How To Stain Book Pages And Turn Them Into a Seasonal Banner

Charity
by Charity
5 Materials
1 Day
Easy

Y’all know I have a love for antique books and I use them all the time in decor. There’s just something about those worn and well-read pages that I love. I wanted to be able to recreate old, stained book pages that I could use for crafts and displays. I didn’t want to destroy a perfectly good antique book by ripping out it’s pages. I wanted to be able to figure out a way to make a newer book and it’s pages look rugged and antiqued. So I decided to stain them with tea. That’s how I came up with my idea on how to stain book pages.It is such a simple and easy DIY project and it literally just took me a few hours to do. The longest part was just letting it sit in the tea and letting it dry afterwards. If you’re interested in how to distress a newer book and make it look older, then keep on reading to find out just how I did it!

Make The Tea


So the first step is pretty obvious. You gotta make the tea for the pages to soak in! I started by bringing three cups of water to a boil. Once boiling, I added eight tea bags and let it simmer for about four minutes. You can also add even more tea bags if you want your stain to be darker. Any kind of tea bag should work just fine for this project. I didn’t have any bags of unscented tea, so I just used some peppermint tea and I actually liked doing that better because it made my whole house smell great while the pages soaked! Once the tea has simmered for four minutes, let it cool completely. 30-45 minutes should be plenty of time.

Let The Pages Soak


Now once the tea is cooled, pour it into a shallow baking dish. I used a 9×13 casserole dish and it worked just fine. Then, I placed the book pages, one by one, into the dish. I made sure each page was completely soaked before I added another page. I let it soak for probably around four hours total. The longer you let it soak, the darker the stain will be.

Let The Pages Dry


After I let the pages soak for awhile, I laid out aluminum foil all over my countertops and placed the pages on there to dry completely. As I was taking them out, I noticed they were’t as “antiqued” as I would like for them to be. So I decided to sprinkle a little bit of cinnamon on them and rubbed it all over the pages as I set them out to dry. You could also cut open the tea bags and use the leftover spices to rub around on the pages as well! You don’t have to do this step either. It’s completely up to you with how distressed and antiqued you want your pages to look like!

Add Some Cinnamon To The Pages!


As I was taking the book pages out, I noticed they were’t as “antiqued” as I would like for them to be. So I decided to sprinkle a little bit of cinnamon on them and rubbed it all over the pages as I set them out to dry. You could also cut open the tea bags and use the leftover spices to rub around on the pages as well! You don’t have to do this step either. It’s completely up to you with how distressed and antiqued you want your pages to look like! But, the cinnamon also makes them smell great too!

Use Pages For Making A Banner


After they are completely dry, you can use these pages for whatever you want! I used mine to make a little banner for Valentine's Day and it turned out amazing. I wanted a little banner to hang over my hutch and I wanted it too look antique so that's why I needed the pages to be stained.

Cut Out Hearts (Or Whatever Shape You Want) With The Pages


Since I wanted to make a Valentine's themed banner, I used a paper heart cutter on my stained book pages. That way I could add those to the banner in between each vintage valentine card. But you could do this for whatever season you wanted to. For example, you could cut out leaves at fall time, Christmas Trees at Christmas, or snowflakes during the winter. The possibilities are endless!

Make The Banner


Here is everything I used to make the banner with the stained book pages. I used mini paper clips to attach the vintage valentine's day cards and paper cut out hearts to the twine.

Here I am starting to make the banner.
Almost ready to hang the banner.
I love the antique/vintage look to this!
Hang The Banner!


Ta-Da! The banner looks so perfect on my antique corner hutch and it is the perfect pop of Valentine's Day decor here. Like I said above, you could easily do this for any other season that you want to as well!

Suggested materials:
  • Book Pages   (My Home)
  • 8 Bags of Tea   (Grocery Store)
  • Shallow Baking Dish   (My Kitchen)
See all materials
Charity
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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  2 questions
  • Kellye Jean Kellye Jean on Mar 01, 2021

    Love the look of the pages but really in love with your hutch! Would you mind me asking what color that is and if you used a tinted wax or stain? I’m new to chalk paint and have only used a clear wax I bought at Lowe’s to seal afterwards. Wanting to redo an old tall tv cabinet for my craft paints and Cricut supplies and would love to do something similar to your hutch in color. Love your work! Thanks, Kellye electricrd@aol.com

  • Angie Angie on Aug 01, 2022

























    Love the part about rubbing cinnamon on it. Also, I have the canisters that match your lovely breadbox.

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