I saw this adorable tea-related hand made greeting card and had to share it here!
I love that sentiment!
I do not know who the artist is who stamped and made the card, so I cannot give her credit. The stamp, called Gabrielle, was designed by Annie Rodrigue, and is available at Kraftin' Kimmie stamps, a Canadian stamp company located in Kitchener. If you are a crafting tea drinker, or know someone who is, you can find out more here.
I recently came across this great little print at the MadeByGirl blog. You can order it for download it from her shop, print it and frame it yourself (inexpensive frames are easily accessed at Michaels).
Maybe a tea loving friend would love to hang this in her family room or computer space.
Just a simple, easy gift idea for yourself or someone else.
Looking for a little project? This is a super way to use up garage sale finds or mismatched pieces when parts of a set start to break.
Isn't this fun and whimsical for your next tea-themed occasion? The water pours from the teapot into the cup and from the cup it is recirculated using a pump back into the teapot, creating a never-filling cup.
During my how-to investigation, I found that there are battery operated pumps that are not as loud as elecric pumps, which, for an indoor display means the display is not as noisy and you might hear the water better.
Here is how one crafter made indoor table top teapot fountains:
I started with a big basket and a plastic basket liner to hold the water. Yes, you need to drill a hole in the bottom of the teapot. Then, run tubing from the pump through the hole in the teapot.
You have to wire the teapot to a stake or something and wire the stake tightly to the basket so it doesn't tip over.
I put a piece of oasis in the basket liner and put a saucer and teacup on top of the oasis lined up so the water would pour from the teapot spout to the teacup. As the teacup filled, it overflowed into the saucer and then into the basket liner below. I hid the pump behind the oasis and twined artificial greenery around the stake, the edge of the basket and all the mechanics. I added fresh flowers to it as well. It was really pretty. Oh, I used cold coffee as the water that was pumped...it is more colorful than tea.
Another one I made was for a friend's wedding. Her husband was a fisherman in Alaska. I also did it in a basket. I cut some bare twigs and spray painted them white and then sprinkled them with glitter. I put some white Christmas decoration leaves around the top edge of the basket, then spray painted the basket, the white leaves and basket edge with artificial snow. I attached battery-operated white lights to it, hiding the wiring in the white leaves, then also sprayed more artificial snow to help hide the light wires completely. I attached the twigs to represent the tree line along the back edge of the basket. I had some big frosted glass chunks that I put in the basket liner. When I added the water, they looked like icebergs. I put 2 tiny ceramic polar bears on one of the icebergs. Water was pumped like a waterfall over the icebergs. I put some dry ice in the back, so it had a foggy mist over it.
Their wedding colors were siver and blue, so I added a big silver and blue bow to the handle of the basket with long "tails" hanging across the snow scene.
I've had a lot of fun with indoor fountains, and they're really easy to do once you've figured out the simple mechanics of it all. Just be sure you have a basin deep enough to cover the pump with water or you can burn the fountain out.
This version uses a submersible pump and depending on the size and number of pots and cups could be built quite a bit larger for a permanent outdoor display.
From e-how.com, here is how to assemble this version:
If you have lots of room in your backyard, perhaps you'll want to create this project on a larger scale, like this artist did!
One of the boards I was on suggested that solar pumps will also work for the outdoor project.
They also suggested that using distilled water, especially for the indoor version, will reduce the maintenance required to keep stones, leaves, and cups looking nice, and also keeps the pump working cleanly and efficiently.
You can also visit here to see a pdf document with instructions and photos for an indoor version.
Wouldn't this craft make a lovely gift for a tea-loving friend? You could adhere a pincushion inside it, or plant a seedling in it, to make it functional. Or place a few delicious tea-infused dark chocolates or cookies in a cello bag in it. Or help the kids with it to make for a Father's Day gift.
Gather your supplies:
Method:
Idea originated here, author unknown.
Isn't this a neat way to reflect your love of tea through your home decor?
This clock was designed by Matt Carr of Umbra and retails for around $400 - 500.
This clock was featured at Style at Home.
And this one was available for a time through the shop at HGTV.
Clearly a trend is emerging!
But if you are a bit crafty, I don't think it would be too difficult to make...
... it's garage sale season, so acquiring a variety of teacups and saucers wouldn't be difficult if you didn't want to use your own stash of teacups...
... and a search around the web revealed that some people have tried...
... and been very successful!
Over at Vintage Revivals , the author explains how both she and a friend decided to make their own clocks, having been inspired by the Umbra clock.
Here is her version.
And here is her friend's version.
I love how using the same "ingredients": particle board base, paint, teacups and a clockworks, they acheived 2 completely different looks.
If you'd like ot make your own, visit the Vintage Revivals site for her directions. She highly recommends Gorilla Epoxy. I don't know if it's available around here. If you could not find it, you might try E6000. It's an industrial strength adhesive that can be found at Michaels.
If you decide to make one, please send us a photo/link. I'd love to see it!
Easter weekend is just about here.
We at Steeped Tea wish you a happy, safe weekend with maybe some time for reflection and celebration, time for family and friends, time for you.
Are you entertaining this weekend? Don't forget the tea! It's always a perfect ending to a scrumptious meal. If you and your guests have overindulged and are feeling a bit uncomfortable from too much food, try a cup of Pu-Ehr. Or enjoy a cup of a delicious flavoured tea instead of dessert - Toffee Dream, perhaps?
How about some Easter decorating. For many people, dying Easter eggs is a tradition. You could play with that tradition and dye them using tea. Hard boil your eggs and then shock them by removing them from the boiling water with a slotted spoon and submerging them in ice-cubes and water to prevent the yolks from getting that green edge. Put the egg water back on the burner, then once boiling, turn the burner off, add about 1/2 c. loose tea (in an infuser or tea sac), and let steep. Take an egg out of the ice water and gently tap with a spoon to crack the shell, but not so hard that the shell breaks away. Gently place the shell-cracked eggs in the tea and steep on a low simmer for 30 minutes. Remove from heat, allow to cool and then refrigerate overnight in tea water.
Or decorate your eggs this way.
Dust off your teacups, place some cellophane Easter grass in each and nestle a dyed Easter egg in each cup. Then place one at each place setting for a fun Easter table. Or use candy/chocolate/marzipan eggs.
Are you ready for Christmas yet? It's just over 1 week away? Are you giving tea to anyone?
We have wonderful tea samplers as a way of introducing your love of loose leaf tea to friends, teachers, party hostesses, etc. that include an infuser and tea measuring spoon.
You could use T-Sacs, sold by Steeped Fine Loose Tea, or stiff muslin circles wrapped closed with string, to customize your little gift.
If you have a few tea cups missing their saucers, and a few half burned candles around, why not turn it into a a gift or use it for holiday decor and ambience?
This idea is also found at Martha Stewart and we've shared it here before.
Look, she even wraps a packet of matches with paper!
Tools and Materials
Nested pans
Partially burned candles
Candy or candle thermometer
Tongs
New wicking
Teacups
Wick sustainers
Wooden skewers
Teacup Lights How-To
1. In a small pan set over a larger pan of simmering water, melt down old candles; clip the thermometer to the upper pot, and keep temperature at about 185 degrees. Remove old wicks with tongs.
So grab that cup that's missing a saucer or hunt one down at the thrift store and make a quick gift or two!
Have you ever tried to dye anything with tea? I have dyed a silk scarf which I then stamped on to give as a gift. Although having tried it once, I certainly couldn't call myself an expert, and wouldn't say that the results are consistent enough to turn it into a business.
But entrepreneur Janis Badarau has enjoyed success dying tee-shirts and selling them online, so much so, that she's rebranded her company name to CrafTea Designs. The new name reflects the company's diversification into additional tea-related gift products.
Amongst the new product lines, which will be introduced in time for holiday shopping, are tea-dyed ribbons of lace and embellished fabric; origami teapot jewlery; and tea leaf bead jewelry.
All products are completely hand-crafted, all-natural, and eco-friendly.
Based in Lavonia, Georgia, Badarau is best known among specialty tea professionals for her online publications The Cat-Tea Corner and TeaGuide Worldwide Tea Directory. But on the side, she has perfected a method for dyeing clothing and accessories with tea.
Have you dyed cloth with tea? How did it work out for you?
I enjoy reading a few other tea blogs and one of the bloggers loves to craft, especially with tea-related items. This idea (along with the photos) is hers.
She and her hubby took a trip to the beaches of Alabama earlier in the spring.
You can see the orange oil spill boom on the shore - the trip was after the BP spill and this was there to help prevent the oil from reaching this beach.
One of the things she likes to do, like many of us, while strolling the beach is collect shells.
When you get home, what do you do with all of those shells?
Her idea was to take an old teapot and decorate it. She applied some acrylic paint to some gold lines on the pot first.
Then she got out her glue gun and started adhering the shells to the pot.
The finished pot is part of a little display in her home that she changes seasonally.
Next time you are beach combing, you can think about how your collection of things can go with your other love, tea!
Isn't this a pretty and do-able decorating idea for your next gathering of friends and tea.
What a great way to use up cups when the saucer's been broken, or just display your teacup collection instead hiding it behind glass in a cabinet.
