Mother’s Day is around the corner…. and I have the answer for your gift giving woes! Traditional Mother’s Day gifts? Predictable! Now, imagine gifting your tea-loving, witchy queen of a mom something brewed straight from the heart – Custom Gothic Tea Tins filled with hand-blended loose leaf teas. Now that’s a gift to raise the dead. Whether your mom is a full-on Halloween enchantress year-round or just appreciates the darker things in life, this little DIY project is equal parts thoughtful, aesthetic, and haunted.
Why Gothic Tea Tins? You know there’s a back story! I was looking through the Spring issue of a magazine, and noticed a photo of some Victorian inspired Tea Tins. I’m an avid tea drinker, and love the idea of storing tea in tins, so these caught my eye. Despite each canister in the photo being a different shade of the pastel rainbow, I thought the labels and the simplistic design were quite beautiful. Of course, if you’ve read any of my tutorials before, you’ll know that much of my inspiration comes from the frustration of seeing things done beautifully for the masses but rarely for my darker aesthetic. So, once again… an idea was born and I set out to recreate those simple tea tins, but with a gothic twist!
So let’s get to it! I tried to keep this project as simple as I could….. especially for all of you that leave your Mother’s Day shopping until the last minute! There are a lot of different ways to achieve these cans, so I’ll share what I did, but also offer some tips for some other methods that may work better for you.
Before we get started…. This post contains some affiliate links. If you buy something through one of those links, you won’t pay a penny more, but I’ll get a small commission, which helps keep the lights on. Thanks! Click HERE for more details.
Step 1: Choose Your Tins
Any solid black tea tin will do. They come in many shapes and sizes. You can order a pack of them online (I’ll provide a few links for you below), or you can paint tins that you already have. Just be careful when adding any kind of paint to metal…. there’s a risk of the paint scratching so you’ll need to first use a Primer Paint intended for metal surfaces.
I ordered this 10 Pack of Tea Tins for this project. A quick PSA about ordering tea tins….. I painstakingly read reviews on so many different products. They ALL seemed to have a lot of complaints regarding minor (and major) dents or scratches…. I came to accept that it was likely a reality regardless of which ones I bought (and yes, mine arrived with a few small dents and scratches). I also saw a lot of complaints regarding the seal not being tight or the lid not fitting, and that was something I wanted to avoid since I am truly planning to store tea in these. Without a tight seal, the tea could go stale, and that would be a terrible shame. The 10 pack I purchased did not have a ton of reviews, but at the time I ordered mine, all mention of the seal quality was positive. I had wanted to purchase a variety of shapes and sizes, but that brand only offered the one option… so I opted to go with the 10-pack, instead of risking any other shapes and sizes from other brands having issues. That said…. the other tin canister options did have plenty of positive reviews as well, so it may just be a question of getting lucky with the shipment. If I decide to try another set, I’ll update this post.
Here are a few of the options you can order (click the image), but please read the reviews before making your purchase…
Step 2: Brew Up a Blend
Luckily for you, when I embarked on this little Tea Tin project, I decided to simultaneously learn how to develop tea blends. There are so many reasons to make your own tea from cost savings, to custom flavors based on your tastes, to health and wellness benefits. It is a hobby I have been threatening to get into for years, so these tins were the boost I needed! After A LOT of taste testing, I created five uniquely different tea blends, and designed the labels you see in these photos to go with the teas. I am working on finalizing and publishing all of those recipes, along with a “DIY Blending Guide” for those of you that want to create your own concoction. I’ll update this post with a link to the recipes once they are available.
If making homemade tea blends is not your thing…. or perhaps there is just not enough time to make the tin AND the tea ….. There are tons of great options on the market for purchasing loose leaf teas and blends.
Here are a few teas, already blended, you can order online (click the image) ….
Step 3: Make Custom Labels
Now the fun part: dressing up your tins like little gothic gifts!
Let me start by saying that if you like the labels I used, or if graphic design is not your thing, I have the digital images available in my Etsy Shop. At this moment, all 5 you see in this post are available, but I have a TON of others in work. It was so much fun designing them! I have a long list of gothic inspired tea names that I’m looking forward to creating designs for! I am also in the process of looking into offering these as stickers in my Art Studio Shop! (Tip – if you favorite the Shops, you’ll see a notification of all of my newly listed products right in your Favorites Tab, or sign up for my Newsletter and I’ll fill you in each week with what’s new!)
If you’d like to design your own labels, there are plenty of graphic editing programs available. There’s also a ton of clipart available for purchase. Once you come up with your tea name, you really just need a frame or border, a small graphic, and the text. If you’re not sure where to begin, let me recommend some “vibes” to consider….. Vintage apothecary style with fancy borders and aged paper background; or bold Halloween with occult symbols, moons, bats, black cats, etc; or focus on a font that screams “Victorian séance” or “Witch market stall”.
Once you have your design in hand, print it out and adhere it to the tin!
No, I’m not going to leave you like that! In my attempt to find the absolute best way to print and attach these labels, I scoured the internet and pretty much came up empty handed. Plenty of other bloggers love designing labels, but no one seems to want to share what to do next. Thankfully, I’m resourceful and I have some options for you!
If you have a quality high resolution printer… you’re in luck. You can print directly on sticker paper. I do not have an amazing printer. I thought perhaps I could bring sticker paper to my local printing service (Staples, Office Max, etc) and have them print it for me, but apparently, the machines now used at most basic printing facilities are not compatible with any type of label or sticker paper…. something about the adhesive ruining the machine. I also learned there are some websites where you can send custom artwork and they’ll print it as a label or sticker. This could be an ok option if you have the time to wait for it, and don’t mind the cost. A “worst case” option I considered was to have a local printer print the images on regular paper, which could then be glued to the tins. In this case, I would recommend covering the paper with a layer of mod podge first to ensure the label would fair better if it got wet or banged around in a cupboard. After all of the work I had put into designing the labels, I was feeling pretty defeated about my printing and adhering options. And then I had the most brilliant idea!
OK, another quick back story – I have a 9 year old daughter. She loves stickers, of course. So, for Christmas this year, I bought a sticker making machine for her. Thankfully, I had done a ton of research back then to make sure I bought the right one. When we tried it out, I was floored at how awesome it was…. totally exceeded my expectations! I immediately bought the larger version for myself, and then immediately forgot about it (like I do with half the craft supplies I buy on a whim!) until this tea label ordeal! I tested the machine with one of the labels I had printed on regular paper and it was PERFECT!
I know I just made that sticker machine sound like the greatest invention of all time, and I am absolutely recommending it for this project, but I should clarify that the machine has a manual operation so there is the potential for user error, it wastes a lot more of the adhesive roll than I would like, and while the price of the machine is reasonable, the adhesive refills are almost as much as the machine…. Otherwise, I think it’s a fun tool for any crafter!! It comes as a “Mini” which fits up to 2 1/2″ wide stickers, or a “Basic” which fits up to 5″ wide stickers.
To use this machine, simply print the label on regular paper (I had my local printer do it, so the color would be crisp) and cut it out. Place the label into the front slot of the machine and start to turn the dial. As the paper slides into the machine, adhesive is attached to the back, and it comes out the other side as a sticker. I recommend having all of the labels ready to feed one after another to prevent some of the “waste” I referred to. The only thing left to do is attach the label to the tin. If you’re not super confident in your ability to place the label straight, there is a “Repositionable” adhesive refill available.
Step 4: Package the Magic
To put this gift over the top…. once your tins are labeled and filled, wrap them up in a mini gift box filled with Black Crinkle Paper Filler. Add a tea infuser and a gothic spoon…. see below for some recommendations! And add a handwritten note (maybe with the ingredients and brewing instructions) sealed with wax! Decorate the box with dried flowers or herbs and twine. So there you go, creepily creative souls—your blueprint for a gift that’s equal parts heartfelt and haunted.
Here’s a small sampling of some of the Victorian and Gothic Tea Ball Infusers available in the MeandAnnabelLeeShop …. these are obviously a must-have accompaniment for loose leaf tea!! Click on the image to be taken directly to the shop!
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