T Stands For Tea Bags

I'd like to begin by thanking a few people who don't get enough credit.  First are the doctors, nurses, staff, and janitors who keep our hospitals going, often without the proper personal protection equipment (PPEs) they need, while working hours that are nearly impossible to imagine.

I want to thank hospital administrators for reaching out and trying to buy PPEs and ventilators to keep their employees safe and their patients alive.

Next are the police and fire fighters/EMS who, with every call they answer, put themselves at risk of catching the virus.

I want to thank the construction workers and Army Corp of Engineers who are working overtime to set up temporary field hospitals to take the overflow of virus patients.

I want to thank the nurses and staff who run the aged care and nursing home facilities.  They have been particularly hard hit and are often overlooked, even though they also don't have enough protective equipment to do their jobs.

I want to thank the grocery and essential store workers who stock the shelves with our food, clean and sanitize carts, and come in close contact with both persons and their dirty money.

I want to thank the truck drivers who put in long hours delivering food and toilet paper to us, while working without the sanitizer and protective gear they need.

We can't forget to thank the postal carriers who deliver our mail and the drivers who bring us packages.

I want to thank the WHO for prioritizing, responding, and deploying aid to countries during this world wide crisis.

I want to thank the researchers who are tirelessly working in private labs and on university campuses to find the causes and cure for this virus.

And finally, I want to thank all my friends, followers, and readers of this blog who have stuck by me even though AT&T, my internet provider has abandoned me.

My heart goes out to all those who must be separated from their families due to their jobs that put them in a high risk category for the virus.  My heart further goes out to all those who are self quarantining so they don't infect other family members.

Please remember, we are all in this together in the age of corona virus.

Today for T Tuesday, we are in my craft room.  While we are sharing our drink related posts, I am also sharing this at Art Journal Journey where Valerie, whose theme is Geometric Shapes, is our host.

My tea bags I brewed last week and used to dye paper and fabric are now dry.

I've tried to deconstruct these cheap tea bags before and they tear and rip before I can get them apart to use in art.  This time I decided to outsmart the tea bags and cut them in the back.

Now the bags are empty and my lavender plant has accepted the tea leaves, it's play time.  Try as I might, I couldn't untangle three of the bags from their tags and strings.  Macrame was never one of my favorite crafts.

I decided to use these as tiny canvases for my stamps.  This one was sent to me by Valerie and it is one of my favorite stamps.  I use it a lot. 

The other two are red rubber unmounted collages 

and were made here in Wichita by Joanie at Mrs. O'Leary's, a mixed media/rubber stamp/scrapbook store.  She specializes in Tim Holtz ephemera and specialty items for collage, assemblages, journals, and altered books.

I decided to cut a used file folder to the size of a page in my Stress Free altered book.

I chose these for my background.  The red was nearly gone, so I thought I could empty the bottle.  Little did I realize how much was actually left in that tiny bottle.  I still have loads left.

Here is the finished journal page.

As I was drawing the "O"s, I didn't realize the glue wasn't dry under the tea bag, and I laid my hand on top of the tea bag.  I did the same when I made the triangles.  As a result, I squished the glue into the top side of the tea bag where I'd stamped the image.  Live and learn, I guess.

I used green metallic pen around the strings, not realizing when I lifted and placed the page in a vertical position to photograph it, the strings would shift and rotate.  Another lesson learned.  Wow, I'm batting zero for two about now.

I used green metallic gel pen on the bottom two shapes, then black to make the squares.  I used gold metallic to make the final circles.  Sadly they don't really show well in the photo.  Looks like that's zero for three!! 

I added a green dot to some of the words on these labels using my metallic green gel pen.

For this page, I began by stamping three empty tea bags, then adding them to the page made from a used file folder.

This is Day 7 of 22, where I used three empty tea bags in an art piece with a substrate consisting of a used file folder.

We had a hard freeze Saturday night, so I cut a few of my tulips to brighten the room and spare them from possibly freezing. 

Now it's your turn.  By now you probably know the "rules," but in case you don't, please show something drink related. It can be photos, a place you visited, movies, tea cups, coffee mugs, a tea or coffee service, postcards, books, magazines, sketches, mixed media, drawings, paintings, tags, ATCs, scrapbooking, or other art that is digital, hybrid, or traditional, as long as it in some way relates back to a drink, any drink.  Please share below and Bleubeard and I, along with the rest of the T gang will be by to visit.   Please link only your T post and not your blog in general.  Old photos are acceptable because they may be taken any time, not just on Tuesday, and not just this year.




Thanks again for being so understanding about my internet issues.