Penguin Place, Tea Holder and Saying, Stocking Stuffer, Weekend Project, Stampin' Up!

Today I thought I would make a tea holder gift for a friend to put in a bag I have for her for Christmas.  It's fun to make and easy too. And here's how you can make your own.

I took a piece of Designer Series paper (DSP) from the "Santa's Express" 12" x 12" package. I cut it 3-1/4" x 8-1/4".  Then I scored it at 2-3/4" and 5-1/2". Fold the score lines inward.  Don't worry if you didn't score them perfectly, you can fold the right over the center and then the left or vice versa, one way will look better than the other. Pick the one that looks better on the outside.

Next you're going make the pocket. You have three sections. On the third section, the one on the right end, mark the right edge 1" from the bottom corner. Then you're going to cut from that mark to the top of the score line. This will create a diagonal pocket for the tea bag to be tucked in. Before you glue the pocket, set your tea bag inside so you can see how much distance you have between the bottom of the tea bag and the bottom of the pocket. Glue the side and bottom of the pocket, gluing as close to the edge as possible.  I made another one a while back, you can see here to get an idea of what I mean about the pocket. Set the piece aside to set up.

Next you can print out the words for the back or you can leave it plain. You can cut and paste the words and print them on your printer

 On Christmas Day

At half-past three,

Have yourself a cup of tea.

I’ll think of you,

You’ll think of me,

Sitting around the Christmas tree.

For my font I used Liberation Serif and set it to 10pts. You can adjust yours to whatever font you'd like and adjust the size accordingly. You just want to make sure it will fit on the back of the tea holder. I printed mine out on Basic White card stock.   I cut my words to 1-1/2" x 2-1/8". I sponged the edges of mine using Evening Evergreen ink.

There is a reason for the space between the wording. It's so you can read the poem on the back with the belly band in the middle. Now I glued mine without thinking about that belly band. Duh! But once the band is removed the words will show just fine. It was just nicer to see them with the band on.

So now lets make the band. You will be taking a piece of card stock. I used Evening Evergreen and I cut a 1/4" strip that was 11" long. There's no scoring here. You are going to take one end of the strip and place it near the center of the front of the holder. Then wrap the band around the holder and meet back in the front. It should overlap at least 1/4" so you can glue it together. Snip the piece and then glue it while it's still on the holder. Be careful not to get glue on the holder or the band won't come off.

And for the design. You can find greetings or an image to stamp or die cut. I chose to use the penguin from "Penguin Place".  I punched the penguin out using the matching punch and Basic Black card stock. Then I punched out the belly. I glued the belly to the body. Then I stamped the eyes using black Memento ink. The beak was stamped using Crushed Curry ink and the feet were punched using Crushed Curry card stock.  I stamped the hat and scarf using Evening Evergreen ink. I wasn't happy with it because it looks black. I fussy cut them and glued the hat, scarf and feet in place. 

Next I die cut a stitched circle from the "Stylish Shapes" dies. I used the third largest one for my background. I used my Blending Brush and brushed on some Evening Evergreen on the edges and then scrubbed some on the circle to tone it down. Then I added some glue to the center area of the band and set the circle in place. I set a few stamping blocks on top to weight it down while the glue setup.

And that was it.  These are fun to make and easy too. These make great stocking stuffers.

Thank you SO much for taking your time to stop by and see today's stocking stuffer,
Wanda