Tag Archives: tea gift

Learn how to design your own card

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Crafting a paper project is one thing, but feeling confident about actually designing it, that’s quite another. You cannot teach creativity, but what I can do is taking you along in my thought process while I design a special kind of card.

Using a sheet of Mintay’s Next Trip collection, I’m designing a card with a spine, meant to hold a hand-made tea bag filled with delicious tea.

Mintay Papers – Next Trip – MT-NEX-03

You can watch me come up with measurements – while I explain all kinds of different design options – where to cut and fold, and how to get the most out of your one sheet of design paper. You will also see me design an actual belly bridge, vs. the more common belly band :-), one which is able to accomodate quite a bulky tea bag.

In the video I’m also using a tea bag die, but you can of course also cut and fold your own little tea bag. If you don’t know how to do that, there’s a complete instruction on how to replicate this particular one, including measurements, in my Tea Bag Micro Album tutorial.

Hope this is helpful to you, let me know in the comments!

PS: I’m not creating as many projects as I used to, it’s just a phase I’m guessing. This past 1.5 year has beaten my creativity down somewhat. I’ll still be here though, and on Youtube. Just not every single week. Sorry! 😔

To my Dutch followers: if you want to see what I’ve been up to lately, check out my second YT channel, which is entirely in Dutch, and my second IG account (English) 🙂

Makeup with Katja

Shopping My Stash: Easter / Spring Tea Wallet Card

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This year I sent three Easter cards to friends and family. The first two I already shared in one of my previous posts. This week I’m sharing the third, which is a wallet card, or a tea bag holder card, or whatever other creative descriptive you can come up with 🙂

Also, I shopped my stash again, one of this year’s themes for me personally, in order to actually use up the forgotten-but-beautiful-nonetheless papers in my collection.

It turned out pretty lovely, and of course I filled it up with some fresh tea, as is my way – because I just love to send my friends a Hug-in-a-Mug!

Anyway, here’s the video – ask any questions or leave a remark in the comment section below!

My Thinking Proces While Decorating a Box (relaxing video)

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This week I’m sharing my thinking process while decorating an altered box. Some things are planned, but not everything. Most things work out, but not everything – and how to fix those. All in all I was pretty contented with how this little treasure chest turned out, and my friend was thrilled to receive it 🙂

If you want to know how to mat such a box in the first place, then check out one of my previous blog posts – or simply scroll down and find that video at the end of this post.

With its 25 minutes this week’s video is a bit long, and I’m mostly rambling on about what the next decorative element might be and why, plus I’m including several tips along the way. So get into your Chill Out mode, get a great cup of coffee or tea and a little snack, sit back, and most of all: relax and let the tone of my voice wash over you. Who knows, if you watch this in bed you may even fall asleep before the end – in which case: Sweet Dreams! 🙂 💤

 

How to mat a box:

 

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Tea-riffic Micro Album!

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(Nederlandse tekst + video hieronder!)

I’m very happy and honored to be a Guest Designer for Crealies this month! 🎉

For my first guest designer project I designed a completely new variation on my own micro album designs, and I’m calling it a Tea Bag Micro Album! This title says it all, for it literally is that: a micro album (3 x 2¾“) with tea bags for pages. Which of course makes it a great and original gift, plus it’s stinking cute because it’s so very small! 💛

It was very fun to make and super affordable for it only takes one sheet of 12×12” design paper for the bulk of what you need! Sweetness 👍🏼😃

Products used / Gebruikte producten:

  • Crealies tea bag holder die set CLSolo02
  • Crealies text die CLTS108
  • Crealies Tiny Text stamp set CLTZM05
  • Crealies Duo Dies CLDD33
  • Crealies Duo Dies CLDD37
  • Crealies Duo Dies CLDD37A
  • Crealies Inside or Out die set CLIO07
  • Crealies Set of 3 die set CLSet50
  • Design paper: Tea Time collection by Craft & You
  • Small piece of cardstock

You can find all dies and the stamp set at Crealies’s (internationally oriented) website.

Enjoy the video and pictures below, and don’t forget to check out my tutorial, which is suitable for anyone, regardless of whether you are a beginner or an advanced paper crafter.

See you next week, and let me know what you think by leaving a comment and sharing this post on all of your social media!

 

Filled up with tea bags! / Gevuld met theezakjes!

Ik ben blij en vereerd dat ik deze maand een van de guest designers ben voor Crealies. 🎉

Voor mijn eerste guest designer project heb ik iets nieuws ontworpen, d.w.z. een nieuwe variatie op mijn eigen microalbum ontwerpen, en ik noem het een Theezakjes Microalbum!

Die titel zegt in principe alles, want dat is precies wat het is: een piepklein albumpje (7.5 x 7 cm) met theezakjes als bladzijden. Die Crealies-theezakjes stelen echt de show vind ik, door de prachtige details, die het geheel een authentiek gevoel meegeven. 💛

Dit microalbum is natuurlijk een hartstikke leuk en origineel kadootje, en het is superschattig doordat het zo klein is! Het was erg leuk om te ontwerpen en te maken en het is nog betaalbaar ook omdat je feitelijk maar 1 vel dubbelzijdig designpapier nodig hebt van 30.5 x 30.5 cm. 👍🏼😃

Geniet van het filmpje en de foto’s, en kijk gerust in mijn webshop voor de rijk geïllustreerde werkinstructie (tutorial) voor dit kleine albumpje. En je vindt de gebruikte Crealies-producten in het lijstje hierboven. Je kunt ze uiteraard allemaal krijgen bij www.crealies.nl.

Laat het me weten als je dit een leuk projectidee vindt door een comment achter te laten, en natuurlijk door deze post te delen op al je social media!

 

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Kraft-colored Tea Box with Olive Tree

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A man requested a customized tea box for his beloved, an avid tea lover. He asked me to keep it natural, with browns and greens and no fuss, and when I suggested he watch my K&Company Olive Tree paper walkthrough, he chose four sheets that he loved the best.

So it’s with those four 12×12″ sheets that I altered this 9-partition wooden tea box. I used some die-cuts to create a paper ornament on top, with a Tea is Ready stamp – in Dutch. The result is an elegant, stylish tea box keepsake in warm, neutral kraft colors. I was of course very happy to hear both the man and his lady loved the tea box! 🙂

Have you ever created a kraft-colored project or would you ever consider it?

 

 

 

Birds in a Tree Tea Box

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Now and again I like to vary my craft technique and leave papercrafting for a short while to dabble in decoupaging. I use this technique mainly to alter wooden or porcelain objects, like gift boxes but also candles, coffee mugs and even a lamp!

Usually I paint such an object white or ivory first, so that the napkin’s colors will show clear & bright. With the tea box I’m sharing today however, I started decoupaging without painting it white first. This made for warm wood colors, and also caused the box title Thee (= Dutch for Tea) on the lid to show through nicely.

After adhering the parts of the napkin I wanted to use, I painted the rest of the box around them in a warm forest green and added some glitter accents. Of course I covered the whole thing with boat varnish to protect it from all things Liquid – a prudent measure if you’re anything like Clumsy Me 🙂

By the way, an altered tea boxes makes for a great gift!

 

 

 

Gift idea: Altered Tea Box

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Tea boxes are the ideal gifts to give and they are very fun and easy to alter!

For instance, I bought this simple wooden tea box, painted it black inside and out, and decorated with Bo Bonny’s Asian-themed Serenity paper collection & ephemera.

I did that once before, using the same design papers – I guess there’s something about Asian-themed paper on a black background, even more so when it’s all about tea 🙂

 


My first altered tea box with this paper collection:

 

Raining Cats & Dogs Tea Box from Chipboard

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For World Animal Day I thought it would be fitting to show a project I created with Raining Cats & Dogs, a lovely, richly colored design paper by Graphic 45.

From chipboard I created a little box that I filled with Original First Tea, which comes in its own little boxes. They fit perfectly into my little gift box. And of course I added a matching birthday card as well!

No video this week, just some lovely pictures. Enjoy, and please like, subscribe and feel free to share them on Pinterest or other social media.

Stay tuned this month, for I’ll be sharing at least two other Raining Cats & Dogs projects the following weeks! If you like what you see below, then click here for a double card I created with this gorgeous paper.

Matching birthday card, created to fit into this little box:

Removable tiny birthday cardlet:

Back of the card:

Filled up with tea:

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Valentine’s Day gift idea: Cute little tea basket

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For some Valentine’s Day inspiration, here’s a little photo shoot of a cute wooden tea basket that I altered. Photos only (no Youtube) so I guess it’s kind of a Blog Exclusive 😉

I altered the tea basket with some pieces of napkin – and a little paint. Very simple, fairly easy to make and, therefore, ideal if you want to create a great gift but don’t have enough time to start a Multiple Days Craft Project (capitals intended – we’re all doing some seriously hefty projects from time to time right).

The color scheme that I chose for this tea basket is perfect for Valentine’s Day, or any other romantic occasion. Of course you don’t have to use it for tea: you can fill it up with all kinds of neatness and romantic knick-knacks you can come up with. For instance, simply put some sweets for your Sweet into it 🙂

By the way, you want to take the time to work meticulously and with attention to detail, even with a fairly quick & simple design such as this one. For instance, I used more than one piece of napkin here, but can you honestly point out the seams between the pieces…?

… I thought not 😉
So, no matter how simple a design may be: always pay attention to these kinds of details, for it will make a difference.

When it comes to finishing touches, especially with rounded edges, nooks, crannies and other ‘precision stuff’, I don’t go near decoupageing: too difficult to get it done near-perfectly, it’s messy and it’s hard to correct if you make mistakes. In these cases, paint is my best friend!

Like this handle…
…and the top edges of the basket. I mixed that warmer, darker red color on the edges myself, by the way, adding more hints of dark colors to the handle’s bright red until it was just so.
Because the decoupage technique gives you the opportunity to create great projects relatively quickly, it’s also fairly easy to expand your project. Just use more of those awesome napkins that you picked, and make one or more companion pieces.
Like I did with this candle! Just in case you didn’t know that you can in fact decoupage a candle just as simply as any wooden object, I will show you how to do this in my next post.

So stay tuned for my upcoming video tutorial on How to decoupage a candle!

Stay crafty, and may God bless you all!

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Turn your old tea box into a piece of art

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Ever since I’ve become a happy scrapper (which happened winter 2012, when I started my very first experimental scrap project) my view of the world has changed: I’m looking at every object or piece of material as potential raw material with which to create something beautiful. Take my mother’s tea box. I never really noticed the thing, until last month when I turned on my Superscrapper x-ray vision (well, sort of) and saw that it could be in fact Beautiful, as soon as someone would unlock its hidden gorgeousness.

Because it was black, I decided it would be an Asian tea box, for it reminded me of these beautiful black lacquered little treasure boxes of, for instance, the Chinese. It so happened that in my stash I had a lovely Asian-themed design paper waiting to be used: Bo Bunny’s Serenity. So I got to work, and here’s the results!

Click here if you don’t see the video below.

 

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