The Time You Enjoy Wasting Is Not Wasted Time Card! Mixed Media Tea-Stained Afternoon Tea Card

Hey crafty friends, how much do I love tea?  Let me count the ways, my current favourite is a Twinings green tea that I have run out of and can’t find anywhere.  I can see me having to travel the supermarkets in the area to see if I can find any stock.  But anyway, this post is not about that tea, it’s about this tea – the tea I used for my third tea-themed card!

The Process

I started off thinking about making backgrounds with actual tea, so I brewed some really strong tea using three tea bags and left it to cool.  When it was cool, I put it in a spray bottle and went to town on some watercolour paper.  Because I was enjoying this so much, I ended up with four backgrounds, so instead of making one card like I planned, I ended up making three cards.  This is the third card and actually it’s probably my favourite, at least right now it is lol. I knew I wanted to use this teacup stamp from Finnabair, and I had all these bits and pieces of Twinings packaging still to be used, so I decided that I would use them on this card.  Firstly, I added some stenciling using a TCW stencil that had cup rings and other grungy motifs, then I used a Tim Holtz stencil to add the letters.  I used Finnabair’s Modelling Paste for this, and then left it to dry overnight.  Then I used Enchanted and Unicorn Hair Sparks paint to the backgournd, letting it drip down the page and around the stenciling, before adding some splatters to the page in black, white, and gold.

When that was done and dry, I started working out what to put on the actual card as a focal point and what I wanted it to say.  This Tea on Deck stamp set by Finnabair has this cup and these sentiments and I decided to use both of them, and that took care of one side of the card but what to put on the other side for balance?  I flicked through Finnabair’s Words You Need stickers looking for one with a teacup or people drinking – there are actually a few like that!  I chose this one because I liked the sentiment – The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time, but I couldn’t just stick it onto the page as it was, so I decided to frame it using the Twinings logos. They were very gold and shiny so I toned them down a bit using Liquid Acrylics in Magenta and Burnt Sienna.  Then all that was left to do was stamp out the sentiments, stamp the cups, colour them, fussy cut them and glue everything on to the background!   I edged the card with Ground Espresso Archival Ink, and mounted it on a Dusty Rose pink card base, made from Gina K cardstock, which might seem strange but actually complements the pinks in the background, and matched the card better.

The Inspiration

This is about the August Challenge on A Vintage Journey which is titled A Cup of Tea for Your Art.  Honestly, you had me at tea.

And because of the colours and what I ended up doing with the cards I made, I think this card also fits in Finnabair’s Art Daily Cafe Mood Board for July which is still open and entitled Mail Art, and these tea-stained colours fit perfectly.

PROJECT RECIPE:

Distress Archival Ink – Ground Espresso, Black Soot
Watercolour paper