Painting an antique look .. First try

So, Andy over at Poppies at Play always does awesome antiquing-looking-painting using gel stain, so I thought I'd better pick some up and try it. I had looked at Michaels a couple days earlier, and they didn't have any, but the next time I was at Wal-mart, I checked there, and they had a can. I thought Andy's came in a tube, but I figured.. how different could it be? Well.. I think the one I bought had spoiled somehow.. (don't ask me how that happens??) because it wasn't the color it looked like it would be on the can "honey maple" ( I wanted a darker color, but that's all they had ).. and I knew it wouldn't look exactly like the color on the can, but it was straight orange, and it was.. lumpy. Very lumpy. I tried stirring it, but there was no getting it smooth, it was like chili! It was too gross to post a picture of, I'm serious! Now, I'm no expert, but I don't think that's how it's supposed to be..

Anyways, I really wanted to try the antiquing technique on one of my jewelry frames, so I thought of an alternative. I got some dark acrylic paint and diluted it with water, almost half and half. I had already distressed my frame and then once I painted on the watered-down-paint, I let it sit for half a minute, and then wiped it off with a paper towel. It left the stain on the creases and cracks, and corners that I had sanded, but I was able to rub it off everywhere else.

It gives it a similar effect, so I was happy with it. next time, I just won't go so sand paper happy cause the paint seeped into all the scratches, and I had sanded the front of the frame too, a little bit so it didn't look so polished, but now it has lots of brown scratches on the front. Anyways, I think it worked for what I had at the time, and I'll just have to take that other gel-stain back! Gross!

Have you ever used the gel stain or tried to antique something? Do you have any other antiquing tips?? I'd sure appreciate any of your ideas!