Tutorial: Tea Bag Dispenser
- Read time: 5 minutes
- Written by: admin
Special guest Maya Isakkson, from the Spectrum Noir design team, used the Scoremaster to make a fun tea bag dispenser. It’s also the perfect size for After Eight thin mints, which is what she’ll use this one for.
Supplies:
Maya says: “It’s really an easy project and using the Scoremaster helps with getting everything to fit perfectly together. I use the end that says lid for the body of the dispenser, the bottom plate is scored on the box base side of the scoreboard and I have a trick for the lid that makes it fit on top of the body. All measurements are in cm so make sure you flip the metric side of the scoreboard up. I start by cutting all the pieces out of sturdy cardstock. Sheena stamping card is perfect for this. You’ll need one piece that’s 25×18 cm (the body), one that’s 8×8 (the bottom plate) and one that’s 9×9 (the lid).
Start by scoring the body, remember to use the side meant for the box lid to score this. Place the longest side up and score at 6, 12, 18, 24 cm.
Following two adjacent score lines cut 2 cm up and cut between to connect the cuts. This is to to make a slot where the tea bags or thin mints will come out of the dispenser. Use a circle punch to cut out a half circle in the middle. I used a 1-inch punch but any size will do.
For the bottom plate (the 8×8 cm piece) score 1 cm from each side using the box base side of the scoreboard. This way you can adhere the bottom plate inside the body and it will fit perfectly.
Cut out little triangles on two of the side by making a cut following one of the score lines to the crossing score line and than another cut just outside of that meeting the first cut at the crossing of the score lines like in the picture above. This is to remove some of the bulk so it looks good when you fold it and glue down the flaps.
For the lid (the 9×9 cm piece) use the same side of the scoreboard as for the body but slide the paper a tiny bit away from the edge before scoring like in the picture above. This is to make sure the lid will fit outside of the body of the dispenser.
Score at 1,5 cm from each side after placing the paper as described above. Cut the same triangle pieces away as on the bottom plate.
I find it easier to decorate my dispenser before putting it together. I stamped and colored my own patterned paper by embossing feathers from the Falling Feathers stamp set and then adding color with my Spectrum Aqua markers in Scarlet and Crimson.
Of course you can use regular patterned papers or colored cardstock instead. You’ll need three panels that are 5,5×17,5 cm and one that’s 5,5×15,5 for the body of the dispenser. To make sure the half circle lines up, place the shorter panel on top of the side with the slot in it and flip the back side up to see the half circle, use the punch with the bottom up so you can see the paper through the hole on the back and punch when it lines up with the first half circle hole.
You also need a skinny bit for the side of the bottom plate that is visible, this piece is 5,5×0,5 cm. For the lid you’ll need 4 pieces that are 1×5,5 cm and one that’s 5,5×5,5 cm.
Adhere all the patterned paper on your cardstock dispenser. Now you can fold and use a bone folder to crease all the score lines before putting it all together.
Bottom plate: Put a bit of adhesive on the flaps and adhere them to the inside of the adjacent sides.
Lid: Same as the bottom plate
Body: Put adhesive on the 1 cm flap and attach it to the other side of the body.
Add adhesive to the three sides of the bottom plate without patterned paper and slide inside the bottom of the body. The floor of the bottom plate should be turned up and also make sure that the patterned paper is facing the front of the body with the slit in it. Place the lid on top and you are done. Decorate your dispenser and fill it
with tea or chocolate or anything else that fits.
I used letter stickers, baker’s twine and a cute stamped image colored with Spectrum Aquas and with added shimmer using the clear Sparkle pen.
