How I Ended Up Painting Faces for a Living

People ask me this almost every event, so here's the honest, slightly chaotic story of how a birthday party favor turned into a full-time gig.

It started with my own four kids. Before every birthday party, I'd sit each of them down and paint a butterfly or a superhero mask on their cheek, just for fun. I never trained for it. I just liked drawing and they liked sitting still for five minutes if it meant getting a design out of it.

Somewhere between soccer practice and school carnivals, other parents started noticing and asking if I'd paint for their kids too. One event turned into a dozen. A dozen turned into hundreds. Eventually I had an actual kit, actual designs, and an actual booking calendar instead of just a bag of paint in the coat closet.

I still can't quite believe it turned into a real business, but here we are. Thanks for reading, and thanks for letting me paint your kids' faces.