A Little Tipsy

Creative Tips & Ideas

[print_thumbnail_slider]

Real.Life.Photography {GIVEAWAY}

By 46 Comments

If you’re familiar with Rebecca Cooper’s gorgeous blog Simple As That then you already know that she is super talented.  She has adorable party and project ideas and her photos are pretty much to die for.


I am so excited to be part of the welcoming committee to share with you Rebecca’s newest book (ya, it’s her third, she’s that amazing) Real.Life.Photography.


I had the chance to enjoy the book already and it is fabulous; packed with tips, techniques and  photo editing tricks.  Also, Christy from Addy Lane created a fun set of actions called the Simple Fixes Action Set that are the perfect to go along with her book.  I had a chance to test those out too and they are great! 

The book has 6 chapters full of useful advice and of course is full of awe inspiring images. Wanna take a peek?



I love that she shares “HOW I GOT THE SHOTS” notations to detail techniques used for the images.  I seriously had multiple ah-ha moments while reading. Her tips are simple, but were totally eye opening for me. 


I am a total list girl so I also love that she gives a list of suggested photos to capture from everyday life. I feel like in the long run these are the photos of the moments we will cherish.


So, now that I have shown you how jealous I am of her skills and how I love that her book gives me a  chance at improving mine, it’s time for the good part where you have the chance at your own!

One lucky Tipsy reader gets a copy of Real. Life.Photo graphy and a set of Simple Fixes Action Set (PSE or PS version, your choice!)


For those of you who want to get your hands on either of these items now, you can purchase them for the early bird price of $9.99 each (the regular price will be $12.99). If you purchase both the book and the actions together, you can get 20% off by using the promo code PHOTOFIX at checkout.



a Rafflecopter giveaway

We have decided to truncate our feed to help protect against stolen content. I apologize for any inconvenience. Please love us anyway. 🙂

Tie Dye Accessories

By 4 Comments

Tie Dye brings back lots of memories like demolition derbies, girls camp, and my brother in-law when we first met him. I was excited when I was asked to try out Tulip Tie Dye not only because we had a past, but because I like a challenge and wanted to see what I could create using tie dye besides the traditional t-shirt. Ok, so I did start with an old stained t-shirt, but I came up with these coordinating Mom and tot tie dye accessories. 
Necklace inspired by I Heart Naptime

I had no idea why in the world I was making matching accessories. I have no daughter nor do any of my little nieces really wear cutesy headbands. Later, I found out an adorable family whom I adore was going through a big trial and could use a little sunshine in their life. Things happen for a reason I believe.


Ready for a little how to?

SUPPLIES:

Tulip Tie Dye Kit Including:
-Tie Dye
-Squirt bottles
-Gloves
-Surface cover

  • Pre-washed white t-shirt (mine was 95% cotton, 5% spandex so it was nice and smooth with a bit of elasticity and also does not roll as much when stretched)

  • Fabric scissors
  • Big wood beads
  • Gray spray paint
  • Needle
  • Thread
  • Felt
  • Hot Glue Gun



DIRECTIONS:

1. Lay out your surface cover and pre-washed shirt. Wearing your gloves mix up yellow and black dye. I did a black ombre shirt before this, so you can either use the dye for something else until you have about 1/4 of the black left and then fill the bottle with water to dilute to gray or just use less dye powder and more water to begin.
2. Use the squirt bottle to dye the top of the shirt with the gray using a sweeping side to side motion until covered completely to about 4 inches down. Then dye with yellow using the sweeping motion, but leave about 1.5 inches between stripes. Do not oversoak with yellow. You want the back to remain mostly white. Let dry for at least 6 hours. I let mine dry completely.
3. While the shirt is drying, spray paint your beads gray letting them dry between coats. I used 3 thin coats.
4. Launder separately in the hottest water safe for your fabric using the large load setting with a little bit of laundry soap. Dry separately in the dryer. 
I actually loved how it looked as a shirt and was tempted to stop here…

but there was a small stain on the back of my shirt on the white part, so I grabbed the scissors and continued on my way.
5. Cut 1/2 inch strips from the back of the shirt on a diagonal so they are as long as possible. This will give the strips yellow ends.
6. Make a small slit in the end of each strip and thread them through each other so they are attached.
7. Tie a knot where you attached the two strands for extra security and to start your necklace. Work out from that center knot. Twist up the end of the strip so it looks like the top of a pointy ice cream cone. Slide the point through the beads one by one. You can make the hole in the bead a bit larger by placing the tip of some ordinary scissors in and twisting around if needed. Tie a knot on either side of each bead so they stay in place. Leave about a 2 inch space for the flower with five beads on one side and one bead on the other.

8. For the flower, cut 6 circles about 2 inches in diameter from the yellow striped part of the shirt.

9. Fold the circles in half and then in half again to get a pie shape. Attach them by poking the needle through the point of each pie. Rotate and fluff the “petals” as needed to get a nice full shape.
10. Hot glue the flower in place and then secure a circle of felt to the back of the flower for additional security and  finished look.
11. Tie the necklace around your neck to the desired length using a bow. The ends of the strips will still have a bit of a twist from threading them through the beads.
Have you ever seen tie dye look so cute?
Just wait until you see the tot side of the coordinates!

1. Cut a 2 inch strip of the yellow stripes. Pull the ends tight so it rolls in a bit. Attach the ends with hot glue. Cute another strip about 1″x 2″ Roll in the edges and hot glue over the seam to keep it soft for the little one.
2. For the flowers, cut a 3 inch square in the yellow stripes and a 3 1/2 inch square from the white. Cut out a wiggly shape like an amoeba. It does not have to be perfect. Now place a dob of hot glue in the center and squish to give the flower ripply volume. 
3. For one center, take a strip of gray and make a rosette. For the other, take a strip and tie knots all along it. Then, wrap it round itself in a spiral twisting as needed to make it fit right. Hot glue them to the center of the flowers.
4. Hot glue the flowers to the headband.

Ug, I love it so much! It is just dying to be donned on a sweet little soul! I am excited to try some more techniques!

If you like this necklace, you might also like our Fabric Necklace, Tshirt DIY Necklace, or our Quite a Spectacle Anthro Knock off.

Tulip Tie Dye Kits are available at Walmart, Walmart Canada, Michaels, JoAnn, A.C. Moore, Hobby Lobby, Hancock Fabrics, Meijer. Tie dye kit contents and colors may vary by store.

See more fun ideas from ilovetocreate.com on…

Disclosure: I wrote this post as part of a paid campaign with iLoveToCreate.com and Blueprint Social. The opinions and creations in this post are my own.

P.S. Don’t forget to sign up for free Tipsy updates via RSS or email.

We have decided to truncate our feed to help protect against stolen content. I apologize for any inconvenience. Please love us anyway. 🙂

A Little Scent Vacation

By Leave a Comment

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Triad Retail Media for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

Are you a scent person? I swear I have a supercharged nose that can either be delighted or disgusted by scent. I love having a delicious scent meandering through the house so I was happy when I was asked to try out new Glade® Expressions™ fragrance mist!

First, I pulled out the Cotton & Italian Mandarin. I am more of a fruity person, so I had my doubts about cotton. I sprayed a little to see if it would be immediately passed on to a neighbor or friend and was totally surprised, I loved it. It has a nice clean fragrance like fresh laundry. I ran it straight upstairs and went to town in our linen closet and bedrooms. The only way I can explain it is it’s like new car smell for linens.

And did I mention the cool space age like bottle? It makes me feel a little swanky. Ooh, and it’s refillable with any Glade® Expressions™ scent! No more tossing the bottle every time! Don’t like cotton scent? Choose one of the others:

Pineapple & Mangosteen
Fuji Apple & Cardamom Spice
Lavender & Juniper Berry

They guarantee your fragrance satisfaction or your money back! Just fill out form at http://bit.ly/xMScbO if unsatisfied.

In rooms like the kitchen, I like a lovely scent to just emanate on its own and hide anything that might be less than pleasing, like a full garbage can or dishes in the sink. Which is why I was super excited to try the new Glade® Expressions™ oil diffuser. It’s long-lasting fragrance (30 days) that doesn’t require a plug! Between toasters, mixers, and glue guns, plugs are valuable real estate in the kitchen, so to me this is huge.

I tried the Pineapple & Mangosteen and it is to die for! No really, I joked with my sister that it is my new diet. When I need a treat I just walk over and breathe in a big whiff of it instead. It’s like a delightful frozen (virgin) tropical drink. So yummy!

I also love how it fits right in with my décor. See how it hides the hole in my plant where my 15 month old pulled off a vine. Very nice.

I am totally pleased with both products and am happy to recommend them! If you want a little scent vacation of your own I hear there’s a coupon for $1.50 off of any Glade® Expressions™ product if purchased at Walmart.

Visit Sponsor's Site

We have decided to truncate our feed to help protect against stolen content. I apologize for any inconvenience. Please love us anyway. 🙂

How to Stencil Patterns {Cutting Edge Stencil Giveaway!}

By 96 Comments

I am in love…with stencils. I’m sure you’ve seen the big beautiful stencil patterns done by Stacy and Jamielyn. I have done stenciling on a small scale (remember my stencil frosted mirror), but never a wall. When Cutting Edge Stencils contacted me, I knew just where I wanted to try it. I have been dying to re-do my laundry room and I knew a stencil pattern would be perfection! I totally have a crush on my new wall.
To see the full impact you must see the before…

I know the bare white wall with wallpaper glue and dryer lint is highly desired, but I was ready for a change. I gave the walls a good scrub down with DIF to get the adhesive off and then wiped it down once more with water to make sure it was clean and would not make the paint crackle.
Then, they got a couple of coats of Pool Blue Glidden Paint. I had a free trial quart can and just had to buy a titch more. Be prepared to move the washer and dryer back and forth a gazillion times! Let the base coat dry at least 24 hours before stenciling on it.
How to Stencil Patterns
Supplies:
  • Stencil (mine was the Fuji Allover)
  • Latex or acrylic paints
  • Small Dense Foam Roller with rounded ends, stencil brushes
  • Large styrofoam plates
  • Paper Towels
  • Low tack painter’s tape, spray adhesive (optional)
  • Cutting Edge Stencil Level (optional)
  • Baby Wipes
  • Q-tips
It’s a good idea to practice your stencil to make sure you like your color combo and have the technique down before you start on the actual wall.
Be sure to tape off any outlets, ceiling or cupboards you want to protect.
Tape your stencil in place using painters tape making sure it is level (Cutting Edge Stencils come with a cool level that clips right on to the stencil. You can use spray adhesive as well if you like.
Pour some paint on your plate, coat the roller evenly and roll on the paper towels to get most of the paint off so it almost looks dry. Roll lightly over the stencil until you reach the desired effect. If you push too hard the paint will leak under the edges more. Be careful not to roll over the outside edges of the stencil.
Carefully remove the stencil and line it up with the previous pattern to go again. I had some obstacles like outlets and counter corners to work around. Sometimes you can’t get the stencil perfectly flat, but just do your best to hold it flat in small sections for these tricky areas.
Once you have the whole thing tackled you can go back around the edges with the smaller stencil provided to get closer to the edges.

Mine got a little messy around the edges in parts. You can wipe big oops with baby wipes to clean up quickly. For smaller clean up I used q-tips and both white and blue paint for touch ups.
I am thrilled with my first stenciled wall! My mind is going crazy thinking of all the other things I can stencil! You can see a sneak peek in the photo below. Stay tuned for the Laundry room reveal in its entirety next week!
Click to see the details and tour the DIY laundry room.

I am really excited to be able to give you the chance to stencil your own wall! Cutting Edge Stencils is giving away $50 toward any of their products!

To enter:
Additional Entries:
  • Follow A Little Tipsy
  • Like Cutting Edge on Facebook and say hi from us!
  • Facebook or tweet this giveaway and leave us the link. (Ex: I’m hoping to win the $50 Cutting Edge Stencils {GIVEAWAY} from @littletipsyblog! http://tinyurl.com/6ms8fun)
Giveaway will close Thursday, January 19th. Good luck!
Linking up with:

P.S. Don’t forget to sign up for free Tipsy updates via RSS or email.

We have decided to truncate our feed to help protect against stolen content. I apologize for any inconvenience. Please love us anyway. 🙂