tattooed…Vin Diesel. Despite being bedecked in XXX and other films, in truth Vin is un-inked.

Pop, Rock and Other Music Stars

Musicians have been sporting tattoos and body art for ages! Before most people had overcome their fear of the taboo, rock stars, heavy metal musicians and punk bands were braving it out. Now, musicians in nearly every genre sport ink of some sort or another.

• Jon Bon Jovi (80’s rock idol) is tattooed with the Superman insignia, a dragon tattoo and a longhorn skull.

• Jonathan Davis of KORN (and the other members too) bears many tattoos. His ink includes the letters HIV, the KORN logo, and a tattoo of a bishop ripping away his skin to reveal Jesus underneath.

• Dave Grohl Who has had the pleasure of playing with bands like Nirvana, Foo Fighters, and Nine Inch Nails, has a chain tattoo design on his upper right arm and the letters FF on his back.

• Fred Durst of Limp Bizkit has several different tattoo images including an angel, a flower, a spiral design and a ring.

• Bill Idol Among other ink, has a tattoo design of a Russian comic book character.

• Eminem, a.k.a. Slim Shady, also wears quite a few tats. He has a dog tag tattoo design, a mushroom, and his children’s names tattooed on him, just to name a few.

• Lenny Kravitz boasts at least two tattoos, one of a dragon and another of a cross.

• Henry Rollins bears the image of the words “Search & Destroy” emblazoned across his back above a tribal sun, among other body art.

• Aaliyah This late actress and singer was decorated with a dove on her lower back, an initial & star on her hand, and a music symbol tattoo on her ankle.

• Beyonce has a praying angle adorning her upper left thigh.

• Avril Lavigne bears a small star on the inside of her wrist (the left one). The other tattoo that you may believe she has is, in fact, a fake and was a temporary tattoo placed (on the top of her butt) for a music award ceremony performance.

• And, drum roll please…Brittany Spears. Perhaps not as fortunate as her other tattooed pop-stars, Brittany recently suffered the misfortune of not only one tattoo mistake, but actually two. Learn from her example to be very careful when choosing tattoos in a language you can neither read nor write.

 These are hardly all of the tattooed musicians – the list goes on and on, to include N Sync, the Backstreet Boys, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rancid, P.O.D., and even the Dixie Chicks. These country star divas all have matching tiny chick footprints on one foot.

Sports Icons and Supermodels

Perhaps not discussed as much (but certainly still drooled at) are the sports stars and supermodels. Still very much tattooed celebrities in the lime-light, stars in these industries are often able to enjoy a little bit more privacy than those who regularly appear on the silver screen, but that doesn’t mean they haven’t influenced popular tattoo designs.

 Some well known sports celebrities with tattoos include:

• Dennis Rodman. This rowdy, rambunctious, attention loving basketball player was covered with tattoos and body jewelry. Some of the pictures in his body art gallery included a Harley Davidson tattoo, a picture of his daughter, a shark, and a cross – among other things.

• British soccer star David Beckham proudly wears at least nine different tattoo designs!

• Laila Ali Boxer and daughter of Muhammad Ali, has tattoos that include her name and a teddy bear design.

• Stone Cold Steve Austin This wrestler has a tattoo of the state of Texas and a longhorn on his left calf, as well as a crystal ball on his left ankle.

• Kobe Bryant. This famous basketball star has many tattoos, one of which is a large tribute to his wife that he wears on his upper right arm.

• Tennis star Anna Kournikova has a large star tattoo design on her lower back.

But, by far, the mostly highly inked group of athletes (if you’d go as far as to call them that) would be the various branches of the wrestling world, where a great many of the characters, man or woman, good or bad, are heavily inked.

 There are also quite a few models and supermodels which bear body art. Rosie Ciavolino has a small tattoo just below her bikini line. Ehrinn Cummings has a frog on her check along with 2 elephants on her lower back. Nicky Hilton has a heart with wings on the inside of her right wrist and the word “Hilton” written in gothic font in the small of her back. She also has a small cross on the back of her neck. Her sister, Paris Hilton, used to have Nick Carter’s name inked on the right side of her backside, but has since hat it removed with laser surgery. And, 90’s Calvin Klein spokes-model Kate Moss has a tiny heart on the back of her left and a small crown on her left shoulder. 

Royalty and Heads of State

Despite the past’s unkind view of tattooing and body modification, some of the names that appear on the following list may be a little surprising, especially when you consider how far back the history goes.

• Franklin D. Roosevelt proudly bore a tattoo image of his family crest.

• Thomas Alva Edison, genius inventor, was tattooed with five dots on his left forearm that were arranged in the fashion of a “5” dice.

• King Alexander of Yugoslavia was inked with a large eagle tattoo design on his chest.

• King Alfonso of Spain was also tattooed.

• King Edward VII of England bore a tattoo of the Jerusalem Cross.

• King Frederik IX of Denmark was tattooed with a dragon and his family crest.

• King George II of Greece bore tattoo designs.

• King George V was decorated with a dragon design.

• King Harold II of England was the first documented royal to wear a tattoo. He lived from 1022 to 1066.

• King Henry IV was also among the ranks of royalty boasting body art.

 Other famous royalty bearing tattoos include Prince Charles, Prince Rudolph, Prince Frederik, Prince Waldermar, and Richard the Lion Hearted, King of England (1189-99 A.D.) who was also branded with the Jerusalem Cross.

 You’ll find them almost anywhere, on almost anyone now-a-days. In Hollywood and New York, but also St. Joseph, Missouri and Lexington, Kentucky. It’s a tradition sponsored and carried on by many of our nation and world. Tattoos show up in churches on ministers and hidden behind the suits of Wall Street professionals.

 Thanks in part to celebrities who’s tattoos are seen by the world, there are no longer any social boundaries, or status quos to stop us. We have taken tattoo into another realm, one shared by all of humanity, rich and poor, ordinary and famous.