Merriment Chain~ Day 2~ Tea Bag Ornies

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~Tea Bag Tree Ornies~

 Steep 4 bags in 1 cup of  boiling water for 3 or 4 minutes.  The herbal teas don't quite produce the color normal tea does. So I prefer using that.  I was using peppermint here because it sounded good this morning.

Let your tea bags air dry.  If you don't have the patience, you can pop them in the oven at 200 degrees for a little bit.  You just have to check them very frequently so they don't burn.

Find the graphics you want to use and re size them to 2x2.

I personally love The Graphics Fairy . I just opened them in Microsoft Word and did it that way.  Print them out on the glossy side of some freezer paper which has been cut to the dimensions of a regular piece of printer paper.  If they come out smudged, just wipe them off with a wet paper towel and try again.

Being careful not to touch the graphics, cut them to a size that you would be able to set on your tea bag.

 Now, take a wet towel and dampen the tea bag.  Don't saturate it as it will make the ink run.  Just wet enough to transfer the ink.

Lay it on the wet tea bag and with one hand hold it in place, and with the other rub a finger firmly over the entire paper. Carefully peel it off starting with a bottom corner.

Because your tea bags are dark and wet, the ink will not show up right away.  You will be able to see it more clearly as it dries. 

Now, embellish with rusty bells and pins.  I used burlap twine for my hooks. 

See, aren't they so pretty?  And someone laughed at me when I told them over the phone what I was making:)

It's A Tea Party

Hi!  Welcome to my tea party.  I made a big batch of tea and I am not letting any go to waste.  So, today we are going to dye Muslin, age paper, and color eggs.  It won't take too long.  You can do all these projects in just a couple of hours.  Oh ya, one more thing. Would you please take a second to comment before you leave the party:)  I would love to know who was here.  It's a great way for me to meet new blog friends and to talk with old ones.  Thanks, and have fun with your hands in the tea.

 Tea dyed Muslin

Add 2 tea bags for ever 1 cup of water.  4 cups of water and 8 tea bags will do 1 yard of fabric.  Boil water and add tea.  Let steep 5 minutes.  Drop your wad of fabric in (some add strong coffee as well at this point) and saturate moving it around until your desired color comes out.  Without wringing it, put it on a foiled covered baking sheet and put in 250 degree oven for 15 min.  Baste it often.  Flip it over and do the same on the other side.  Keep flipping (and basting) every 15 min. until you see a mottled affect. *Ignore the looks you get from your family when they see that you are cooking fabric.*  When done, rinse it out and throw it in the dryer on the highest setting until damp.  Then iron on your highest setting. Then you are done.  If you don't like the look, steep some more tea and do it over until it's right.

 Aged Paper

Heat oven to 250 degrees or just leave it on after you have dyed your fabric.  Line a baking sheet with parchment and lay your copy paper or card stock on it.  Brush with strong dark tea, saturating both sides of the paper.  A little pooling is ok in some spots.  That makes the darker blotches on the paper.  Put it in the oven until it is dry.  Watch carefully.  Again * ignore the looks given because you are baking paper* If you don't like the look of the paper, re-stain it with the tea and dry until desired affect comes out.  Iron it if you are running it through your printer later.

Tea colored eggs

Sanitize your eggs with soap and water (unless you want to get sick):{ With a straight pin, poke a hole on both ends about an eighth of an inch.  Shake and shake and shake until you start getting egg white out.  Then (don't gasp) blow out the rest.  I cover the part I am put my mouth on with a paper towel.  It can be quite an exercise to blow it out, but never give up.  Keep shaking as you go.  Rinse out the egg and blow until clear water comes out.  For brown eggs, roll evenly in a mixture of 2 bags of tea to 1 cup water until desired color is achieved.  For green and blue eggs, add 1 drop of blue food coloring and 1 drop of green food coloring to one glass of water.  You can play around with the coloring yourself.  After the eggs are colored stand them up and let them drain.  For the spots, use brown acrylic paint.  Lightly run a old tooth brush through a small amount of paint and touch the spots on the eggs. Stand them up again and let dry.