In college, I came up with this fun idea to recycle my tea bag envelopes and tags by turning them into cute little notes. If you're like me and you drink tea all day long, I suggest you give this a try. It's SUPER fun!
- Used Tea Bag with the tea bag envelope
- Watercolor paintbrush
- Watercolor paper (weight your choice) or card stock paper for the folded cards.
- Archival Ink pad
- Sewing needle (any size)
- Faber Castell PITT Art Pen (fine tip)
- Mini paper cutter (used for scrapbooking)
- Rubbermoon Art Stamp (I used the New Moon stamp - a favorite)
INSTRUCTIONS:
Prepare a cup of tea to drink while you work on this project :)
Tear the string off the used teabag and save the tea bag envelope. Squeeze excess tea from teabag into bowl to use for painting, before pitching the used tea bag.
Use paper of your choice (watercolor paper is best for tea
painting), and use mini paper cutter to chop your paper. I chopped up a
5x7 piece of watercolor paper and created multiple little art pieces at
once. If you want to make folding cards, cut long rectangles: 1.75"x
4.75". If you want to just make non-folding cards (to simply create art
to fit inside the tea envelopes), cut pieces at this size: 1.75"x 2
3/8".
Prepare a cup of tea to drink while you work on this project :)
Tear the string off the used teabag and save the tea bag envelope. Squeeze excess tea from teabag into bowl to use for painting, before pitching the used tea bag.
Use a sewing needle for your tea bag string tat you tore from the tea bag.
String it through the tea tag thread and poke through the card.
Remove needle after the thread is through, and knot the thread.
Now it's FUN TIME!
Use Rubbermoon stamp and then start your tea painting.
Use a watercolor brush, and treat it just as you would treat watercolor.
Feel free to spatter the inside of note with tea!
When the tea is dry, use Faber Castell PITT Art Pen (doesn't bleed) to add more design accents to the front and back of your note card(s).
And VOILA! You are all set with a set of cards to tuck inside your multitude of tea bag envelopes! Use double-stick tape to attach one to the front of your tea envelope for added artsy-ness (see image below)! Surprise your friends with these along with a letter in the mail. Write a poem, a meaningful quote, or love note inside! A very fun thing to surprise someone with!
