The willowday blog has a really interesting idea for teabags that resemble flowers. The method involves trimming the tops of empty paper tea filters into petals and then dyeing them with a red herbal tea. Once dry, they’re filled with tea and then decorated with “leaves” cut from more tea filters and dyed with green tea. A bunch of them massed together is particularly striking.

It seems to me that this idea could be expanded considerably by cutting the filters into different shapes and using food dyes for more color options: A couple that spring immediately to mind are blood-red roses and black bat wings. Fill the bags with loose tea of your choice, tie with cotton twine, and pack in a pretty jar or basket.

For extra points, you can fill the bags with your own custom tea blends. Googling “herbal tea recipes” will turn up plenty of information, but here are a couple to get you started: Herbal Tea Recipes and Custom Tea Blends.

A “bouquet” of these tea flowers would make a thoughtful (and also easy and inexpensive) gift.