Tea Notecards

These make not only great invitations for a tea, but if you put four or six in a cello bag with envelopes and tie them with a ribbon, they make a lovely gift. Here are my directions.

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Tea Notecards
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Supplies:

• Pattern for tea cup or tea pot (I used a cookie cutter)
• Cardstock 8 1/2 x 11 (white, parchment or colored)
• Invitation envelopes 4 1/4 x 5 1/2
• Flowered cotton material (I use fat quarters)
• Fusible interfacing (pref. with paper on the back!)
• Gold paint pen (large)
• Iron and tacky glue
• Tea bags with a string
• Paper punches (optional)

Directions:

1. Cut cardstock in half on the 11 inch side, making two 5 1/2 inch pieces. Fold in half and this is your card. (If you want to get fancy, you can cut the corners or the front edge with decorative scissors or paper punches.)

2. Iron the interfacing to the material.

3. Trace the tea cup and tea pot onto the paper side of the interfacing, following all of the solid lines.

4. Cut-out the tea cup or tea pot along the solid lines. Make a slit along the line near the top of the teacup or teapot (this allows an opening for the pocket to place the tea bag in!).

5. Peel back the paper along the outside 1/2 inch of the tea cup or tea pot and cut the paper off. Cut the paper off the top of the tea cup or teapot from the slit up. Take care to see that you LEAVE PAPER IN THE MIDDLE SO THAT YOU HAVE A POCKET IN WHICH TO NESTLE TO TEA BAG. Then iron (no steam) the tea cup to the front of the card. OR Outline the back edges of the tea cup with tacky glue and affix to the front of the card. Do NOT glue the center of the cup or tea pot! (Embellish as you wish) I cut the bottom front edge with decorative scissors and
embellish the corners with a decorative paper punch.

6. On the front, draw the lip of the cup or the edge of the teapot with the gold pen, following the dotted line (on my pattern) or estimate if you make your own pattern.

7. To make a personalized tag on the string of the tea bag, punch out (I use a paper punch) or cut out two small 1" tea pots from colored paper (print a quote in 8pt. font first if you want) Cut the tag off the tea bag string. Glue the two teapots together, placing the tea bag string in between each small teapot. (this step is optional, you can use a sealed packet of tea instead if you want) To print a personalized quote, I make a grid of 1" squares on my computer and then in 8 point font, print "Tea... will always be the favorite beverage of the intellectual." Thomas De Quincy in every other square. That allows me to have the quote printed on one teapot and it leaves the back side blank.

8. Last but not least, add the bag of tea! You may need to fold-in the bottom of the packet so it will fit neatly into the slot in the tea cup or tea pot.

9. Put the cards with the envelopes in a clear cellophane bag and tie with a pretty ribbon and flower. Makes a great gift!

Here are a few other styles I have made: