diff --git a/Gruntfile.js b/Gruntfile.js
index 19850ee..1caf9fb 100644
--- a/Gruntfile.js
+++ b/Gruntfile.js
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
 
 module.exports = function (grunt) {
   grunt.initConfig({
+    
     jshint: {
       all: [
         'Gruntfile.js',
@@ -20,11 +21,29 @@ module.exports = function (grunt) {
         jshintrc: '.jshintrc'
       }
     },
+    
     clean: {
       test: ['tmp']
     },
+    
     nodeunit: {
       tasks: ['test/*_test.js']
+    },
+    
+    // Configuration to be run (and then tested).
+    base64: {
+      default: {
+				options: {
+					test: true
+				},
+				src: [
+					"test/fixtures/test-png.png",
+					"test/fixtures/test-gif.gif",
+					"test/fixtures/test-jpg.jpg",
+					"test/fixtures/test-bmp.bmp"
+				],
+				dest: "tmp/base64.css"
+			}
     }
   });
 
@@ -34,11 +53,10 @@ module.exports = function (grunt) {
   grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-contrib-jshint');
   grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-contrib-nodeunit');
   grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-contrib-internal');
-  grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-base64');
 
   grunt.registerTask('mkdir', grunt.file.mkdir);
-
+  
   grunt.registerTask('test', [ 'clean', 'mkdir:tmp', 'nodeunit', 'clean' ]);
-
+  
   grunt.registerTask('default', [ 'test', 'base64' ]);
 };
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 1ac9666..8263426 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -28,7 +28,8 @@
     "test": "grunt test"
   },
   "dependencies": {
-  	"filesize": "~1.7.9"
+  	"filesize": "~1.7.9",
+  	"datauri": "~0.2.0"
   },
   "devDependencies": {
     "grunt-contrib-internal": "~0.4.3",
diff --git a/tasks/base64.js b/tasks/base64.js
index 014f9a8..923f91d 100644
--- a/tasks/base64.js
+++ b/tasks/base64.js
@@ -14,9 +14,48 @@ module.exports = function (grunt)
 	var fs = require('fs');
 	var childProcess = require('child_process');
 	var filesize = require('filesize');
+	var datauri = require('datauri');
 
 	grunt.registerMultiTask('base64', 'create base64 encoded data-uris for css from images', function ()
 	{
-		var options = this.options();
-	});
+		var options = this.options({
+			
+		});
+
+    
+    this.files.forEach(function(f) 
+    {
+      // filter valid files and map data uri generation
+      var data = f.src.filter( fileExists ).map( generateDataUri ).join('\n');
+			
+      // Write the destination file.
+      grunt.file.write(f.dest, data);
+      
+      grunt.log.writeln('File "' + f.dest + '" created.');
+    });
+    
+    
+    // generates a datauri object from file
+    // ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+    function generateDataUri( filepath )
+		{
+			var dataObj = new datauri( filepath );
+
+			return dataObj.getCss();
+		}
+		
+		
+    // Warn on and remove invalid source files (if nonull was set).
+    // ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+		function fileExists( filepath )
+		{
+			if (!grunt.file.exists(filepath)) 
+			{
+				grunt.log.warn('source file "' + filepath + '" not found.');
+				return false;
+			} 
+			
+			return true;
+		}
+  });
 };
diff --git a/test/base64_test.js b/test/base64_test.js
index bfd0e5b..80d55e8 100644
--- a/test/base64_test.js
+++ b/test/base64_test.js
@@ -3,4 +3,17 @@ var grunt = require('grunt');
 var fs = require('fs');
 
 exports.imagemin = {
+	
+	setUp: function( done ) 
+	{
+		done();
+	},
+	
+	base64_options: function( test )
+	{
+		test.expect( 1 );
+		test.equal( 1, 1, "random..." );
+		test.done();
+	}
+	
 };
diff --git a/test/fixtures/test-bmp.bmp b/test/fixtures/test-bmp.bmp
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4a24e4f
Binary files /dev/null and b/test/fixtures/test-bmp.bmp differ
diff --git a/test/fixtures/test-gif.gif b/test/fixtures/test-gif.gif
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4d23612
Binary files /dev/null and b/test/fixtures/test-gif.gif differ
diff --git a/test/fixtures/test-jpg.jpg b/test/fixtures/test-jpg.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..73dcf44
Binary files /dev/null and b/test/fixtures/test-jpg.jpg differ
diff --git a/test/fixtures/test-png.png b/test/fixtures/test-png.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..87908eb
Binary files /dev/null and b/test/fixtures/test-png.png differ