Sunday, January 31, 2010

TEA BAG ROSES TUTORIAL and Thrifty Treasures


Tea Bag Roses

supplies:
tea bag (already used)
scissors
glue (I used glue gun)
nimble fingers =0)

already used tea bag
black tea bags work best
(Herbal does not have much color)
Black tea= brown rose
raspberry tea= pink rose

open tea bag up
(you can either carefully open by little seam,
or just cut open)
dump out grounds.



After paper is dry, cut into 3 or 4 strips lengthwise.
(I usually do 4)

On right side of strip, fold corner down as shown.
Begin rolling towards you, tightly, to end of folded piece.
This will be the center of your rose.




Continue to pinch together at bottom,
gather, and roll with your fingers.
The 'gathering' keeps the rose fuller.
As you go be sure the center of rose stays lower
than the outside 'petals' you are making.
Think of how real roses are.

As you can see in above photo,
I am pinching bottom with my middle and ring fingers.
I am also using my right hand to help roll, but had to take pic with it. =))
Sometimes I kind of scrunch top edge to add interesting folds to top of rose.
You will get better at this as you practice.
(My first ones were horrible!
You might call them zero personality roses.) =0)


At end, fold corner down towards outside, and hot glue.
(careful! The glue goes right through the paper)
Then twist bottom of rose as tightly as you can.
(see photo below.)

I then just put my roses aside till ready to use.

To glue to project:


Hold rose gently by pretty part, and snip
off the pointy end that is gathered tight.


(See the little end laying there?
You can actually fluff that up and make the teeniest rose ever!!)


Put hot glue all over this cut end and glue it to your project.
(You can also glue bottoms of a bunch of roses and put aside.)
I've just always done it all in one step.
After it is glued on, just kind of gently
fluff to shape you want.

Adding leaves:
Occasionally, when I have a little spot that needs filling, I will make leaves.
Just double a piece of your tea bag strip, and cut out a leaf shape,
cutting one end straight across, and the other end pointed.
gather the flat end a bit, and glue where desired.
(again, be careful if you are using hot glue,
it gets hot right through the paper.)

Sample below is with leaves.



Hope you have enjoyed this tutorial.
REMEMBER!!!

It is always the first couple that take more time, and patience.
So keep trying!!

If you do up some roses,
I would love to show off your pieces to my blogging friends.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Some Quick Fun for You:

I buy games.
Anything with letters.

And makes things,
Like this fun and easy LOVE design.
Made with Upwards tiles. Just paint the edges red, and
there you have it.
"LOVE"
You can just tuck it in anywhere. =0))

And how about a thrifty 25 cent pillow cover.

It's in great shape.
I can either put another pillow in it.
Take the backing off and use as a big doily,
or, cut it up and use the pieces for a Victorian purse, or lace sachet.
All for only 25 cents!

Thanks for coming by.
Happy Monday!!!

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I'm linkin' up with these great places today.

Go check 'em out when you have time.
Many thanks to all our great hostesses


Thrifty Decor Chic


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12 comments:

Kathryn said...

I never would have guessed those pretty tiny roses used to be a tea bag.

Thanks for sharing this idea.

René said...

Those roses are precious! I never realized roses could be made this way.

Bird said...

Very pretty!! What a talented lady :)

Kammy said...

Great buy on that 25 cent cover - love your roses !
Kammy

Linda @ A La Carte said...

Love (he he) those tiles! How cute are those. I must start looking for games with words!

Marianne said...

What a wonderful tutorial. I love that vintage look, I am gonna be saving my teabags from now on!

Rebecca Nelson said...

This is amazing. I love the vintage look and feel to this. Isn't it wonderful what you can make out of almost NOTHING?

Girl...this is fabulous. Thanks for sharing!

Love, Rebecca

So Sunny Day said...

Darling roses! can't wait to try this out sometime :)

and i love your tips for repurposing games!

~ Emily N. from "too Blessed to Stress"

Old Time Cindy said...

Thanks Barbara Jean for the tutorial!!!
Cindy at Lakewood

Blondie's Journal said...

Oh, the roses are SO cute!! I know I will need a lot of practice (I am all thumbs) but it will be worth it!! Thanks for the tutorial. And the letter tile idea is great, too! Thanks Barbara Jean! :-)

xoxo
Janie

Lululiz said...

Thank you so much for the excellent tutorial.

Its So Very Cheri said...

I am putting this on my favs list

Cheri