~ inspired by: homemade tea tags part II ~

I promise this is the last one today!  But since I was so inspired by the tea tag place cards in my earlier post today...I had to do a mini tabletop to give you some additional ideas and inspiration!  Can you tell I L-O-V-E my new camera...creating excuses to use it!!!  Anyhoo, back to the bridesmaid brunch tabletop decor...

Simple, easy and something you can create!  Below I placed lemon wedges in tea bags, in case people like lemon with their tea...they could either squeeze the juice into their tea without seeds falling in or just place in their tea to steep. 

Above...I included 2 vintage ink pots to use as decoration, and placed some roses from my front yard in...so pretty.  Also, I included vintage butter plates for the used tea or lemon bags.  And below is a closeup of the place card I made with a honey stick...

I also used the homemade tea tags for signs...

And I just placed some tea in brown paper bags, along with some tea bags and honey sticks so bridesmaids could help themselves.   

My pretty roses from the front yard...

Finally, a cute little favor (note:  not their gift) for the bridesmaids to take home...

A lovely, homemade bridesmaid brunch, don't you think? Oh, what fun!  Tea anyone? 

~ Ciao


...photography by me

~ inspired by: homemade tea tags part I ~

So in my previous post below, I showed you how to make homemade tea tags...now I will show you some fun and creative ways to use them as place cards! 

I was thinking a bridesmaids brunch would be the perfect spot to use them...and with that in mind I'm showing you not one but six different ways you could use them!  You know me...I like lots of options, and I thought you would too. So lets start shall we?  The first option is a tag, a piece of fabric and a mini clothespin...

Second is a piece of fabric, and the tag curled inside the cup...

Third is a tag inside a tea bag and some cooking string...

Fourth option includes a favor, and has a tag inside a piece of tea bag attached to a mesh ball tea infuser inside the cup...

Fifth option includes a favor also...with a tag attached to a tea straining spoon using cooking string...

The sixth and final option is with a favor as well...and is a handled mesh ball tea infuser with a tag in a tea bag and some cooking string...

And I thought it would be a nice visual to see all 6 of them together...so here you are...

So my dears, what do you think?  Which option is your fave?  Can't wait to hear from you!

Stay tuned for part II - tabletop decor coming up next...

~ Ciao

...photography by me

~ homemade: tea tags ~

Happy Thursday my dears!  I thought I would create my own homemade post today...especially for you!  Hopefully, they will all be my own homemade posts from here on out.  But don't worry...I figured my first homemade post should start out at the easy level!

I know everyone has heard of tea dyed before...usually when talking about fabric, but today I want to show you how to tea dye paper...tags to be exact!  So are you with me? Good, lets get started.  Most of the items needed for this project you probably already have, but here is a list just in case...

Tea (I used black)
Boiling water
Pot/bowl for steeping the tea
Pan with edges
White tags
Paper towels

Step-by-step instructions...

Grab your tea and place 10-14 tea bags in a pot/bowl.     

Add boiling water, and let tea steep for 5 or so minutes. Once steeped, you can pour the tea into the edged pan to cool more quickly. 

Once the tea is cool, add your tags.  Depending on how dark you'd like your tags, leave them in for 5 to 30 minutes.  (I wanted dark tags so I left mine in for 30 minutes...flipping them halfway through just to make sure they all were covered.)

When the time is up, take out the tags and lay on paper towels.  You can pat the tops of the tags with a paper towel to remove any excess wetness, and then leave to dry.  I left mine in the sun, and they dried very quickly.  (However, you can always put them in the oven on LOW, and keep your eye on them as to not start a fire or burn them.)   Once dried they are ready to use!  And as you can see in the bottom right picture the color change from an original tag compared to the tea dyed ones.

Stay tuned...coming up in the next post is some creative ways to use these tea tags...including a mini photo shoot!!!

~ Ciao

...photography by me