Happy Tulip colors make me feel like dancing.
Crimp your bangs, whip your hair into a side pony, and tie up your tie-dyed tee, kids. It's time to enjoy a totally late-80s/early-90s fabric painting video tutorial.
You may be asking questions like:
Why?
Wha...?
Do happy Tulip colors really make you feel like dancing?
Will this song EVER get out of my head?
The answer to the last question is: no. Muwahahaha!!
Allow me to explain why I shared this peach of a video with you.
As kids, my sister Elizabeth and I would often spend a few weeks at my grandparents' house in southern Illinois. They didn't have cable, and the over-the-air channels left something to be desired for two kids spoiled by having Nickelodeon and its classics, such as Pete and Pete, Salute Your Shorts, and, of course, Hey Dude. You know, good, quality programming.
Oh, sure, we rode bikes, played outside, played Chinese Checkers and WAR, helped Mamaw make dinner and let Pawpaw take us for ice cream (you know, to be good sports), read tons, and did other things. My grandmother had a fine collection of costume jewelry and scarves. Combined with my granddad's ties, we made ourselves some seriously fabulous outfits. But sometimes you just want to sit on the dark blue shag carpet and watch some TV. When the TV is no good, you pull out some VHS magic.
We never questioned why Mamaw had some of the videos that she did. We just watched the ones that weren't totally boring. On those afternoons where it was too hot to ride bikes any more, what better to watch while cooling down with a bowl of ice cream than Totally Tulip: How to Tulip Paint Your Sweatshirts.
Now, this was the early nineties. Puff paint was MAGICAL and only the cool kids had a sweatshirt or tee-shirt that they'd covered in some totally tubular neon designs of their own creation. You'd wear it with your bike shorts and two pairs--yes, two--of scrunch socks. (Orange and pink on the left, then pink and orange on the right. Duh.)
I am now wondering why we all tried so hard to make our ankles as fat as possible.
Anyway, this video wasn't dated. It was hip and current and fresh. And we watched it far too many times during our youthful summers in Illinois. We learned how to take a nice, fat bead of paint and then smear it with a plastic spoon (I hear you squealing, "A plastic spoon?!" with delighted wonder) in an artful fashion in order to make a sea shell, or waves, or awesome gold smears in a really cool curly pattern. We learned to layer the paint for a really fresh and hip effect. Brush some glitter paint on, then break out the plastic spoon to make a sea shell, THEN make a squiggle on top of the sea shell! SO TOTALLY RAD, GUYS!
And the video had a really cool song, too. "Talkin' Tulip, totally Tulip! Feelin' Tulip, totally Tulip!"
As you now know, that song it annoyingly catchy. It's probably been about 20 years since I'd seen it (wow, I'm old), but so totally rad--like, Kelly Kapowski rad--was that video that occasionally its tubular theme song would pop in my head.
When this happened last Friday night (after my onion breath had subsided) I had to text my sister. All I said was, "Talkin' Tulip, totally Tulip!" and she knew exactly what I was talking about.
I then found the above video online, the intro segment to the video tutorial we loved to watch when we were still "young ladies" (primarily when we got in trouble). With enthusiasm that could not be contained, I joyfully, gleefully sent it to her for her own viewing pleasure. She countered with something that would blow my mind: this video was for sale on Amazon, and there was only one copy.
You might be thinking, "was only one copy?" Yes, was, because I bought that bad boy with a quickness.
Can I just say how much fun it was to put a VHS in the VCR? The familiar clicking sounds took me back to days gone by. Well, that's once I remembered that I don't have to hit the eject button to be able to put the tape in (like you do with a DVD), you can just push it in. (Whoa.) And then you have to rewind it--tee-hee!-- like some old fashioned thing that doesn't automatically start at the beginning each time!
Can I just say how glad I am that I still have a VCR?
Yes, it was really weird of me to buy this, but in my defense, it was 100% a nostalgia thing. I loved my grandparents very dearly and it's a fond memory that my sister and I share. But, I confess, I also look forward to getting together with Elizabeth and forcing our kids to brandish their plastic spoons for some Totally Tulip fun.
So, who wants to join me for a sweatshirt painting party? BYOP(aint) and I'll supply the spoons!
Like, totally cool sweatshirts and fluffy bangs to you and yours,
xo
You may be asking questions like:
Why?
Wha...?
Do happy Tulip colors really make you feel like dancing?
Will this song EVER get out of my head?
The answer to the last question is: no. Muwahahaha!!
Allow me to explain why I shared this peach of a video with you.
As kids, my sister Elizabeth and I would often spend a few weeks at my grandparents' house in southern Illinois. They didn't have cable, and the over-the-air channels left something to be desired for two kids spoiled by having Nickelodeon and its classics, such as Pete and Pete, Salute Your Shorts, and, of course, Hey Dude. You know, good, quality programming.
(Yeah, that's TWO videos for your viewing pleasure. Welcome.)
Oh, sure, we rode bikes, played outside, played Chinese Checkers and WAR, helped Mamaw make dinner and let Pawpaw take us for ice cream (you know, to be good sports), read tons, and did other things. My grandmother had a fine collection of costume jewelry and scarves. Combined with my granddad's ties, we made ourselves some seriously fabulous outfits. But sometimes you just want to sit on the dark blue shag carpet and watch some TV. When the TV is no good, you pull out some VHS magic.
We never questioned why Mamaw had some of the videos that she did. We just watched the ones that weren't totally boring. On those afternoons where it was too hot to ride bikes any more, what better to watch while cooling down with a bowl of ice cream than Totally Tulip: How to Tulip Paint Your Sweatshirts.
Now, this was the early nineties. Puff paint was MAGICAL and only the cool kids had a sweatshirt or tee-shirt that they'd covered in some totally tubular neon designs of their own creation. You'd wear it with your bike shorts and two pairs--yes, two--of scrunch socks. (Orange and pink on the left, then pink and orange on the right. Duh.)
I am now wondering why we all tried so hard to make our ankles as fat as possible.
Anyway, this video wasn't dated. It was hip and current and fresh. And we watched it far too many times during our youthful summers in Illinois. We learned how to take a nice, fat bead of paint and then smear it with a plastic spoon (I hear you squealing, "A plastic spoon?!" with delighted wonder) in an artful fashion in order to make a sea shell, or waves, or awesome gold smears in a really cool curly pattern. We learned to layer the paint for a really fresh and hip effect. Brush some glitter paint on, then break out the plastic spoon to make a sea shell, THEN make a squiggle on top of the sea shell! SO TOTALLY RAD, GUYS!
And the video had a really cool song, too. "Talkin' Tulip, totally Tulip! Feelin' Tulip, totally Tulip!"
As you now know, that song it annoyingly catchy. It's probably been about 20 years since I'd seen it (wow, I'm old), but so totally rad--like, Kelly Kapowski rad--was that video that occasionally its tubular theme song would pop in my head.
When this happened last Friday night (after my onion breath had subsided) I had to text my sister. All I said was, "Talkin' Tulip, totally Tulip!" and she knew exactly what I was talking about.
I then found the above video online, the intro segment to the video tutorial we loved to watch when we were still "young ladies" (primarily when we got in trouble). With enthusiasm that could not be contained, I joyfully, gleefully sent it to her for her own viewing pleasure. She countered with something that would blow my mind: this video was for sale on Amazon, and there was only one copy.
You might be thinking, "was only one copy?" Yes, was, because I bought that bad boy with a quickness.
 |
| IT'S HERE IT'S HERE IT'S HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! |
Can I just say how much fun it was to put a VHS in the VCR? The familiar clicking sounds took me back to days gone by. Well, that's once I remembered that I don't have to hit the eject button to be able to put the tape in (like you do with a DVD), you can just push it in. (Whoa.) And then you have to rewind it--tee-hee!-- like some old fashioned thing that doesn't automatically start at the beginning each time!
Can I just say how glad I am that I still have a VCR?
Yes, it was really weird of me to buy this, but in my defense, it was 100% a nostalgia thing. I loved my grandparents very dearly and it's a fond memory that my sister and I share. But, I confess, I also look forward to getting together with Elizabeth and forcing our kids to brandish their plastic spoons for some Totally Tulip fun.
So, who wants to join me for a sweatshirt painting party? BYOP(aint) and I'll supply the spoons!
Like, totally cool sweatshirts and fluffy bangs to you and yours,
xo
Comments
Post a Comment
Say something clever or complimentary. Bonus points for both at the same time!