A Little Tipsy

Creative Tips & Ideas

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Mike Wazowski Shirt

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Who doesn’t love Mike Wazowski? Seriously, he’s hilarious not to mention simple so he is easy to make in to a shirt. It cost me all of $1. Gotta love those numbers!
SUPPLIES:
Computer
Silhouette
Contact paper
Fabric Medium
Black paint
Green Paint
White Paint
Turqouise paint
Foam brush
Cardboard
Green shirt
Iron

INSTRUCTIONS:
1. I saw this shirt and took matters in to my own hands. Import the image in to the silhouette software and use the trace feature to get your cut lines. Cut two stencils out of contact paper. You’ll use different pieces at different times.
2. Place your first set of contact paper stencil shapes as shown below.

 3. Using separate little bowls mix up black, white and green with the fabric medium according to package directions. Carefully paint by dabbing with the foam brush. Paint the mouth and the middle of the eye black. Paint the outer eye and little dot in the eye white. Paint the lip line green. Use as many coats as it takes to get the vibrancy you want. Let it dry completely.


4. Layer the stencil as shown below covering the painting you already did. Mix up the turquoise with the fabric medium. 
5. Paint the teeth white and the middle of the eye turquoise. Let dry completely.
6. Carefully remove all stencils.

I am seriously in love with this Mike Wazowski shirt!! 
It was easier and turned out better than I thought!

Pair it with some shorts and you’re all ready for Disneyland!

Mike was my little guy’s favorite Disney shirt of them all and that’s saying something considering I made  about 10 different shirt designs for our trip.
If you liked this Mike Wazowski shirt, stay tuned every Wednesday through January for a new Disney DIY project each week!

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How to Refinish a Deck in One Day

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Refinish a deck in one day? Seems like a myth right. Not so, you can for reals. You just need the right tools, the right weather and the right help. Two of us completed this project in about 11 hours including 4 hours of wait time between steps.

We actually split it up and did two hours of the work with the deck cleaner (and the two hour wait time) the night before so that we could make use of the cooler hours. The next morning we started at 7:30 am and were done at 2:30 pm (that’s counting one of us driving/feeding kids for couple of hours) so you could still easily do it all in one day. We also knew that with both my husband and I having strong personalities in tiring situations it might be good to break it up a bit. 😉
Keep in mind that most of our deck stain had worn off. If your deck is painted or has thick stain this process may be different for you and you may want to refer to our other deck tutorial when we stripped awful cracked barn red paint.

First off, research what deck cleaner and stain/waterproofer will be best for the look you want. Thompson’s has a fantastic project planner guide that will help you find what is right for you based on your deck’s existing condition and how you want it to look.

Since the stain on my deck was mostly gone I used Thompson’s Heavy Duty Deck Cleaner to strip and clean without sanding. I wanted a semi-transparent look with good wear that could be done the same day as cleaning so I chose Thompson’s WaterSeal Advanced Tinted Wood Protector.


SUPPLIES:
Read the instructions on your bottles thoroughly and decide what tools will work best for you:
  • Long sleeves, pants and shoes (cover as much skin as possible)
  • Eye protection
  • Rubber Gloves
  • Masks (for spraying cleaner)
  • Deck sprayer (designed for decks with multiple sized nozzles for cleaner and stain, mine was about $13 at Lowe’s)
  • Synthetic bristle brush
  • Thompson’s Heavy Duty Deck Cleaner
  • Hose with spray nozzle head
  • Plastic drop cloths (dollar store ones are fine, I used about 5)
  • Painter’s tape
  • Thompson’s WaterSeal Advanced Tinted Wood Protector
  • Paint pads (thought I’d use the pole & handle, but just used the pad itself)
  • Paint brush meant for stain
  • Small plastic container
  • Knee pads (optional)
  • Babysitter (easier with small kiddos gone and away from hazardous items)

DIRECTIONS:
1. Check the weather and make sure there is no rain planned for the next 2 or 3 days.
2. Start as early in the morning as possible so you can make use of the cooler temperatures. 
3. Gather all your supplies and put the cleaner nozzle on the sprayer.
4. Clear everything off the deck and sweep off large debris. Drench surrounding plants and grass with water and cover with plastic drop cloths. It will kill your grass if you aren’t careful. Trust.
5. Don your eye protection, gloves, mask, etc. and pour the cleaner in to the sprayer.
Aren’t you loving my white socks with these shoes? Grubbies + Safety = Awesomeness
6. Start spraying in small sections. Let the cleaner work its magic for about 10 minutes and scrub with the synthetic bristle brush if needed to get any residue loose. Only spray as much as you can keep up with without letting it dry completely. It dries fast when it is hot, so start small.
7. Once it has soaked and been scrubbed if necessary, spray off all the residue. Rinse it really well.
8. Once it dries a bit you can see if places need more work. You can see we had a spot where a storage bin sat that needed some extra care. Also, the railing on the left got scrubbed really well, but those on the right did not. They were the last to be done and we got lazy. Don’t get lazy. We did the cleaning process on the storage bin spot and half of the railings a second time. 

9. Let the cleaner dry for two hours. While it is drying, rinse your tools and tape up your plastic drop cloths to protect the house and anything else from the tinted waterproofer.

10. Change the sprayer nozzle to the largest one and pour the waterproofer in to the sprayer.
There is a lack of waterproofer application pics because it dried so fast there was literally no time for pictures.
11. Start with the railings so you don’t have to walk over wet stain later. Putting the stain directly on the paint pads to smooth it on worked best for this part. Work fast over small areas because the hotter it is, the faster it dries. Use the brush to get in the corners and nooks. Watch for drips and wipe them up quickly.
12. Now begin the floor area. Work in a pattern that will have you finishing where you can step off the deck. We tried to use the paint pads with the handle and the pole so we could do it standing but it broke on me three times in the first two minutes so we gave up and used the pad on our hands and knees without the attachments. If it isn’t 90 degrees out so it dries almost instantly you may be able to use them. We found that working so that your shadow is shading the part you are working on was massively helpful. If you have a big canopy you can put over the deck for shade, even better! Spray a small about 2′ x 1′ section and wipe smooth with the paint pad. Do not leave it too thick or it will end up sticky. Also, more coats will not darken the color it will just make it sticky. 
13. Let it dry for at least a day without traffic praying it doesn’t rain. Remember to turn off auto sprinklers. Clean up all tools and dispose of hazardous leftovers properly. Be sure to carefully drench your grass and plants surrounding with a hose to rinse. Once the deck is dry, move everything back in to place and enjoy!
We used Nutmeg Brown waterproofer and I will admit I was nervous when we got it on. It was WAY more orange than I expected. Luckily, once I got the furniture back on and it sat for a few days the color toned down and so did my nerves.
 
It looks sooo much better and I am happy that it is protected from the looming Utah weather this fall and winter. 
I can tell you it doesn’t lie when it says waterproofer. It rained nearly every day the week after we put it on and it proved itself right away. We have hard water so you could even see water marks in the spots where big puddles dried.
One of my kids new favorite activities is to push water off the deck with the rubber squeegee broom.
I am loving my “new” deck!
Do have a project looming before fall and winter come?
Thompson’s provided the product for use and a stipend to cover my costs and time. The work, comments, and sweat were all my own.

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A Little Tipsy Tutorials Index

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That’s right, over 3 years of projects and tutorials organized by category just for you! Feel free to browse around and pin away! Your archived favorites are just a click or two away. They’re listed below and the page will also be easily accessible from the Tutorials link on the sidebar. The tutorials are listed from newest to oldest so excuse some of the photography from the older posts. The pictures are lacking, but the ideas were too fun to leave out. Enjoy!

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DIY Jewelry Organizer

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I never had a great solution for jewelry. I had things in jewelry boxes, drawers and scattered around. I wanted something to not only keep it organized, but where I could see it all: rings, necklaces, bracelets and earrings together to coordinate quickly and easily. On a trip to Ikea I found some things that I thought would be perfect for a DIY jewelry organizer, in the kitchen and garden areas of all places.
{I apologize for the pictures. It’s impossible to get a good picture of the back of the door in a room with no windows.}
I thought hard about where to store my collection. Once I started gathering it all I realized what a collection it really was. We don’t have a lot of counter or wall space in our master bath nor did I really want a big mass of jewelry out on display which is why I chose the back of the bathroom door. It gave me a big area to work with which could be in plain site or could be completely hidden away. It was perfect!
SUPPLIES:
(most found at Ikea)
  • Bygel rails
  • Bygel wire basket
  • Bygel plastic s-hooks
  • Socker Plant pots
  • Ring holder
  • Thin ribbon scraps
  • 3/4 inch flathead screws
  • Drill
Just purchase as many as you need to fit your jewelry.

I used three bars: two for necklaces and one for the basket. I used about six packs of s-hooks, one wire basket, and two buckets. I got everything for under $20.

DIRECTIONS:

Figure out the configuration on your door. I did short necklaces on top, long necklaces in the middle and buckets for bracelets down lower so I could see easily into the buckets. That just worked out with the panels on my door. 

Install your bars on the door using the flathead screws and drill.
Now start assembling. Attach the wire basket to the bar and remove the metal sheet with the holes from the bottom. Attach it to the bottom of the basket by tying it on with tiny ribbons. Place the buckets in the basket. They won’t go all the way to the bottom now that you removed the metal piece, but that didn’t bother me. Fill your buckets with your bracelets. I have nicer bracelets in little jewelry boxes so they don’t get tangled with the others.

Attach your earrings to the metal piece. Just push the backs all the way to the front if they are hook earrings and will stay on the organizer by themselves.

Place a small ring holder (found mine at the thrift store and painted it) between the buckets and fill with rings. 
 

Attach the s-hooks (buy the plastic ones, NOT the metal ones so they don’t swing everywhere) to the bars and fill with necklaces. I have two colors of hooks because I ran out and had to buy more and they didn’t have the same colors.

I made this a few weeks ago and have loved it! Having my jewelry hidden away I had forgotten about a lot of it. This way I can see exactly what I have quickly and easily. I have been wearing it a lot more and got rid of some I was ready to part with.

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