If you are looking for a delightful gift for a bunch of people, try this project! It is a great mass make. Let's jump in to how I made them!
Let's start with the supplies I used:
8.5x11 white cardstock
Cookie sheet or tray
Watercolors
Water spray bottle
Makeup sponges
Neon + black acrylic paints
Black Sharpie pen
White paint/gel pen
Book paper
Teabags
Paper cutter
Corner rounder
Scissors
Sewing machine
Black eyelet/grommet setter
I started by grunging up my white cardstock using watercolors in brown tones. I sprayed water onto a cookie sheet, added brown watercolor to the sheet, sprayed the cardstock a little with water and then laid it down into the watery watercolor. I flipped the cardstock back and forth a few times, adding more watercolor and water to get the color and darkness that I wanted. I also added splatter with the same browns to get a mottled effect. Let it dry.
To add even more grunge to the cardstock, I used the Interesting Dots Repeating Patten by Jennifer Evans: S769 stencil and a dark brown to add random marks all over the page. The final step to the background paper was to splatter orange neon paint all over. Let this dry completely. Then cut the cardstock into 8 equal pieces: 5.5" x 2.125". I used a corner rounder paper punch to round the bottom corners of each tag. Set them aside.
I then created the teabag overlays. Each teabag was able to be torn in half so it fit over the tag pretty closely in size. I used one of the masks from the Feather Patterns mask and stencil by Valerie Sjodin: S939 to add a multi-colored neon acrylic paint feather to each teabag. I then used a black Sharpie pen to loosely outline the feather. Remember to keep it loose and imperfect!
Back to the tags... using the ATC Mixup Apter stencil by Seth Apter: L664, I added a word on each tag along with some fun background marks with black acrylic paint. I kept the words the darkest and added the marks with a lighter touch. I did put the words on the bottom of the tags.
On my book paper, I stenciled the faces from the ATC Mixup Evan stencil by Jennifer Evans: L654 and then ripped each face out. I used one larger and one small face for each tag.
To add more neon to the grunge, I added touches of yellow to the faces and orange to the edges of the tags. The orange on the tags picks up the splatters that we did earlier!
I glued a set of 2 faces to each tag above the words. I paid attention to the marks on the tags and moved the faces a little this way and that to take advantage of what was showing. I also added a white highlight with a gel pen on the eyes of all of the faces.
If you do not have a sewing machine for the next step, glue or a stapler are great options! I folded the teabag over the top of the tag, then sewed with a straight stitch a few times back and forth across the top of each tag, leaving the strings for a fun messy look.
Using a black eyelet and grommet setter, I added more texture and function to the top of each tag. Add ribbons, string, a bulb pin, a paper clip depending on how you will use the tag.
I left the back of the tags blank for journaling, quotes, or anything else you want to add! Since these are made in sets of 8 from one sheet of cardstock, you can make 16 pretty easily for a fun mass make to send out as happy mail, give to your bookclub or art group.
I would love to see what you create using these stencils! You can tag me on Instagram and find me in the following spaces!
Website: AtopSerenityHill.com
Instagram: @consie_atopserenityhill
YouTube: @ConsieSindet
