Distress Stain Spritz

Tim Holtz recently released Distress Spray Stain. I think this is awesome — I am much more apt to use sprays over the original stain dauber bottle. However, I really didn’t want to buy one more thing.

When I saw the replacement tops for sale, it gave me an idea … I wondered if I could pour the stains I already have into an empty spritz bottle.

I e-mailed Tim and he assured me that it was the same formula and it should work to pour them into a spray bottle.

So, I ordered some empty bottles from Ranger and went to work.

The hard part is getting the little dauber top off of the bottle of stain. I used my thumbnail to wiggle it out … working slowly and going around and around the top.

It is important to work the top off evenly. When I did the Forest Moss, I was watching the birds and wasn’t really paying attention to what I was doing. I lifted one side too high and when the dauber went, so did a lot of stain — on the desk, the floor, my hands and me.

Fortunately, that was the only one I had trouble with!

I poured the stain into the bottle. Then I printed off Distress Ink labels from Ranger’s website. You can print your own set, here.

Then, I cut them out and ran them through my Xyron Sticker Maker and adhered them to the bottles.

Here’s my little collection.

Note: I did not do my metallic ones, since I am not sure how the bottle mixers will work. I decided I would rather buy the spray versions of those. But for the regular colors, it works perfectly!