Tulip Glow-in-the-Dark & Black Light Fabric Paints

This is a compensated post as part of a campaign with Blueprint Social andTulip Glow in the Dark Halloween. All opinions are my own.

These Tulip Glow-in-the-Dark and Black Light Fabric Paints couldn't have shown up at a more perfect time.  A local yoga festival hosted a Black Light Yoga class Saturday night called:  Dark Side of the Moon.  Time to GLOW with the FLOW!

Here are all of the fun paints lined up and ready to decorate a plain black pair of yoga pants.  I wasn't certain I wanted to spare a pair of pants for the yoga glowing cause, so I decided I'd create a design that I'd want to wear beyond the black lights.

Starting with two different sized plates as a template for the half circle, I followed the arch of the plate with black light dots.  The blue dots show the larger plate and the pink dots followed the arch of the smaller plate.  I found a smaller tupperware lid for the yellow dots and filled the rest of the design in with zig-zags, triangles and more dots.  The fabric paints easily flow from the bottles with sharp enough points to make detailed designs:

I woke up at 8am, had the pants made by 8:15am to go out the door for the first of 5 classes for the day starting at 8:30am.  By 8pm, we were heading out the door for the last yoga practice of the day and the best one of the festival.  Here are the pants in the light:

 Under the black light:

What made this class even more fun was the little guy lined up next to my yoga mat, my son.  He thought it was one of the best nights ever and can't wait to decorate his own Halloween apparel.

A black light yoga flow makes it difficult to capture the impact of the yoga pants, but you can see how the fabric paint really pops.  I had a friend wear them and all of my yoga friends thought they were amazing.  The glow in the dark is amplified by the black light and still shines when the black lights turn off.

This is a fun, fun, FUN product and I am soooo looking forward to decorating pumpkins and other glow-in-the-dark attire for Halloween with the paints.  For more Glow-in-the-Dark and Black Light project ideas, follow Ilovetocreate on Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter.

Tie Dye your Summer!

This is a compensated post as part of a campaign with Blueprint Social and Tulip. All opinions are my own.

Are you ready to Tie Dye your Summer??  Need a fun project to occupy the kids?  Check out this box of Tulip One-Step Tie Dye products I received in the mail last week.  I've always heard that tie dying is so easy, but it seemed like more work than I wanted to tackle.  I was wrong!  Tie dying is a piece of cake and Tulip makes it even easier by providing all of the supplies you need in their One-Step Tie Dye Kits- the dye bottles all ready pre-filled with powdered dye, complete instructions with colorful photos and project/design details, rubber-bands, several pairs of plastic gloves and a large plastic sheet.

 Although it wasn't included in the steps, I pre-treated the shirts by soaking them in washing soda to hold the color.  Soak the shirts in the washing soda for 5-15minutes.  Wring out excess water.

 While the shirts soaked, I got all of the supplies ready.

 Fill the bottle to the line with warm water.

 It's smart to put the gloves on first.  I learned this after I already had a little red dye on my fingers.  Shake the bottle to dissolve the dye powder.

How to make a Spiral Rainbow tie dye design:  Spiral the t-shirt fabric by placing fork prongs on the shirt where you want the spiral to start and twisting the fork to pull the fabric into a spiral.  Secure with rubber bands (so it looks like 6 pieces of pie).  Add your red dye over one slice of the pie and repeat with each color- saving yellow for last.  Flip the shirt over and add each color dye on the backside.  Place the dyed t-shirt in a plastic bag and leave for 6-8 hours.  Rinse in cold water until the water runs clear.  Wash in hot water (separate from other clothes the first few washings).

How to make a USA Flag tie dye t-shirt:  Gather the fabric for the blue part of the flag and secure with a rubber-band (about middle of shoulder and just under the sleeve).  Wad up the sleeve and rubber-band.  Vertically accordion fold the remaining t-shirt fabric and rubber-band approximately every 2".  Add your blue dye to the shirt and then add the red dye every other section for the stripes.

 I didn't want the stripes to touch while it set for 6-8 hours, so I used plastic wrap to cover the shirt.  After 6-8 hours, remove plastic wrap, rinse in cold water until water runs clear, wash in hot water.

How to tie dye Colorado Flag t-shirt:  this is my favorite and one I contemplated for the entire day.  I wasn't sure how I was going to keep the white section white, but have the blue around the red C.  I think I came pretty close for completely winging it.  Location the part of the t-shirt where you want the yellow dot and gather a small circle of t-shirt to rubber-band.  Gather another circle below for the red C.  Scrunch the top of the shirt and bottom of the shirt and randomly rubber-band sections.  Leave the middle to have the band of white behind the C.  Add the yellow dye.  Add the red dye (if you look at the gathered circle like a clock going clockwise, add dye starting at 4o'clock and stop at 2 o'clock).  There was only a little bit of spreading.  Add light blue and dark blue dye to the top and bottom sections.  Cover in plastic for 6-8 hrs.  Rinse in cold until water runs clear.  Wash in hot (separate).

I was so excited when I uncovered and removed the rubber-bands and began to rinse!  Everyone who has seen this CO flag shirt wants one just like it.

How to horizontal tie dye shirt:  Accordion (vertically) fold the t-shirt and secure with rubber-bands every 2".  Rotate dye colors.  Flip and add dye to other side as well.  Place in plastic bag for 6-8hrs.  Rinse in cold water until the water runs clear. Wash in hot (separate from other fabrics).  I washed the rainbow spiral shirts and this striped shirt in one load and the two flag shirts in another load.

His two favorite team colors tie dyed together:  Colorado Rockies and Green Bay.

Tulip One-Step Tie-Dye is America's Favorite Tie Dye! It is easy to use. The colors are bright and bold. You don't have to worry about fading- the dyes are permanent and color-fast. The kids had a blast creating different designs and we're now getting started on refashioning the shirts to use as swim suit cover ups for the pool this summer. I can't get home fast enough from work to do 5 more shirts with the kids this evening.

Check out more project ideas at ilovetocreate. Follow ilovetocreate on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest.

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Girl and Boy Valentine's Day Box with Apple Barrel Craft Paints

Thank you Apple Barrel Craft Paints for sponsoring this post. You can find these Apple Barrel Craft supplies at a Michaels near you! 

The Valentine's Day classroom party was always my favorite classroom party of the year when I was a kid.  My mom would return from the store with the big packs of Juicy Fruit gum and we'd get busy taping an individual stick of gum to each Valentine.  Do your kids decorate their own Valentine's Day box at home?  If so, we're going to show you how to create a stand-out Girl and Boy Valentine receptacle with only a few inexpensive supplies from Apple Barrel Craft Paints.