How to Tea Bag Fold

I'm a huge crafter so anything that I get in my email about new paper crafting or folding I read and try to do it myself. I love to incorporate new ideas in my page layouts. I spend a lot of time on the internet looking for inspiration when I came across 'Tea Bag Folding'. At first I thought it was actual 'Tea Bags' for brewed tea that you could make; until I remembered seeing actual foldings being called 'Tea Bag Folding'.

The paper resembles a star like coaster, I've seen them used in page layouts for back grounds or matting to a photo. Below I have instructions from Scrapbookscrapbook.com with detailed instructions and photos.

1. You will need to cut and fold 8 paper squares to make this rosette.

Print your pages on thin, yet crisp paper. Cut out your little squares carefully and fold diagonal and in half in both directions. Fold sharp crisp lines.

Unfold.

2. Using your fold lines, fold two of the 'across' folds back in towards the center of the unprinted inside.

3. What you will now have is a little triangle. Fold one of the outer tips of the side that you want to be the front of the rosette behind and up to the tip of the triangle.

4. So now you have a flat triangle with an additional fold on top where you tucked the top-side tips up and under.

I find it helpful to put a drop of glue on the unprinted inside of the big triangle to hold it flat.

5. You are going to take these

separate folded triangles and tuck them one at a time under

each other snuggly.

6. As you tuck one after another, you will find that it forms a circle. Try to keep it tight towards the center.

I used heavy paper here so

I was not able to get it as tight as

I'd have liked--live and learn !

7. The rosette is almost finished.

Insert the last triangle making sure to follow the direction of overlapping flaps. You will want to put a drop of glue under each flap to hold everything in place.

8. The finished teabag folded rosette. I chose to use the brighter side of the paper square

for the top, but you could doit in

reverse and have a more pastel look.

9. Even the reverse side of

the rosette is pretty.

There are many more folds possible,

and this is just one possibility.

Teabag folding has unlimited uses

in scrapbooks & on greeting cards.

You can even use the finished pieces for

Christmas ornaments or package

decorations.