Anyone for a Spot of Tea Dye?

 Project "Nona and Nonno's Anniversary" has officially started. I made my run yesterday to Michael's to pick up supplies. They were having a sale on shadow boxes, so I got a nice one for nothing! I spent last night piecing together flowers and papers and brads, but still have not actually glued anything yet. I had a paper drama that left me reeling last night. I purchased a pack of neutral colored cardstock. On the cover it showed creams, taupes, whites and blacks. I thought "Perfect!"  because those were all the colors that I needed. When I got home and started layering and matting the photo, it turned out that the black didn't exist, only a gross brown. So, I tried to see if it could be usable, but it was not. The piece of paper that my mother-in-law gave me had black in it, as well as the shadow box. Needless to say the brown clashed horribly. Luckily my mother-in-law came to my rescue and she will be giving me black cardstock!
 The other part of the drama actually happened at Michael's. Usually they have these beautiful vintage style embellishments all over the place. They've been there every other time I've gone in. But yesterday, the day that I actually needed them, there wasn't any! Not even cream colored flowers or any distressed tags! So, I had to get creative. I ended up buying some of their silk flowers that matched the color that I needed,

and also, some tea dye so that I could make and distress my own tags. I did manage to find some fantastic little antique square brads that I absolutely DIED for. They make wonderful little accents...

 

So, when I arrived home with my bounty, and after solving the paper fiasco, I began tea dying. I wanted to make a small tag with Nona and Nonno's wedding anniversary. I created the text box and print in Microsoft Word, and then printed it off on a cream colored cardstock. I made it look older by using a typewriter font and also wrote it in Italian. After it was cut out I took a water bottle and lightly misted the tag, then I took a small paintbrush and dabbed that onto the ink pad and then put small dots of the dye directly onto the paper. I brushed over them to blend and then during the drying process would go back over to add slightly darker splotches. 

  

I also very lightly bent it in different places to give it a that tattered look. I am thinking that tea dye may be one of my new favorite tools! I used chalking techniques so often before, and still love the results, but I really think that the tea dye effect is perfect for this project. Let me know what you think!