Hey! I'm Marni
Hey! I'm Marni
Owner of Gratitude Tattoos
My favorite music to listen to during a tattoo is...
"Acoustic Chill" Playlist on Spotify with clients and lofi focus music when drawing by myself.
I like to live by the motto...
"In the end, the universe tends to unfold as it should"
If I was stuck on an island and could only eat one meal for every single meal for the rest of my life it would be...
Eggs Benedict from Sunny-side up
If I could choose a super power, it would be...
To transport myself and anyone I wanted to in the blink of an eye.
When I am not tattooing you can find me...
On an adventure with my husband and kiddos, on our property hanging out, maintaining and bettering our land and home, having coffee dates and deep conversations with friends, reading a book or dreaming up future plans in life and business.
a little bit about myself...
I have always loved art. I remember in highschool art class, everyone just assumed I would go to art school, but it never felt like my calling. Instead, I travelled... always with a sketch book and pencils. Wherever I went, I drew, often attracting other travellers with my sketches and then designing images that could potentially be tattoos. They would asked me why I didn't actually tattoo if I was designing tattoos? But, I was never drawn to the tattoo machine, maybe I was intimidated... I had several bad experiences getting tattoos myself that I didn't think I had a place in that industry.
It was during my travels through Thailand, and being exposed to their traditional hand poked technique, that everything changed. I fell in love with this method and knew that I had to try it. In 2017, I bought what I needed and started practicing on my husband (bless his heart) and immediately took to it. I started tattooing family and friends in my 290 sq. ft tiny home and then it just snowballed, those friends asked if they could bring their friends and then all of a sudden I was tattooing regularly and getting more and more confident and technical with my craft.
I opened up Gratitude Tattoos studio in the historical 1912 building that I currently work in, in 2019. I wanted to create a space that felt welcoming, comfortable, safe, calming... and full of plants! Through my not-so-positive experiences having tattoos in the past, being a very intentional human and with my background as a yoga instructor, I knew I wanted to create a unique tattoo experience for my clients. Each step of the process, I promise to listen to you, guide and offer suggestions, accept your feedback and make the entire experience from start to finish a positive and meaningful one. This tattoo will be on you forever so not only is the image itself important but your experience is important too.
I love hearing your stories behind the concepts of your tattoos, I love the creative process of drawing something meaningful, beautiful and unique from just an idea, I love the deep conversations and getting to know you personally. I feel incredibly humbled and honoured to have the opportunity to put something permanent on your body.
I look forward to visioning, creating and getting just as stoked as you on your next (or first) tattoo!
I offer an optional tattoo ceremony as part of your appointment where you are invited to pull an oracle card while I burn palo santo and then we do a short meditation to bring intention into your tattoo.
I love all your custom concepts, but my favourite niche is ornamental tattoos, drawing in both natural and geometric elements. Additionally I love designing and tattooing animals, flowers and mandalas!
Check out my work below.