The Christmas Challenge. Make your own tea chest.

Kelley has saved me again this week! I had been in hospital three mornings this week and am finally back to oral antibiotics. I think we are getting somewhere now.
But my crafts and gifts are not getting somewhere at all!

So it is with gratitude I share with you another one of Kelley's crafts that she sent me.  I just love this and many of us could use it for ourselves or for a gorgeous gift!  I hope you enjoy it as much as me!

Over to Kelley....

I bought this old jewelry box at a thrift store several years ago for a couple dollars.  I planned to store sewing notions in it when we lived in the Philippines because the sun there was murder on anything in my Inspiration Station.  Honestly, it sat empty for five years.  (That’s not a very dutiful handmaiden is it, Laine?)

We moved to Guam last year, and in reorganizing my crafts, etc. for about 30 minutes this gutted old gem sat in the Give Away pile.  If she wasn’t going to perform any duties around here, out she goes...

…or on the other hand? I got the brilliant idea to repurpose it as a tea chest.  You know, those fancy tea chests that are brought to your five-star restaurant table when you want to order a cup of hot tea with your $40 dessert?  *chuckle*

So, with a a hot glue gun and some lovely tropical fabric scraps from my stash, the tea chest was outfitted with a refreshing new lining.  A cotton trim hid all the bar spots and cut edges and covered the old hinges.  Snips of ribbon and thumbtacks serve to keep the lid open.

I cut the stiff cardboard from the back of a large yellow steno pad to fashion tea chest dividers.  Complementary teal lace was hot glued to the top of the dividers’s cut edges.

I was practically giddy, filling the tea chest with a variety of delightful teabags!  As you can see, the new tea chest holds a lot of teabags, and I couldn’t get over how perfect the dimensions were for this project.

The exterior of the tea chest got a facelift, too.  Using a hot glue gun, the lid was embellished very simply with rectangles of fabric and batting and cotton lace trim.

Wouldn’t this make an ideal gift for the tea lover in your life?  We do lots of entertaining, and perching this happy little handmaiden out on the tea/coffee station at our dinner parties gives me such joy!  All the tea lovers, male and female alike, appreciate the variety of teabag offerings, but the ladies are especially delighted by the tea chest!  You’re going to be like them, aren’t you?  On the lookout for an old jewelry box!  Maybe you already own a special, sentimental one that used to be your mother’s or grandmother’s.  This would be a special way to put that little beauty to work as a beloved handmaiden in your home.

*hugs*

Kelley~

This all is just perfect! Turning something about to be thrown out into something lovely! And kind of luxurious too!  Any tea drinker would love this.  Thank you Kelley!  Your post last week attracted so many comments!  This is the sort of inspiration we need. Use something up... many of us are on "use it up" challenges. 

How is your gift making going?  I have a really good list of projects I am wanting to work on. For us soon it will be autumn and this is a great time to get into some crochet and sewing.  Usually I get so much done then. So I will make up for lost time! xxx