custom_tie_jonathan_fong

Custom Decorated Necktie: Unity Stamp Blog Hop

My friend Ann Butler is launching her own line of stamps this week for Unity Stamp Company, so I was honored to be asked to participate in this blog hop featuring her stamps. She is introducing four different sets, and I was randomly given the 1″ Doily Picnic set. A doily picnic doesn’t really sound like me, but these stamps are very versatile, and ultimately, I found that I was Mr. Doily Picnic himself.

For my project, I decided to give a makeover to a boring old necktie I had that I never wore anymore. I also decided to “tie in” Craft Attitude printable film. And the results are really tie-rrific.

Materials used:

1″ Doily Picnic stamp set from Ann Butler Designs and the Unity Stamp Company

1 sheet of Craft Attitude printable film

Super 77 spray adhesive

StazOn ink pad, black

necktie

1) These are the Doily Picnic stamps I worked with. I love that besides 1″ squares, there are also squares cut in half diagonally, and no one loves an isosceles triangle more than me.

stamp_tie_12) Here is the old necktie. It’s a pale silver grey, which is a perfect background for the Craft Attitude film to go on. stamp_tie_2

3) I created a stripe pattern on Photoshop and printed it out onto a sheet of Craft Attitude printable film with my home inkjet printer.stamp_tie_3

4) I cut the Craft Attitude in half vertically, giving me two pieces that were 11″ in height, and therefore, 22″ overall for the tie. That’s all you need, as you don’t have to decorate the part of the tie that is hidden. Then I applied the stamps on the ink side of the Craft Attitude film. Using StazOn ink, the stamps really worked nicely on the Craft Attitude film.

stamp_tie_45) I sprayed Super 77 adhesive on the ink side, and then placed the film ink side down on the tie. Then I peeled off the protective backing to reveal the pattern on the tie. Nice! Repeat with the second piece of Craft Attitude.stamp_tie_5

6) Fold the excess film onto the back side. It doesn’t matter if the back side is not perfect. No one sees it.stamp_tie_6

And just like that, I created a brand new necktie. As Tim Gunn says, “Make it work.”  And if you’re wondering how the Craft Attitude and the ink from the stamps held up with the constant knotting and un-knotting of the tie, I am happy to say that the tie did just fine. In fact, the Craft Attitude film gives the tie a nice satin finish that is actually stain resistant. So go ahead and put extra ketchup on that burger. If it gets on the tie, you can just wipe it off.

tie_3shotstamp_tie_finished

I’m thrilled to be able to feature Ann Butler’s stamps in this project. If you would like your own set, click here. And if you order between Thursday May 2 to Monday May 6 at midnight (CST), you’ll get 50% off! Just use coupon code Unity 5.




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