BLURB’s Online Portfolio Maker

www.blurb.com I love Blurb. I just got done making another portfolio. In the past I have used Adobe InDesign to layout my books. Doing it this way gives me a lot of control of the layout. Today I decided to use their HTML book making option. I was surprised at how much control I really…

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Don’t be a Dick.

My second year of tattooing, I was working long hours at Iron Age. It was the original location that was upstairs next to Vintage Vinyl. I’d had a trying week of crazy customers. It was not abnormal to tattoo 10 people a day. At the end of a shift I would pray that a tribal…

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Frank.

This is the closest I get to a portrait. Franky and Madison have been getting tattooed from me for almost a decade. Here is Franky’s new tattoo! It is a tribute to his love, Madison.   www.matthodeltattoo.com

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Sammie gets her Fix!

Sammie was disappointed with the direction her tattoo was going. She needed someone to cover-up, fix-up, and finish her Elephant! I helped Sammie get a tattoo she is no longer embarrassed by.

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Draw. Tattoo. Draw.

The first years of tattooing are tricky.  Your focus should be on technical ability.  Can you make the machines do what you want them to do?  The first few years are just a challenge to figure out why what worked on Monday will not work on Wednesday. Consider the novice tattooist.  There is an urgency…

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…Seriously.

by Mark DeNicola at collective-evolution.com In a world where people are regularly commended for things such as hard work, dedication and focus, the idea of not taking life seriously can sound preposterous. But is a serious mentality really at the core of the previously mentioned good habits? Or is it what’s potentially getting in the…

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Tattooing versus the Real World

For all its ups and downs, tattooing has been the only constant in my life. I started tattooing before I could legally drink. I had to borrow Mark Andrew state ID to get into the events of the Houston Convention in 1996. They were not only my formative years of tattooing, they were my formative…

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Google Power!

I want to revisit a Blog post from a few years ago. I think Google is a great place to start. It’s very useful in getting your brain emerged into a visual library. We know that any image you can think of is up on the internet but how you use google is important. Google…

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Tips on the Schedule Stuff

Just make the time. We’ve been talking a lot lately about getting on track, optimizing time, being productive, and other goal-achieving tips. I thought it would be good to be a little more specific about some of these ideas. It’s pretty easy to just think, “I need to [insert thing that never gets done],” but…

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FBF Baby Emma 2003

They say having kids will change you. This is Emma and I. In these photos I have been a father for 6 months. I was broke and we lived in a hotel in Albuquerque New Mexico. Our neighbors were Junkies and Whores. Something had to change. I really thought that one day I would wake…

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Conquer Stress

It’s Monday, and there’s usually a mixed sense of optimism and exhaustion with what lies ahead for the week. A fresh start, and a new mountain of work. Here’s a few simple reminders about how to keep stress at bay and use it to your advantage. Found over at Psych Central, this quick article will…

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Life Unfolds Without Our Counsel

Despite the best intentions… …the best efforts, the most thorough plans, life just does what it wants. We don’t ALWAYS accomplish what we set out to do. We fail. We are reminded that what we want isn’t necessarily going to become ours in the way we had imagined, or even at all. Times like these…

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Monkeys Fucking Footballs. (and other original ideas……)

“People over estimate their uniqueness so that commonalities seem like small miracles.” Google has already found your tattoo. It has already found the same tattoo for hundreds of other people wanting a bird and stars. After a quick Google search you quickly realize how many people had your idea. It is no big deal. Don’t…

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Do More Than Just Exist

Being on constant display – as most of us are now due to Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and any other social media people steadily consume – can undoubtedly lead to speculation about the perception everyone else has about you. Personal, face-to-face encounters can obviously lead to this sort of paranoia as well, but the distance between…

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It’s Called Sleep. GET IT.

…And our little life is rounded with a sleep Even though you’ve got a long to-do list looming over your subconscious like a vulture over nearly dead stuff, you need some rest, friends! Sure, no one’s going to finish that report (or Netflix marathon) for you, but enough is enough. Do everyone around you a…

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The Importance of Tattoo Pedigree

The Lineage. I bought a pure breed dog once. The first thing I wanted to know was the condition of the puppie’s parents. Where did this dog come from? How old were the parents? What was the temperament of the parents? These answers would help paint a picture of traits I might expect from the…

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Think Positively, Experience Positivity

While not the easiest thing anyone’s ever done, keeping a positive mindset is a vital part of success and happiness. Life is a beautiful thing, if you’d just let it be without mucking it up with all your worrying and stuff. Here’s one article that was super easy to find in the digital sea: [wr_divider…

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5 things you don’t need.

“Whenever you hear someone say, ‘It’s not personal,’ or its sister phrase, ‘I had no choice,’ you can be almost be certain they’ve made a choice they are ashamed of.” -Page 24. ‘Never Be Closing’ by Tim Hurson and Tim Dunne. I love counter intuitive thinking. This book either changes my perceptions or validates my…

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