Tea Please

I've had a lot going on these past few weeks, but have been thinking about all the SimplyJoy in my life.  Along with family activities, I've done gardening, art projects, and activities with friends.  Last week we had our May Tea at Lovett Hall in Greenfield Village.  Twice a year the Village Herb Associates join together to celebrate in high fashion the many days spent tending the gardens at the Village.  I've been very lucky to have been able to join Pat Mann in the Chef's Garden, where we tend garden herbs grown specifically for the chef's at Eagle Tavern, the Michigan Cafe, and the catering service. 

For our Herb tea, I was asked to make a decoupaged box for our raffle.  This years herb of the year is the rose, so I used vintage rose images and other emphemera to decorate it.  After painting the Michigan Casino box I was given to remake a creamy antique white, I decided to try adding the tea papers I'd been saving.  After pauging them on, I soon discovered how lovely they made the background, so I left them as is, except for embellishing the top and front of the box. 

The tea paper was overlapped slightly and has a random pattern of tea stain.  I've found while saving the papers that if you let them dry before you remove the leaves, there is more of this tea stain pattern.  Be sure to save the tea leaves for your garden.  They add anti-oxidents and other nutrients to the soil.  Tea paper is a wonderful paper to work with.  Below is the back of the box.

For the front of the box, I used vintage green paper for the background, rose bud paper, the dictionary definition of "rose" (most of my projects include dictionary text), old buttons, and it is stamped with VHA for Village Herb Associates.