Painted Milk Can

Sometimes it feels like we live on a farm (or maybe a zoo).

With 9 chickens, 2 goats, and 3 children, I think we qualify for farm status… and I LOVE it!

It’s always fun for our kids (the children, not the goats) to have friends or cousins over. They always feed the animals and gather the eggs. Naturally, our house has been dubbed the Dalpias Family Farm.

And so I painted this rusty old milk can to represent our farm life. 

My awesome father-in-law had this old milk can in his garage, so when he was getting rid of it, I jumped on the chance to bring it home to our farm.

And once we brought it home, it sat in our shed for a long time, because honestly, I had no idea what to do with an old milk can! So I pinned a bunch of different painted milk cans on my DIY pinterest board, but my inspiration came mainly from Artsy Chicks Rule.

Here’s what I did:

I created a little stencil from vinyl. If you haven’t noticed by now, my favorite thing to do with vinyl is use it as a stencil. I’m using the same method I used for my Egg Tray and my Pumpkin Sign.

The theory behind using vinyl as a stencil is really easy. You just use the negative space instead of the actual letters, like you normally would.

Paint on top of the vinyl. Then peel it off.

Then I took a little container I had laying around- it’s from a flower I got for mother’s day- and planted some petunias in it.

I popped it in the top of my milk can.

And called it good.

I love that it still looks vintage and rustic, but it’s a lot prettier now.

I stuck it by my front porch, and it’s a good way to welcome you to our family farm.