Tea Trash Turned To Treasure

About a week ago, it was recommended to me to make a visit over to Steph's Cup of Tea by Angela who blogs at Tea With Friends. So, of course, I headed that way, and enjoyed reading the post for the day entitled "She's CrafTEA!" I love to try my hand at all types of crafts, so that prompted me to begin a search for new crafts having to do with tea. My search lead me to many wonderful craft ideas that I had already come across in the past, but I was looking for something that was new to me. I was almost ready to give up when I finally discovered something new.

Tea bag folding.

In my research into the origins of this pastime, many sources agreed that tea bag folding was created by Tiny van der Plaas in Holland, however, I was unable to find any information as to the dates of its origin. The traditional story says that van der Plaas was sitting at her kitchen table thinking about needing a birthday card for her sister, and absentmindedly began folding the leftover envelopes that once held her tea bags - so while it is called tea bag folding, it's really tea envelope folding. It is also known as miniature kaleidoscope origami.
I wanted to try my hand at this new craft idea, and my continued search brought me to this Craft Site Directory for Tea Bag Folding. From here, I snooped around and found some folding instructions and free tile templates. All of the crafts are made from paper "tiles" that are square and equal in size. These tiles are folded and then pieced together. Depending on the craft, the folded tiles can be fitted together in such a way as the finished product holds itself together, or they are glued together or on some sort of backing. I tried one of the basic medallions, which kind of holds itself together, and a cross, which is glued together.

I just loved the results! The patterns are so pretty, and the projects are really very simple, but look quite intricate. These crafts would go great in a scrapbook, on a card, or even framed in a collage.