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PB Knock Off: Guest Post with Boy Oh Boy Oh Boy!

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When our dear friend Stacey heard about Susan’s woeful bout of Ebola virus, she very graciously offered to swoop in and save the day with a PB Knock Off of her own.  We owe you big time Stacey!  Make sure you go over to Boy Oh Boy Oh Boy! to say hi to Stacey and check out all the crazy crafting she’s been doing lately.  I’m constantly impressed.  Now, here’s Stacey:
When Adrianna told me she and Susan were putting together a PB Knock Off week of holiday goodness, my wheels started spinning.  I realized at that point that my catalog hadn’t arrived (I’m usually the dope sitting in the parking lot looking at my PB catalog because I can’t wait until I get home).  I generally love what’s in there, but never buy because I think the prices are outrageous, especially for things I could make for myself. Thus, all things were put aside until I completed a PB Knock Off project.  Okay, so maybe it was two.  I have a bit of an obsessive crafting problem.

One of the things that caught my eye was the paper Christmas tree garland.

Here’s how to make one for yourself.

Supplies:

Computer and printer
White 8 X 11 1/2 paper
4 or 5 black tea bags 
Cookie sheet

Step one:  Type the holiday phrase of your choosing, twice, horizontally on your paper, in a cursive script.  I used the Word Art feature in Microsoft Word so that my words were a concave arch on one half and convex on the other.  

Step two: Print out the pages and cut each in half.  I needed 12 pages for my table top tree.

Step three:  Run VERY hot tap water/ or boil up a tea pot full and pour into your kitchen sink.  Put tea bags in the water and let your tea brew for 3-5 minutes.  Put in papers and let soak for 10-20 minutes.  The longer you soak, the darker your paper will be. 

** Use a flavored tea to give your paper garland a faint sent.  I used 2 Apple Cinnamon bags along with my regular, black tea bag.**

Step four:  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Remove a few sheets from the sink and place on a cookie sheet.  Be very careful when moving your pages as the wet paper may tear.  Dab your tea bags onto the paper.  Anywhere the tea pools will have a bit darker color.  Place cookie sheet in oven.  If you have a convection oven, use top heat w/fan for faster results.  Keep a close eye on your paper,  They dry quickly.  Papers will begin to curl when they are dry.

Step five:  Once pages are dry, use a glue stick to glue the strips together into one long chain.  Make sure to alternate concave/convex writing so the phrase looks like it moves in a wave-like motion.  

Wrap your creation around the tree and admire your work!

Thank you so much for lending a hand with this fun project, Stacey!  I love how your garland gives an otherwise regular tree a beautiful vintage style.  Have to go make my own now.  Think coffee will work in place of tea?  We don’t have any of that second-rate beverage in this house.  Like I explained it to my daughter, “it’s like coffee, but not as good.”

Comments

  1. Stacey says

    Thanks for letting me join in ladies. PB Knock off week is too much fun. Coffee works too. Maybe even better, especially if you like your house to have that wonderful coffee smell all day long. It might actually give your paper a darker color so I’d just be careful how long you left it in.

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