DIY Tea Box

It has been quite a while since I've posted a project. Almost a year. It is time...

It's winter again. The hardwood floors in my old house and lack of insulation in the walls make for a miserable few months in Minnesota. There is a solution: hot beverages.

Tea has become a staple in this house. So much tea. It began taking over an entire shelf in one of my cupboards. Containment and consolidation was needed, thus the Tea Box project came to life.

My cupboard shelf went from cluttered to satisfyingly empty in one evening.

Materials Needed:

• Wooden box of your choice. 
• If the box doesn't have dividers, you will need:
•  1/16" thick basswood
• Scissors
• Wood glue
• Ruler
• Paint brush
• Brown acrylic paint or a wood stain
• White gel pen and pencil
• White transfer paper (optional)

When I went to my local craft store, I brought a tea bag with so I could make sure the box I chose would work. I tried to find a box that already had dividers in it, but the compartments were too small. Instead, I picked up a 24"x2"x1/16" sheet of light basswood so I could cut my own dividers.

Using a tea bag for reference, I measured how many tea slots would fit in the box and marked each side with a pencil. Then, I cut pieces of basswood to fit snugly. The basswood I found was thin enough to be cut with plain scissors. Using wood glue, I lined the bottom and sides of each divider, placed them where I penciled my measurement marks in the box,  and waited about until the glue dried before moving onto the next step (maybe 30 minutes to an hour).

To "stain" the box, I used brown and black acrylic paint I already had at home and watered it down. I wanted the wood grain to show through, so I used a very thin mixture of paint and applied a couple of coats. The first coat I applied was too light for my taste, so I added a little bit of black paint to the mixture for the second and third coats.

Once finished with the stain, allow the box to dry completely. Once dry, you can apply your lettering to the top of the box. I didn't take pictures of this process, but it's fairly straightforward. I sketched the lettering I wanted on paper and then used white transfer paper to neatly transfer the lettering onto the box. You can definitely freehand on the box--but I don't trust myself to get things right the first time. Once I had the outline traced, I used a white gel pen to fill in the design.

And voila! The box is done! It was incredibly satisfying to organize all of my tea bags into my new box. 

Thanks for checking out my project! If you enjoyed this, please explore the rest of my blog. I've got lots of random crafty things to peruse.

You can also pop over to www.MessyEverAfter.com to see what else I'm working on.