(host) Today's video is going to be a super-duper fast one. We're going to be making this beautiful antique-looking paper here, and it's literally going to take you about five minutes to create, and you won't need many materials. This paper is great for using for different crafts. It's very versatile, and you can use it for anything from creating pirate treasure maps to writing notes, or even use it as drawing paper. I think it's super pretty, and I think everyone should know how to make this 'cause it's super fun. So let's get started with this tutorial, and you'll be on your way to having so much of this fantastic-looking antique paper. It is amazing. I have stashes of it everywhere, and I use it for literally everything.

[chuckles] Can't get enough of it.

Let's get started. Before starting this tutorial, it's important to make sure that you have everything you need. You will need a piece of wax paper set underneath a stack of paper towels.

(Describer) A few of them.

You will need a piece of white computer paper or any other type of paper you would like to use. I cut the computer paper in half because I like the smaller size better, but you can keep it full sheet, or you can cut it however small you'd like. In addition to the paper, you will need a mixing bowl or a shallow pan. I was going to use a pan, but it was really dirty-looking, and it didn't fit on my display shelf thing up here, so we're going to use this bowl. And you will also need some strong brewed tea or coffee. It works best if it's warm or hot. And depending on if you use coffee or tea, or whatever type of tea you decide to use, your paper may turn out a little bit different in color. Oh, and if you leave your paper in the hot liquid for a very long time, it will get darker, and darker, and darker, so keep that in mind. You can play around with the colors and see what kind you like best. The first part of DIY-ing your own antique paper is to take your tea and to pour it into your bowl.

(Describer) She pours in dark brown tea, filling about a third of the bowl.

You can leave the tea bags in if you like,

(Describer) She has two.

but you don't have to. Next, take your piece of paper and lay it down in the tea, or coffee, or whatever you're using. It doesn't matter if it gets a little wrinkled up. That'll create more of a kind of roughed-up look to your end product, but be careful if your tea-- or coffee, or whatever liquid you're using-- is very hot. You might want to use a spoon or something other than your hand to swish it around in your tea. Ideally, you want every part or your paper to be covered, but since my bowl isn't quite the right size and I didn't get quite enough hot water, mine's not in there all the way, but it's still gonna look really cool. And these spots that are sticking out of the tea are going to be a bit lighter. So it's going to look really sweet. And for the next step, you want to leave this sit for at least five minutes. If you leave your paper sitting in the tea for a lesser amount of time, it will be a bit lighter in color. If you leave it in there for a little bit longer than five minutes, it's going to be a little bit darker. Just play around and see what you like.

(Describer) Later...

You can now take your paper out

[chuckles] carefully.

(Describer) She pulls it up from the top.

Just grab it... and lay it down on your paper towel to dry. Make sure you have the wax paper underneath your paper towel; otherwise, you're gonna stain whatever surface the paper towel is sitting on, and you don't want to do that. Let that dry. It's gonna take a while. And when it's done, it should look a little something like this, except for this paper was done in a rusty pan, which is why it has these little stain marks on it. So if you want little stain mark things on it, make sure you brew your tea and pour it into a rusty pan, and then set your paper in the rusty pan. But it should look something like this.

(Describer) Light-brown and weathered.

Roll it up, make it into a pirate treasure map. You can draw on it. You can write notes on it. You can make a message in a bottle and send it to someone you really like or a friend you haven't seen in a while. You can do lots of stuff with this paper. And it's good to have some on hand in case you just, you know, want to mix it up sometimes.