I created another little tutorial today; this time I’m just sharing the photos and steps here, rather than on video. EnJoy!
Tea Bag Charm Tutorial
You will need:
• Two empty and rinsed tea bags • Scraps of your favorite paper • Ribbons, lace, pearls, or other embellishments of choice • Scissors • Ruler • Pencil • Your Favorite Glue (I used Aleene’s Tacky and E6000) • Clean chopstick •
Tea Bag Charm Tutorial 1
Step One: First, cut the longer edges of your tea bags straight across, and dump out the leaves. Rinse the bags, turning while they are wet to rinse off remaining residue. Use the tip of a chopstick to gently turn the corners. Turn right side out again when clean, and hang to dry. Then press flat with a hot iron. They don’t have to be perfect!
Tea Bag Charm Tutorial 2
Step Two: Select a snippet of paper to decorate your charm. It can be a square or any shape you desire, even a sticker if you prefer. Decide where you want to place the paper, and glue in place onto one of the tea bags.
Tea Bag Charm Tutorial 3
Step Three: Begin embellishing as you wish. Here I added a length of pretty lace…
Tea Bag Charm Tutorial 4
…and some lovely flat-back pearls. Oops, I did not get them evenly spaced! Oh, well this gives it more appeal
Tea Bag Charm Tutorial 5
Next, I added a length of rose clusters to form a belly band. I discovered that the tacky glue does not work well with the lace and rose trim, as the glue soaks into the tea bag pretty quickly. So I adhered these with E6000.
Tea Bag Charm Tutorial 6
Step Four: On the reverse side, apply a bit of glue to hold a loop of perl embroider thread, ribbon, or hanging of your choice. Tie a knot above the cut ends of the loop and lay those over the glue. Then spread tacky glue over the rest of the tea bag, and carefully apply the second bag, lining up the edges as best you can (I had to trim one edge when done). This second tea bag adds firmness and durability to the charm. You may also choose to decorate the reverse side if you wish.
Tea Bag Charm Tutorial 7
Step Five: Add a tag inside the belly band, or a card if you wish. You could also create a pocket intead, or neither. Add stamps, beads, buttons, or whatever else you love. You can hang your charm as an ornament, or use it in a journal as a dangle charm or even a small bookmark.
Have fun creating! I hope you enjoyed this tutorial. Do let me know if you try it out, please.
Fiber Fancies 