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!
Supplies Needed:
- Book Pages
- 8 Bags of Tea
- Shallow Baking Dish
- Aluminum Foil
- Cinnamon
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.
Get The Book Pages Ready
While the tea is cooling is the perfect time to gather up all your book pages. I just used an old book I had laying around that I never read anymore. Like seriously, an old book from middle school that I did not have any desire to keep anymore.
So I started ripping out pages from it and I wanted to use pages that were full of text so I avoided the pages that were the start of a new chapter or the intro pages.
If you don’t have an old book that you can rip apart, then I recommend checking put your local Goodwill and getting a cheap book to use for this project. You can use as many or as little pages as you want to! It depends on what craft you are using the pages for.
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!
So I hope this easy DIY on staining book pages was useful for you as it was for me too! Stay tuned, later this week I am going to show you just what I am using these old antiqued pages for!
Here’s a hint- it is for my Valentine’s Day decor and I can’t wait to share it with you guys! If you try this method of staining book pages out, let me know!
I’d love to see what you’re using your stained book pages for! Also if you’re looking for more Valentine’s Day decor ideas, check out my Vintage Valentine’s Day Tablescape! Thanks so much for stopping by friends!
Wow, this is a great idea.Thank you for the DYI lesson and tips.
Thank you so much for stopping by!
I love DIYs. This I can use for my junk journal. Thank you!
Thank you! I love DIYs too. They are so much fun!
I did this for a piece of school homework once, it was good fun!
Yes it really is! Good and easy fun! Thanks so much!
I have never tried this and now I have to:) So much fun to have with the paper crafts and now they will look aged.
Thanks for sharing!!
No problem Maria! I am using them for some Valentine’s Day crafts coming up soon and I can’t wait to share!
This is so neat!! I’m not so crafty, usually everytime I try it’s an epic Pinterest fail. But this seems simple enough and so beautiful afterwards!. So excited to see what you do with them!
Thank you so much Natasha! I am not super crafty either, that’s why I gravitate towards easy and simple DIY projects. I don’t think I could handle anything too complicated!
First of all, your blog is sooo pretty! Second, this is such a fun and easy project! As an avid book lover, and a lover of using books in decor, I can’t wait to see what you do with your stained pages! I’ve seen a couple people use “aged,” pages as wallpaper! Awesome post.
Oh wow using that as wallpaper would be very cool. I haven’t thought of that before. And thank you so much for the sweet compliment! I really appreciate it!
This is such a neat little project. Of course, I would have to get over my “you can’t do anything to ruin a book” thinking, but honestly, if I would find an old book that I don’t mind pulling apart I could totally see myself doing this.
Right?! I kinda had a hard time picking out a book to destroy, but it was one from my middle school years that I never really cared about keeping and I honestly forgot I had it so it was perfect for this project.
This is such a cute idea! It reminds me of school when you have to make pirate messages!
-Kyra
Awe yes! I remember that. How fun! Thanks for stopping by!
I did this at school once and honestly I love the finish!
Love, Amie ❤
The Curvaceous Vegan
Thank you so much! I do too! It is so fun!
Those look great… what crafts and decorations do you use them for?
I am going to use them to make some valentine’s banners and crafts. I will share them soon on the blog too so be sure to check back!
I am going to use them to make some valentine’s banners and crafts. I will share them on the blog too so be sure to check back soon!
They look amazing! I’m pretty sure we had to do this as homework in primary school once. I don’t know if I could bring myself to rip up the book now though! x
Sophie
http://www.glowsteady.co.uk
lol yeah I had a hard time picking out a book to destroy. But it was honestly one I forgot I even had and it was like from middle school so I didn’t care to really keep it!
What a great idea! And it was so simple! I’m excited to see how you style with these antique looking pages.
Thank you so much! I will be sharing all about it soon!
This is such a cool lil’ DIY! I don’t know what I would do with this, but I also love the look of antique pages. Great post xxx
Melina | http://www.melinaelisa.com
Thank you so much! I am making a vintage looking Valentine’s Day banner with them, which I will share here soon!
What a cute and easy diy!
Thanks so much for stopping by!
This is a unique Diy I have to try. They turned out good! Can’t wait to see your Valentine’s banner you’ll make with them!
Thank you so much! I can’t wait to share! I plan on doing it later this week so check back soon!
I love this! I recently got into journaling again and I think stained pages would be such a fun and exciting background for a spread! Thanks for sharing!
☼ cabin twenty-four
Oh yes! This would be so fun and perfect for journal pages!
I’m not even sure what I need stained pages for but I am super keen to try this. Maybe I can use it as wrapping paper for small presents?
Thank you for sharing!
Didi | http://www.didicrawford.com
You should definitely try it! It’s so much fun to do. And yes, I think wrapping small presents in it would be so cute! That’s a great idea!
Oh wow – I used to do this in History lessons in school and this has brought me such great nostalgia! I may start a bullet journal and do this, as I love the effect it has. x
Yes that would be awesome to do to a journal. I love the effect it has too. It makes it look so much older and it’s so fun to do!
So clever!! DIY Projects are so fun, and this one seems really straightforward so there’s little Room for error which I can appreciate!!
Yes! I love easy and simple DIY projects. And this is for sure one of them!
I did something like this for a school project once. If I remember correctly it was for a pirate theme, I do know that we burned the edges of the paper! Great DIY. 🙂
Oh how fun! Burning the edges of the paper would be super cool to do as well. Thanks for stopping by!
I love antique looking books! Thank you for giving me a little project to complete over the weekend! My kids will love doing this too! xxx
Awe yay! You are so welcome! It sure is a fun weekend project to do!
What a fun idea! I also love the look of older books. Remember the days of dragging a teabag over it for school stuff in the past, but this is a much more sophisticated way!
Yes! This was much easier and more simple to do for sure.
I love that you use antique books for decor- it is an eyecandy piece in interior decor. I like how the book pages can be stained with tea without looking like it is ruined. Thanks for sharing this easy tutorial!
Nancy ♥ exquisitely.me
No problem! I love antique books in decor too! I have so many and they are so fun to style!
This is such a fun project! I remember doing this for school a time or two. My kids would probably think this was fun.
Yes! I bet they would. It is a lot of fun to do!
This looks awesome! I love staining with tea. I did a belly cast with all of my pregnancies. The first cast I did we stained like this and it still looks awesome!
Thank you so much. That sounds awesome too.
This is a great DIY idea and also a cool gifting solution too 🙂
Thank you! It really is a cool gifting idea as well!
I remember doing some tea staining at school, many many years ago. It does look great.
Yes! It was a nice elementary type project- super easy to do!
Great tips! I did this a lot when I did art in school and I used to use teabags then also set the pages alight at the edges which was a really cool effect!
Oh yes! That sounds like a great idea to do as well. Thanks!
Great idea! I’ve never tried staining book pages with tea before, but I have used tea to darken lace that I was using for a project before. I needed an ‘antique white’ look but the only lace I could find that had the apppearance and size that I needed was stark white. I was impressed by how quick and easy it was and how well the lace took to the colour.
Oh yes! I’ve seen that done before with lace and the end result is so pretty! I need to try that sometime too. Thanks for the idea!
What a cool “vintage” idea – I love it!!!
Thank you! I love how vintage they turned out to be!
I used to love doing this for my scrapbook, I’m definitely going to do this again!
Love, Amie ❤
The Curvaceous Vegan
Yes! It’s so much fun to do and is the perfect easy craft project!
Love this idea! I have a lot of old books I don’t read anymore and this would be a fun hobby to get into! x
Yes! You should definitely try it out. It’s so fun and easy!
This brings me back to my Primary school days where we would create old style letters and dip them in the tea to stain and look many years old. This is a cool style to use on books and would work great for a scrapbook!
Yes! It’s a perfect elementary project- so super simile and easy. But also a lot of fun to do as well!
What a great DIY idea! I definitely have to try it, it would be super useful as I study history and get to write my own pieces of work! Thanks for sharing
xoxo Olivia | https://www.oliviaandbeauty.com
Yes you should! It would be so perfect for you then!
On some old bookstagram photos, I used to use old book pages as backgrounds for my photos but I didn’t like how fresh and new they still looked. Reading this, I didn’t realise how easy it is to make pages seem more vintage and old but I’ll definitely do this in the future.
Yes you should definitely try this process out. It is so easy and fun!
Wow, what a cool idea. I’ve always loved the look of antique books too. This reminds me of a project I did in the past. I burned the edges of the page to give it a crisp look, but it didn’t look as great as yours. I’ll have to try this out. Thanks for sharing!
That sounds like a really cool idea too! I will have to try that sometime too! Thanks!
Lovely post! Thank you for sharing. I love staining pages. It’s such a cosy and lovely feel with decor.
Thank you for this!
Stay wonderful!
Louna | burstsofautumn
Thank you so much! I appreciate it Louna!