DIY Vintage-Inspired Plant Labels with Miss Mustard Seed's Milk Paint Farmhouse Collection
*Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint graciously provided the wonderful milk paint products for this post. However, all opinions are honest and 100% my own.
*This post contains affiliate links. For more information, please see my disclosure page here.
I am so excited to share another fun project using Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint with you today. You may know that I come from a long line of gardeners, and I love gardening myself. So I thought it would be fun to create some plant labels using Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint Farmhouse Collection.
For today’s project I used colors from Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint Farmhouse Collection: French Enamel, Dried Lavender, Lucketts Green, Farmhouse White, Grain Sack, and Ironstone. The Farmhouse Collection is inspired by the simple pleasures of life in the country. As someone that grew up in an old farmhouse on a working farm, and currently lives in an old farmhouse, this collection is near and dear to my heart. You can read more about the collection, and the beautiful colors HERE.
When I was thinking of a project to go with this wonderful collection, I knew a graden-inspired theme played perfectly with the cheerful green, soft lavender, rich blue, and happy whites. I hope you enjoy making these charming, vintage-inspired plant labels as much as I did.
But First, Watch My Live Demo!
Click below to watch the recording of my live stream demo on Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint Facebook page to see how I made these plant labels. I take you through every step of the process.
Follow Below for the Step-by-Step Picture Tutorial to Make Your Own Vintage-Inspired Plant Labels!
New to Milk Paint?
Here are some of my most recent milk paint endeavors: DIY Chalkboard Teacher Gifts, DIY Speckled Easter Eggs, DIY Heart Garland, Farmhouse Christmas Village, Thanksgiving Tablescape, DIY Milk Paint Pumpkins, Thrifted Windsor Chair Makeover with Milk Paint, DIY Dresser Makeover with Milk Paint, Media Cabinet Makeover with Milk Paint, and the DIY Bench Makeover with Milk Paint.
Beginning your milk paint endeavors with smaller projects like this is a great place to start. I love painting furniture with milk paint, but it can be intimidating. The key is to just have fun! Milk paint is very forgiving and you really can’t go wrong.
Before we start, i created this video a couple of months ago showcasing how i updated a thrifted Windsor chair using miss mustard seed’s arabesque. it may be helpful if you are new to milk paint.
Mix Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint
Mix 1 part paint powder to 1 part water. Since this was a smaller project, I used 1 tablespoon of milk paint to 1 tablespoon of water.
I always recommend starting with less so you don’t waste your product. You can always make more paint later. A little bit of milk paint goes a long way especially with this small project.
Whisk the paint together with the water until the paint is fully integrated into the water.
I have found that a miniature whisk is the best mixing tool to ensure the milk powder stays fully integrated into the water.
Your paint mixture should look like a thin pancake batter once it is mixed.
Paint the Wooden Sticks with Milk Paint
Apply 1 thin coat of milk paint to the wooden stick with a craft paintbrush.
For this project, I used these wooden sticks and I was very happy with them. No prep is needed since you are starting with raw wood. The milk paint will soak beautifully into the raw wood, and won’t chip.
However, if you start with scraps of wood you may need to sand it first, if the scrap wood has any paint on it. It is up to you!
Let it dry!
Paint the sides and back of the plant label. Then let it dry fully!
For the darker colors I applied 1 coat, however for the whites I applied 3 coats. It is all up to you and the coverage that you want on your plant labels.
White Wash the Terra Cotta Pots
Every time I go thrifting I look for terra cotta pots. Not only are they cheaper than store bought pots but the patina is stunning! If you don’t have thrifted pots, the next best thing is to age them yourself. This technique using Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint is very simple to do. Let me show you!
While you are waiting for your plant labels to dry, white wash your terra cotta pots. The white wash effect adds a beautiful, aged patina to your terra cotta pots.
Any white from Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint will work for this application. Today, I used Farmhouse White because I love the softness of it.
Mix 3 parts water to 1 part Farmhouse White.
Then, briskly paint the wash onto the pot. With a a quick back and forth motion. Don’t overthink this step! Just have fun with it.
Let it dry!
For this project, I used these terra cotta pots from Dollar Tree. They are small, but you can’t beat the price!
Add the Plant Names to the Labels with Stamps
Once the plant labels are dry, use a stamp with a stamp pad to add the plant names to the plant labels.
I used this vintage-inspired stamp collection with these stamp pads to add the plant names to the labels.
I used this collection, because I liked the vintage feel of it and I love how simple it made the labeling process.
*You can also use a sharpie if you want to write them in a pretty font yourself.
If you want the vintage look, than I would recommend dabbing some of the ink off before you directly apply it to the stamp so the ink has an aged look as well.
Let the stamp ink dry for about 3 days.
Enjoy your Custom Plant Labels
Enjoy your custom, plant labels!
My plant labels were intended for an indoor herb garden. So I didn’t apply any sealant to the top. However, Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint has a wonderful blog post that you can find HERE that discusses outdoor milk paint projects, and proper sealant recommendations if you plan to use these outside.
Thank you to Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint for providing the wonderful products for this post.
Thank you so much for following along today. I hope you enjoy experimenting with Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint as much as I do!
I believe crafting is more fun when we share our projects. Please email me at elizabeth@countrypeony.com, or please tag me @thecountrypeony or #countrypeony to show me your beautiful, custom creations!
