Voting Open in the First Miss Vine Park Spokesmodel Contest

Ladies and gentlemen, drum roll please…

Our twelve pack of finalists have been chosen from over 40 entries in our initial contest.

VOTE ! Vine Park Brewing Company Spokesmodel Contest

Thank you so much for the enthusiastic response.  Remember, these are NOT the photos that will be used for our advertisements, but that a professional photo shoot with the always fantastic Christi Williams at Grinkie Girls Photography is part of the prize package.

You can only vote once, so if you want to win, share with your friends, on Facebook, Twitter, or your blog, and get the vote out. Official rules for the contest are here.

Just Be A Grinkie Girl Music Video is Released Online

Local actress Anissa Lubbers has been a Grinkie Girl from the beginning. Last fall, she had the brilliant idea for a song, and wrote "Just Be A Grinkie Girl" based on a Andrews Sister-esque three part harmony. She presented the idea for the song to Christi at a Grinkie Girl get together at Sebastian Joe's ice cream shop.


The idea flamed into a full blown video project, complete with professional musicians (The Vagabonds, Travis Anderson), competition swing dancers, a full production team, professional director (Leanne Montoya of Lulupalooza Productions) and a total budget of zero.

A total of just over 60 people came together to create a fabulous music video of "Just Be A Grinkie Girl".

This video is a collage from the World Premier of the video.

Grinkie Girls Teams Up with MnUps Magazine to Spice Up the GSTA Hot Rod Opener

MN Ups Magazine was asked to help spice up the 57th Annual Gopher State Timing Association’s Hot Rod Spring Opener at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds. This show marks the beginning of the exciting 2013 car show season with style. Together with Grinkie Girls Photography, we staffed our booth and dolled up the show floor with our bevy of beauties.

We put together a sampling of all the fabulous fun we had. In a word, we…

GSTA 2013 Highlight Reel.

Bucket List...Be A Pin Up Girl!

by Anne Ripka-Payment

Let’s start out by saying I am all about lists; lists keep me organized, on task and help me feel like I am productive.  So it doesn’t surprise anyone that I have a long “Life” list aka a "Bucket" list.  I started this list when I feel I was at my lowest point in life.  I was going through a divorce, my career came to a standstill and to add to it I was not very happy about being me.  I was about 100 pounds overweight and exhausted all the time. The guilt I felt because I was not healthy enough to run and play with my kids made it worse.  

I needed goals so I created this list…

#1 Find Love ~ after a rough first marriage dissolved, Rob walked into my life.  I used to say to him, “You are so wonderful, I don’t understand why you would want to be with a train wreck like me” he would then tell me, “You are not a train wreck, your just a little fender bender”. He kept every promise he made, He is definitely a keeper!!  He gave me the will power to tackle item # 2 on my list

#2 Get Healthy ~  I have always been what people refer to as “Big Boned”.  After I had my first baby I started to notice I couldn’t lose the weight…I fluctuated from 220 pounds to my highest of 261 pounds. I did Weight Watchers, joined gyms (and actually went). Nothing seemed to work, and having 2 more babies on top of that probably didn’t help…. I wanted Rob to be proud of the woman he was with, and my children needed a mother that was healthy enough to keep up.  I wanted to feel good in my own skin, and confident to take on whatever life threw my way.  That’s when I made the appointment at the Allina Bariatric Center.   I would NEVER say it is the easy way out, but maybe the less frustrating.  Within six months I lost about 80 pounds. After that I stopped counting.  I had energy, confidence and it's funny how people treat you differently.  Dresses were fun to wear again, and the Goodwill was my new best friend.  Going down a size a week, there is no way I could afford a new wardrobe a week…

A year later I am at my lowest weight since 6^th grade.  138 pounds and rocking life, another new addition to our home now is on his way.   I decided then to dig out my List and start where I left off.  I needed some quickly attainable goals and I needed to feel sexy again. Glancing through my list #12 caught my eye..be a Pin-Up girl…Classic, fun, full of life, vibrant…All the traits I was looking for.  I have always loved the Retro/Vintage look and believe that in a previous life I must have been a Bettie. Just when I was about to move on to another number, Boom chukka lucka…my friend post pictures she had taken at a local studio…This is exactly what I am looking for…I contacted her and she raved about the experience and how much fun it was…I had to do it!

I contacted Grinkie Photography on Friday and Christi responded right away and by Tuesday I was with Avis getting my hair and makeup done and super excited to get this done…I had no idea what to expect, and maybe my expectation where a little bit low but wowsers…Either the camera and Photoshop are Miracle workers or I am capable of looking amazing.  I felt like my personality shined through.  Christi made everything that I was feeling on the inside shine through on the outside.  I wore 4” heals, strapless SHORT dresses and Avis gave me make-up and hair tips that were easy enough to handle at home.  They made me feel like I was kind of a big deal!  I do so much for everyone else in my life, so I appreciate the “it’s all about you” attitude.  She understands the day to day demands that are placed on women, being a mother herself.  She embraces the fact that women come in all shapes and sizes and don’t necessarily wear a size 2.  She makes sure when you leave her studio your experience is something to rave about. 

Here's one of Anne's pictures from her Pin Up shoot. We love it so much we use it in some of our ads.

I am not one to promote or push anyone into doing something they are uncomfortable with.  Like I said, this was on my list and I needed to get my VaVa Voom back.  Don’t get me wrong the next day, I was tired and looking worn again, the difference this time is I have the pictures to prove that I can be the stunning vibrant Pin-up girl I feel like inside.  Thanks to Christi and Avis at Grinkie Photography My Bucket list just got a little smaller!!

Something Different - Monster Maternity Pin Up

Written by Mike Potter (Team Grinkie)

Our little brussel sprout

"Its nice if you can do something to make yourself feel beautiful when you are not physically feeling your best."  -- Tara

Not to often do you find a women that is eight months pregnant posing for a pinup shoot. Even less often do women make it eight months into a pregnancy without telling everyone they know through Facebook. Tara Leiran decided she was going to be different. 

"No one on Facebook even knows I'm pregnant," said Tara. With a few of the monsters of Christopher Mihm's movie's in studio, Tara decided she was going to do the shoot and show all her friends and family the result. "It's nice to feel pretty when sometimes you don't," said Tara while she was looking at her pictures. Nothing could have been more fun for Tara, or anyone else in the room that day then poking fun at all the traditional pregnancy poses by doing them with a monster. 

Tara makes it look easy

Grinkie Girls Teams Up With Vine Park Brewery in Spokesmodel Search

ENTER TO WIN!  Be featured as next season’s (Summer 2013) spokes model for Vine Park Brewery!

Vine Park Brewery is looking for a new spokes model for their ad campaign slated to run on the back cover of MnUps magazine. You could be Miss Vine Park, Summer 2013, be featured in a magazine back cover ad campaign, and receive a prize package valued at over $750! All levels of photos are encouraged (professional portraits, snapshots, digital phone photos, etc.).  ANYONE CAN WIN!

Winners will receive a professional pin up photo shoot with Grinkie Photography (a $250 value) including professional hair and makeup by an acclaimed pin up stylist ($100 value), two VIP passes to the season’s MN Craft Brewers Event ($100+ value), a chance to brew your own beer or wine at VPBC ($250 value), a Vine Park Brewery T shirt, and bragging rights (PRICELESS)!

Contest is open to Minnesota residents and photographers.  Submissions for entry into the contest will begin March 15th  and will be accepted until April 10th. Finalists will be chosen by from valid entries, and the contest will be posted at www.vinepark.com, and www.mnups.com with digital voting for the Summer 2013 issue to begin on April 15, 2013, and end on April 30, 2013. Photography session will be completed in May for June magazine release.

Entry rules:  Must be 21 to enter. Enter by emailing your name and birthdate, a completed MnUps Model Release  and a picture of yourself to vpcontest@mnups.com.  Snap a shot of you looking your best. Photographs do no need to be professionally taken, nor do they need to be pin-up inspired. All MN residents and photographers are welcome and encouraged to enter. ANYONE CAN WIN! Live the dream of being a spokes model for Vine Park Brewing.

The Fine Print:  Additional contests will be run for the Fall 2013 (September 2013), Winter 2014 (December 2013) and Spring 2014 (March 2014) ad campaigns. Entries who were not chosen as finalists, as well as finalists who were not chosen as the Grand Prize winner for the season will be rolled over into the following contest. Winner will be chosen by popular vote.  Winners will be announced on the websites. Prize package is as stated in contest rules, no cash value/substitution will be awarded.  If the winner is unable to complete the photo session on schedule, the first runner-up will be awarded the prize, and so on.

Grinkie In The News

Grinkie Girls Photography was recently featured in an article in the Star Tribune.  One of our favorite quotes was:

“Women are choosing how they want to portray themselves in light of the pinup, which is a more idealized light,” she said. “Some take that and really push the boundary.”

For every woman who wants to pose with her skirt hiked up as if innocently caught on something, she said, there’s the woman who declared, “I want to be standing on a scale eating cake.”

Bottom line: “Our pinups are saying, ‘I’m in charge of my sexuality — and I can have a sense of humor about it.’ ”

You can read the fill test of the article here --> http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/190724161.html

Grinkie Photography was also featured in Mn Happenings. 

Some of our favorite quotes:

Grinkie Girls provides people with a fun, unique and yes, sassy, photo-shoot experience. And that experience of getting your photo taken is just as important as the end result to Christi, so she makes sure you have fun while you are with her. And, as an extreme extrovert and someone who can read people easily, it’s pretty difficult not to have fun when you are under Christi’s care.

You can liken it to a party. And in fact, Christi specializes in pin-up parties.

Whether you are a party of one doing a pin-up session or a party of 20, Christi and her “Girl Friday” (yes, that’s what she calls her assistant) make sure you have everything you need when you arrive at her studio. Wardrobe? Check. Christi has something for all shapes and sizes in a room full of vintage clothing. Make up and hair? Taken care of. Christi contracts with local make-up artists and hair stylists to make sure you look marvelous.

You can read the full text here --> http://minneapolis.happeningmag.com/grinkie-girls/