Repurposing Old Tea Boxes: 2 Ways
I developed recipes and wrote blog posts for Numi Organic Tea for about a year and one of the perks was receiving lots and lots of fair trade, organic tea. I drink tea at least three times a week, so I’ve put all those samples to good use, but I was left with dozens of perfectly good tea boxes. Tea boxes are generally recyclable, but it seemed a shame to send them off to be smashed if there was a way to repurpose them.
Due to a combination of personal and social stressors, I’ve been drawn back to crafting and working with my hands over the past year (I’m saving up for a larger loom so I can do bigger weavings). So, after giving a few boxes to our pet rats, I looked through my craft bin and thought up a few upcycling ideas…
Custom Note Cards
What You’ll Need
- Numi Organic Holistic Tea boxes (or any tea boxes with pretty artwork)
- Scissors
- Watercolor palette
- Jar with water
- Paint brushes
- 1 Sheet of Watercolor paper
- Paper cutter
- School glue (like Elmer’s)
To Make:
- Carefully cut out the artwork on the front of your Holistic Tea boxes with a pair of sharp scissors. Set aside.
- Use a paper cutter to cut a sheet of sturdy water color into 4, notecard-sized pieces.
- Using your watercolor palette, select complementary paint colors and paint abstract backgrounds onto your notecards. Let dry for 15-30 minutes.
- Use a paint brush to “paint” glue onto the back of your tea art and affix them to your notecards.
- You may want to use a book to keep the tea art from warping as the glue dries.
- Write a special note on the back of your cards and give them to loved ones!
Jute Wrapped Tea Caddy
What You’ll Need:
- One Tea box
- Matte acrylic paint in the color of your choice (I used black)
- Paint brush
- One roll of Jute Cording
- Hot glue gun and glue
To Make:
- Carefully un-tape the side of your box and cut off the lid and side folds.
- Paint the exterior and interior of the box using the paint of your choice (you can leave the base unpainted to aid in drying). Set aside for 45 minutes to 1 hour.
- Starting at a top corner of your box, apply a bead of hot glue and begin to wrap the jute.
- Continue adding small beads of hot glue to each corner until you’ve wrapped around the box once.
- Continue wrapping without adding additional glue for 3 full rotations. Add glue to each corner on the next rotation, and continue the process – glue 1 rotation, no glue 3 rotations – until you’re near the base of the box.
- Add extra hot glue as you make your last rotation to ensure that the jute stays in place. Cut the jute to lie flush with a corner and carefully glue in place.
