TEA - An Altered Playing Card Journal

Started earlier this year as my 100 Days of Tea project, the original approach involving 4" x 8" shipping tags was quickly abandoned.  

Now my revised and much smaller project is finished.

(Cover shown above)

I found this mini notebook at Tar-jay a month or so ago.  It has now become the "book" part of this project.

While making the tea-bag altered playing cards I had thought to use them as a concertina journal.  But then I noticed the little notebook sitting in my basket of possibilities and my plan changed instantly.

(first page shown above)

There is a tea related quote tucked into each of the tea-bag envelopes that I attached to the altered playing cards. 

I used the tea tags to embellish as well as cover the brand name printed at the bottom corner of each page.

(This tea along with Stash Super Irish tea are my first cup of the day favorites)

The art pieces on the left-facing pages are from a set of tiny cards by Rae Missigman.  

This is my second cup of the day tea.

This tea envelope was saved from a teabag DDIL brought home after she visited Ireland as part of a business trip across the pond.

Here the left-facing page features a sticker from Dori Patrick and the Tea-Rex sticker tickled me so it was paired with the Joker.

There are a total of 18 altered playing cards but sharing all of them would make a ridiculously photo heavy post.  Hopefully these are enough to convey a sense of this little journal.

The final page features another Dori Patrick sticker while the three on the inside back cover came from sellers on Etsy.

The outside back cover features a real tea bag (used to cover up the manufacturer's text block) and a much-loved sticker of Kermit the Frog.

* * *

After completing these last two journals (In the Mailbox and STITCHED), I've decided I need to stop making such overly-involved plans when I envision a new idea.  

Keeping things simple makes it much more fun and cuts out the weeks of plotting, planning, pondering, and so forth.

I am not a messy mixed-media maker.  I don't like creating layer upon layer nor do I overly-love the grunged-up look.

So, much like with my quilts, I need to listen to what my assortment of ephemera tells me instead of trying to force an unrealistically complex creation into existence.

Quiltdivajulie

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"Comparison is the thief of joy."

Theodore Roosevelt