Old Crate Labels

The inspiration for this project came from a post I saw by Decorating Diaries a couple of weeks ago.  I fell in love with her vintage style labels and she did an excellent tutorial.  Mine did not come out as well as hers (I'm pretty sure it was me and not her instructions) so I used a little bit different method.  I did use some of her brilliant ideas though.

I used two different graphics and two different caddies.  This first one is a Graphics Fairy image.  It's her Holland Bulbs image.  I printed it out in the sepia tone and Xeroxed it onto a used Trader Joe's bag that was cut to 8 1/2 x 11.  The crinkles in the bag added to the old label look.

After copying my image on to the paper bag, I cut out the label image.  BTY, when I made my copy, I did use the color setting.  I wanted to keep everything in the brown family.  I decoupaged the back of the label only and stuck it onto my old caddy.  Wanting to keep everything looking aged, I did not paint, clean, wax or otherwise do anything to these caddies.  This is how I found them.

 The next image is one of mine and the only thing I would change about this is I would darken my copy so I get a darker image.  It faded a little more when I applied the water step.  So a darker image would have worked a little better.

Here is another pic of the Henry Tirrill image showing the brown paper bag images.  The copy on the right is one I did a few weeks ago with one of my French typography invoices.  I must come up with a project for that.  I love the old typography.

So after I applied the label with the decoupage, I took my crate down to the sink.  I sprinkled some instant coffee on my image where I wanted it to look stained.  To do this I used an ice tea spoon.  It applied just the right amount.  I then boiled some water in my tea kettle.  Using the same ice tea spoon, I dipped it in my boiling water and sprinkled it on my coffee grounds.  I got the instant coffee idea from the above mentioned blogger (totally brilliant).  I just couldn't get the right look that I wanted using her method.  The ice tea spoon delivered just the right amount of everything I wanted.

 Now I didn't wait very long.  I got my desired result within about 15 to 20 seconds.  Remember my water was sparse and was only applied to the coffee grounds.  I took a paper towel and just blotted up the water.  Now I had my desired stains.  Next I took the spoon and sprinkled the hot water over the rest of the image and then blotted and wiped it down with a clean paper towel.  This crinkled the paper label and made it look water damaged.  Then in the corners where it wasn't stuck all the way down, I tore the paper away to make it look like a torn label.  Voila, it's done.  Fill your crate or container with goodies and you are good to go. 

Below are my copied images on the paper bags.

This is what my Henry Tirrill caddy looked like before the label was applied.  I like it much better now, don't you?   Thanks for staying with me on this.  I know it was a long post, but I really love these labels and plan to do many more caddies and crates in the future. 

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