Celebrating Difference - Birthmarks + Tattoos

The blogging community is a great place for celebrating uniqueness and diversity, much more so than mainstream media. That's why I thought it would be a great idea to share with you something really special this week. My very beautiful big sister was born with a port wine stain birthmark which covers most of her right leg, as well as her foot and finishes at her lower back. It's not something that has ever bothered her nor does she feel the need to cover it up. Sure people stare but she and I both know that it's totally normal to want to look at something that you haven't ever seen before, the silly questions however she could do without! Not once has she ever wanted to be rid of her birthmark though, it's safe to say we inherited our 'Don't give a shit what other people think of you' attitude from our parents!

For a long time now she's wanted to tattoo her birthmark not to hide it, but, in her words, "to make it even more beautiful!". She has a lovely friend who is an incredible tattoo artist and together they came up with a beautiful henna style design to go on the lower part of her leg as well as her ankle and finish on her foot. The finished design looks absolutely beautiful, I'm absolutely blown away with how well it works with the colour of her birthmark! I'm so proud of her for plucking up the courage to do this, I know how much of a big deal this was for her.

I love you big sis, thanks for teaching me that we all have differences, some more visible than others but either way they should all be celebrated! Oh and I'm sorry for laughing at you when you were making silly faces, I'm sure when she was tattooing your ankle it really did hurt a lot!

Ellie x