Sew Nice! A Lisa Engelbrecht Design

I have been wanting to get inked for a long time, but finding the right design was the kicker. Who wants to get the same old tattoo as everyone else? A spool of thread is my signature and I knew that this MUST be incorporated into anything I'd want to wear on my skin. Enter the talented and fabulous Lisa Engelbrecht!

Lisa has long been an artist friend. She is a calligrapher extraordinaire and author of Modern Calligraphy and Hand Lettering: A Mark-Making Workbook for Crafters, Cardmakers, and Journal Artists . Recently Lisa has turned her talents to tattoo design and she has a line of tattoo-themed rubber stamps coming out as well.

Lisa took my general idea and whipped up the PERFECT tattoo design for me! Scarcely have I been so excited about anything as the I was when she revealed the final artwork. 

The next step was to find a SPECTACULAR tattoo artist to render Lisa's artwork on my personal canvas. I popped by Pincushns Custom Tattoo & Body Piercing in Holland, Michigan and looked at portfolios. All the guys are amazing there, but I was impressed with Matt Maldonado's work. He's new to tattooing, but comes with a fantastic background as an artist.

I was a tattoo virgin, but got to watch Matt tattoo my daughter the week before, so I knew what to expect. He traced Lisa's design to make a transfer, and applied it to my forearm.

The colors were applied one at a time, with gorgeous shading inside the design. I loved the way Matt added his own flair to the interior work--giving it a classic tattoo feel.

I'm so grateful to both artists who made my first tattoo experience outstanding. I LOVE what my tattoo says about my life and my art. Now go forth and SEW NICE!