Kool-Aid “Dye”namics

Almost any mother can tell you what a Kool-Aid spill on a shirt or carpet will do. In case you have never experienced such a spill, I can tell you firsthand. It creates a stain in a nice bright color, one that is usually impossible to remove. But the product that has caused mothers everywhere to panic at a tipped glass will now become something you love because of its staining power.

Kool-Aid drink mix is an excellent and inexpensive color medium for many of your paper crafting projects. The many available flavors will give you beautiful and bright shades, and allow you to coordinate the elements on your project. The drink mix does contain acids, so you may want to stick to cards and other projects that do not need to be acid free.

1. To get started, pick out a few of your favorite colors in the grocery store. You will want the packets of unsweetened mix.
2. Prepare your table by placing paper towels on the work surface, and have a few nearby for droplets. You want the mix to stain, but you probably don't want stray mistakes.
3. Mix hot water with the drink mix in a small cup or shallow dish. The less water you use, the more saturated the color of the dye. For the colors in my project, I used 1/3 cup hot water with a half packet of drink mix.
4. Place flowers, ribbons, fabric and paper into the mixed solution. Synthetic materials will take longer to stain and may not be the best choice for this project. Paper and cotton will take dye beautifully.
5. While your elements soak, use your dye as a water-based paint. I used a foam brush to create a background paper and a smaller paint brush to color my stamped images.
6. Remove elements from dye and allow to completely dry. A hot iron or embossing gun may be used to speed drying time.

Just like any coloring medium, colors may be mixed to create new colors. You may also begin with a colored embellishment rather than a white embellishment for all new colors. For example, I used a lavender flower with a yellow center. When soaked in Blue Raspberry Kool-Aid, the flower came out blue with a green center.

Have fun - and be prepared to hide your stash of drink mix from the kids. Either that, or get them involved and let them paint along with you. If any of you find a terrific cleaning product to get the stains out of your hands without removing a layer of skin, I would love to hear about it!

Kool-Aid © KF Holdings

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