Learn a Simple Tea Bag Fold

I am not one to sit idle anywhere doing nothing.  I usually try to make the most of my time, even if it means severely multitasking.  During the holidays, when I got the chance to sit and relax, I found myself creating these wonderful tea bag folds.  Something I picked up on the internet through Handcrafted Greetings.com.  I'm always up for trying something new, and this came just in time.  I was able to relax while still creating wonderful handmade bows for some of my gifts.  The instructions here are for a star with an open center.  Hopefully, you'll be able to follow along.  If not, feel free to contact me!

Start off with 8 equal squares of scrapbook paper, wrapping paper, or maybe even some on the web that you can print out.  The squares can be any size.  Mine here, are 3" square and once assembled, gives you almost a 5.5" bow.  These are great for embellishments and greeting cards too.

The Beginning

You'll need 8 pieces of printed paper.
A bone folder (or pencil) to get your creases tightly folded.
Glue...you'll see here I pictured plain white craft glue, but I ended up using a glue stick towards the end.  Either one will work.

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 Follow these steps for each of the 8 squares.



 Turn paper over, printed side down.





 

Fold in half, then unfold.

               

Fold in half again in opposite direction and unfold.  You now have a center point.

Fold all four corners into the center, so the end result looks like a smaller square (below).

 Take the left and right corners and fold into the center and flip over as pictured below.

Fold the bottom corner up as shown and continue to fold the
remaining pieces of paper in the same fashion.

The left corner of each piece slides into the tab created in the last fold.  As you connect them, they'll take shape of a star.

Here are 3 squares put together.

Here are 6.  Notice the purple area on the right of the top piece.  I love purple, so naturally I have a purple glue stick!  lol  I just put a dab of glue on the right side and slide the left side into the tab and press.

Once you have them all together, you may have to adjust the placement.  Luckily the glue hasn't completely dried and you should be able to slide them around a bit.

And here's a finished star with an open center.  You can glue a coordinating piece of card stock on the back if you'd like.  I usually finish mine off with a gemstone in the middle.

Here are my finished bows adorning Christmas gifts I made for my brothers and sisters.

When attaching them to a gift or card, I just simply use double-sided tape, but glue would work just as well if that's all you have.

Give these a try!  They're really very easy to make, and if you want to do a bunch at a time, you can do all the folding first, and then the assembly second.  P.S.  I usually let them dry flat under a heavy book.  What a great way to use up some small pieces of paper!