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Dukes and Duchesses

Dallas Fort Worth Creative Lifestyle Blogger

creative projects Silhouette · Written by Randi Dukes

How to Stain Wood with Kool-Aid Fruit Drink

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I am a member of the Collective Bias®  Social Fabric® Community.  This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper amplification for Collective Bias and its advertiser. #KoolOff #CollectiveBias

Summer’s coming and that means we start stocking up on one of our favorite drinks: Kool-Aid! While I love to mix up fruit juice Kool-Aid slushies, this time I did something a bit different and used Kool-Aid to stain wood then made a fun sign that I’ll use when I’m entertaining this summer!  Let me show you how to stain wood with kool-aid for a bright, bold, and inexpensive way to color wood!

how to stain wood with kool-aid

Earlier this week, I made a stop at Walmart and bought ready-to-drink Kool-Aid in the new 96 ounce bottle along with a package of powdered Kool-Aid.

shopping at walmart

How to Use Koolaid as a Stain

I poured the ready-to-drink Kool-Aid into a dish then added some powdered Kool-Aid until I had the shade I wanted.

stain made with kool-aid

I applied it to a piece of plywood using a foam brush, the same way I would apply stain.  It soaked right into the wood, coloring it a beautiful, bright red.  And it smelled better than any stain I’ve ever used {wink}!

staining wood with kool-aid

Once it was completely dry, I used my cutting machine to cut a phrase from vinyl, applied the outline to my board, and filled in the letters with white paint.

stencil and paint

The result was this fun sign that I’ll use for all my summer entertaining.  It’ll add a fun touch of whimsy to the snack table!

kool-aid stained sign

This summer, we’ll be drinking a lot of our favorite fruit drink …

kool-aid ready to drink

… and enjoying time spent outdoors with family and friends!

outdoor entertainingHead to your local Walmart and grab some Kool-Aid!


16 Comments

About Randi Dukes

I’m Randi, a Dallas-based mom of five kids, ranging from third grade to college and including a set of twins. I love strong coffee, craft and DIY projects, my planner, and my big ol’ family. When I’m not creating something for my blog, I can be found in the car, running kids from one place to another. I’m the one knitting at the red light. Connect with me on google+ | twitter | facebook

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Comments

  1. keri @ shaken together says

    April 20, 2014 at 8:22 am

    What a great idea, Randi! And the color possibilities are pretty much endless! LOVE the sign!

    Reply
  2. Gina says

    April 20, 2014 at 8:56 am

    Very cool!! I wish our store had the watermelon when we went to get ours. Tropical punch & grape were the only choices in the large bottle. Will have to keep looking.

    Reply
  3. JB Maryn says

    April 20, 2014 at 10:53 am

    This is a great idea! Will be trying this out for sure. Thank you for sharing!!!

    Reply
  4. Jenna Wood says

    April 20, 2014 at 3:16 pm

    I absolutely love how great this looks, and how easy (and affordable) it is! What a great idea and tutorial! #Client

    Reply
  5. Cher @ Designs by Studio C says

    April 20, 2014 at 5:37 pm

    What a great idea! Never thought of staining wood with Kool-Aid… If it can dye hair and dye wool, why not stain wood? LOVE this!

    Reply
  6. Deanna says

    April 21, 2014 at 1:05 pm

    Oh what a great idea! Looks like you bought it, I want to try this with blue raspberry!

    Reply
  7. Glenda says

    April 25, 2014 at 12:03 am

    Love this idea! Thanks so much for sharing!

    Reply
  8. Jeanette Kenney says

    April 26, 2014 at 12:20 pm

    I love this idea. How does it work mixing flavors to get certain colors? Example teal or a seafoam green. (Lemonline & Blueberry?)

    Reply
    • Randi Dukes says

      May 18, 2014 at 9:53 pm

      I haven’t experimented with mixing colors but I bet it would work!

      Reply
  9. Jennifer Sikora says

    April 30, 2014 at 8:52 am

    This looks like a really fun project!

    Reply
  10. Rachel @ BubblyNatureCreations.com says

    April 30, 2014 at 5:32 pm

    This is just SOOO genius!! Love it!

    Reply
  11. Heather - dollar store mom says

    May 15, 2014 at 9:05 pm

    This is simply brilliant!

    Reply
  12. carol says

    June 20, 2016 at 11:25 am

    coming into this late but wouldn’t the sugar in the ready to drink kool-aid attract bugs because of the sugar? i love the idea but i worry about the bugs.

    Reply
    • Randi Dukes says

      June 21, 2016 at 9:50 am

      It never has! Once it’s dry, the smell fades as well so I think the sugar component is no longer an issue. I’ve never had bugs near it and I store it in the garage {in Texas – and we have a LOT of bugs}.

      Reply
  13. Jen says

    July 30, 2016 at 9:22 am

    This is cool! I wonder if I can soak wooden rulers in the mix for my classroom!

    Reply
  14. Twyla Hebert says

    August 3, 2016 at 2:06 pm

    With the powder form of drink mixes (no sugar), you can also change the shades of color. Less water darker color \ more water lighter color. If you want many different colors apply 1st color where you want it, let dry then add 2nd, 3rd, 4th color.

    Reply

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Welcome to Dukes & Duchesses!

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I’m Randi, a mom of five living in Dallas. I love strong coffee, long lists, bright colors, thrift stores, repurposed junk, and power tools.

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