Repurposed Metal Bucket with Vintage Label

I’ve got a quick and simple DIY for you today using a repurposed metal bucket.

Last summer, I spotted an old slightly crusty (aka the perfect patina) metal bucket at the Goodwill.  I’m betting you have one of these in your home or garage right now.  Lately, I have been drawn to anything galvanized, so I picked up the bucket for an easy DIY project.   The bucket was certainly fine on its own, but I decided to give it a little European farmhouse style.

Last spring at the Farm and Frills vintage market, I found some farm ledgers from the 1920’s.  They are from an Italian olive farm, and have aged to a really pretty color.  You can see all of my other finds here.

I love the aged paper and the Italian handwriting, and thought it would make a pretty vintage label for the bucket.  I didn’t want to tear up the original ledger, so I color copied one side of the ledger.  I tore a small section to the size of a label, and then used some Mod Podge to adhere the label to the bucket.  I ripped a couple of the corners, so it didn’t look too perfect.

The color of the copy didn’t come out as even or quite as pretty as the original, but I think it still works.  It just looks a bit more faded and aged.

Here’s a little tip:  don’t use scissors to cut your paper.  I used a straight piece of cardboard, placed it on my paper and used it as a guide to rip the paper.  That way I didn’t end up with too perfect of edges that cutting with scissors would have created.

Oh I wish you could smell this lavender.  It’s heaven.

Here is the bucket with my fall mums. You can see the rest of my fall home tour here.

Have a great weekend!