One of our goals at Paper Crafter”s Library is to keep you up-to-date on latest trends in the paper crafting industry. Each Tuesday we are going to showcase a different trend, with today”s post being our first. Please welcome our first Trend Reporter Katherine Elliot. If you missed Katherine”s introduction, you can visit this link: https://blog.papercrafterslibrary.com/please-welcome-new-trend-reporter-katherine-elliott/.
Time for Tea
By: Katherine Elliot
Is it the upcoming London Olympics that has tea on everyone”s mind? Maybe, maybe not, but tea and papercrafting seem well suited for each other. No doubt, tea themes have been around for awhile, but images of tea cups, teapots, and tea inspired techniques remain very popular.
Versatile stamp sets that include images with related phrases, and some with coordinating steel rule dies, make it easy to create a lovely tea themed project.
You can find many styles and coordinating products to make something sweet and dainty, bright and beautiful, or soft and soothing…
Even for those that may not ink up a stamp very often, a vintage die cut or tag can perk up something brewing on your scrapbook pages.
Tea has inspired paper crafting for a very long time… The technique of “tea bag folding” was originally done with tea bag wrappers. Decoratively folded wrappers were once used for this simple form of origami.
More commonly used today, folded squares of patterned paper can create a variety of beautiful shapes to decorate a card or project. Learn tea bag folding techniques and more at the Origami Resource Center.
Do you need some creative plans for this spring? Have a tea party!
No need to be confined to a flat page or project when there are many tea-inspired 3D projects to create. Tea party decorations make a perfect complement to a spring tea party, baby or wedding shower.
And last but not least, a favorite tea inspired paper craft technique is tea staining. This technique can be taken literally – stain your paper with a steeped tea bag to create a truly custom tea inspired page or card.
- Click the photo to read instructions on tea staining at ehow.com
Take the time to enjoy a cup of tea and relax, then try a tea stain technique on your next project.
With a variety of different teas available, you can create a unique look depending on the tea you use (such as green or black tea).
Of course, if you are not a tea drinker, you can easily “cheat” by using ink specifically designed to mimic aged paper or tea stain colors.
Sponge or dab the ink where you desire to achieve beautiful, vintage, tea-inspired results.
- Image source: www.scissorspapercard.blogspot.com
Now, it looks like it”s time for tea… Cheerio and happy crafting!
Absolutely loved your first post!! Lots of ideas and wonderful links to product and
projects. This was truly enjoyable to read. Will look forward to many more! 🙂
Jennifer, Calgary, AB
Love the free-standing tea-pot!
Great selection of tea inspired paper crafting!
Just exquisite.
Great article Katherine. I’m a coffee and chocolate lover, but have recently started drinking tea as well. It’s nice to know that it’s such a widely used theme, and that I will be able to find what I need! I have never tried tea bag folding, but it looks beautiful. I will have to give that a try. Thanks so much for all of the links as well as the photos!
LOVED this article!
Love it . I
Loved the article! Thx
Fun article on a theme near and dear to my heart. Looking forward to your next piece!
I’m blown away by the creativity!
So many great projects — where do I start? I think I’ll go make a cup of tea and think about it…. Looking forward to your next post. Great start.
I am a tea drinker so of course I had to buy the SU tea shopper that is one of the sets used in this post.