father's day gift tutorial

it is almost mean that i am posting this today,

since father's day was yesterday!

of course, we could also consider it an

extremely generous gesture, as you now have over

51 weeks to gather supplies and

prepare to tackle one of these little projects!

in any case, here are some instructions on how to make the boxes...

let's start with the striped box:

you will need:

a paper mache box

an old mens shirt

a tie

some ribbon

(i bought mine at a thrift store. after trying

this project with a normal width tie, i found that the

proportions look best with a tie that is on the thin side)

you will also need:

adhesive (i used spray mount, tacky glue and a glue stick)

and scissors.

begin by cutting the face fabric (silk) away from the tie.

there are a lot more layers than you think!

carefully cut away all stitches holding the tie together, 

being careful not to puncture the silk.

once you have all of the layers removed,

cut the bottom portion of the silk off,

and iron it.

also cut a strip from the bottom of the shirt and iron it.

i took my supplies outside because:

a) it was a gorgeous day, and

b)i knew i would be using spray mount.

lightly spray the top lid of the box with spray mount 

(both the inside and the outside)

and start wrapping the silk around the lid.

wrap it like you would a gift,

and trim off any excess.

trace the lid onto a scrap of the shirt,

and cut it just a little smaller  to fit inside the lid.

the tacky glue can be used to adhere to edges down.

i lightly sprayed only the outside of the box,

and used a glue stick for most of the bottom.

the excess was trimmed off the top edge,

and a very light strip of tacky glue was applied.

for the wood box, i simply stained it using

stain/poly mix. i bought this at lowes, and it

cost about $4.50.

ta-da!

to give the tie a little more stability,

i traced it onto a thin piece of cardboard,

and cut it just a little bit smaller.

in order to get the cardboard in, you will

have to remove a few of the stitches on the back side of the tie

that hold it all in place. trim the cardboard as you go to get a good fit.

also, you will need to angle the top portion of the

cardboard in order for it to fit inside the

tie once it's been tied.

tie the tie!

if you need a little help, (like i did)

go to you tube and find an instructional video.

once i had the tie on the box, the thin part 

was hanging out about 4", so i cut it off,

and tucked it into the back of the tie.

and sadly, i don't have a tutorial for the boutonniere!
it was one of those projects that i did kinda
spur of the moment. if i have enough requests, i will
post a tutorial later.