Old tea-stained paper
I've got a really simple tutorial. We'll be making this: 
Start out with any image you want and grayscale it. Images that are already grayscaled and look like they came from a newspaper work best, but those can be hard to come by. If you're using just any image, after you grayscale it, adjust the levels so your image looks something like this:
Of course, crop and resize.
Now add two layers, putting a navy color on the bottom layer (set it to exclusion) and a peachy color on the top (set it to overlay). Then, mess around with the opacity a bit so your image looks something like this:
Make it lighter, less blue, whatever, depending on preference. Then get out your burn tool and find some brushes that have a crinkly look to them. (It doesn't matter what they look like exactly. Just something in that general description. "Grunge" brushes work nicely.) You should now come up with something like this:
Last step! Find a brush with a splotchy look to it (looking like a spill or splatter of some kind) and put it on a new layer in a rich brown color (think tea!!). Duplicate this later. Now you can adjust the two layers however you want so they look like the "old newspaper" has been stained by tea/whatever. In this icon, I have the top layer set to hard light and the bottom one set to exclusion (I also messed around with the opacity a lot). Or something.
I've done this before and I can't remember what settings I've used for the two layers, which sucks because the ones I've done before turned out a lot better than this one. There's the icon I'm using right now, and this one:
Someone more experienced with blend modes than me (which I know is a LOT of people. xD) could probably figure out what I did with these icons...xD If you know what I did, I'd love to know.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this tutorial!
Start out with any image you want and grayscale it. Images that are already grayscaled and look like they came from a newspaper work best, but those can be hard to come by. If you're using just any image, after you grayscale it, adjust the levels so your image looks something like this:
Of course, crop and resize.
Now add two layers, putting a navy color on the bottom layer (set it to exclusion) and a peachy color on the top (set it to overlay). Then, mess around with the opacity a bit so your image looks something like this:
Make it lighter, less blue, whatever, depending on preference. Then get out your burn tool and find some brushes that have a crinkly look to them. (It doesn't matter what they look like exactly. Just something in that general description. "Grunge" brushes work nicely.) You should now come up with something like this:
Last step! Find a brush with a splotchy look to it (looking like a spill or splatter of some kind) and put it on a new layer in a rich brown color (think tea!!). Duplicate this later. Now you can adjust the two layers however you want so they look like the "old newspaper" has been stained by tea/whatever. In this icon, I have the top layer set to hard light and the bottom one set to exclusion (I also messed around with the opacity a lot). Or something.
I've done this before and I can't remember what settings I've used for the two layers, which sucks because the ones I've done before turned out a lot better than this one. There's the icon I'm using right now, and this one:
Someone more experienced with blend modes than me (which I know is a LOT of people. xD) could probably figure out what I did with these icons...xD If you know what I did, I'd love to know.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this tutorial!