I don’t know about you, but when I come home I throw all of my mail on the counter inside the door. I think most people do that. It causes a lot of clutter though. So, I had to come up with a solution. I was wondering around Pat Catan’s the other day and found this wooden mail holder. There it is, the solution 🙂 I can do something with this!

I don’t know if you know this but you can stain wood with black tea. It will only make it a few shades darker but if that is all you are looking for then why by stain? No thank you. I’ll do it my way.

Things You Will Need:
Hot water
Mail holder
Tea bags (black tea)

Step 1:

Steep your tea bags in hot water for 2-3 minutes. You can use as many tea bags as you want. I didn’t have a large surface to cover so I used two.

*Make sure it is black tea.

Step 2:

Take one of your tea bags out of the water and carefully rub across the wood. You make have to go over it several times to get the tint that you want. Remember that the tea bag is very thin and will rip easily if you are too rough. Switch tea bags every now and then so that the one you were using can soak up the water and color.

Step 3:

Wring out your tea bag in those hard-to-reach areas to make sure everything is covered. You can see the difference in color immediately.

Step 4:

You could stop there if you wanted to. I wanted to add some more color so I got out my Mod Podge and scrapbook paper 🙂 I also took it outside and covered the mail holder with a sealant for extra protection. This step is optional though.

Yay! Happy crafting 🙂