Lark & Lola

When I wanted to start tea staining my own papers I searched around the internet for good tutorials but mostly just found mediocre posts abo...

When I wanted to start tea staining my own papers I searched around the internet for good tutorials but mostly just found mediocre posts about tea staining lace, with few pictures & details. So I thought I'd share with you all how I do my tea staining technique now.

This is just for heavy papers, like cardstock & tags. I've never tea stained anything else so if you're wondering how to do lace you might want to look elsewhere. {Elsewhere is one of my favorite words...}
It really is pretty simple. After some trial & error, I ended up using strong brew coffee instead of actual tea - I found it too difficult to choose the right tea (some turned out to red, some to yellow, some too green). Coffee gave me just the right aged look I was going for.
Simply soak your pieces in hot/warm coffee for several minutes. I left mine soaking about 7-10 minutes.
Once they were half-dry, laying out on the counter on paper towels, I put some coffee in a spray bottle and gave my tags some spots & splotches. Some of them turned out with really neat finishes.
You just don't want to soak them too long to where the paper will start breaking down.
Once dry, I decorated mine using stamps & German glass glitter.
Show me your stained projects!