SANTA CLAUS IS COMING TO TOWN!

Hello everyone! Welcome back!

It's the most wonderful time of the year!  Especially for creating wonderful vintage style pieces that remind us of our childhood Christmases.

I was in a flea market/gift shop the other day and ran across this darling little wooden chair.  It's about 20" tall. It was only $5 and I could not resist it.  It was screaming "take me home and make me a little Christmas chair!"

 

So, I brought it home and went to work.  With a little imagination and some wonderful DecoArt products as well as a few other goodies, that little chair went from drab brown to this ...

Let me show you how I did it ...

I absolutely LOVE DecoArt's Chalky Finish paints because they require no prep work before applying them to most surfaces. I brushed on a coat Romance Chalky Finish...a beautiful vintage Christmas Red color and let it dry.  When dry, I lightly sanded parts of the chair and applied another light coat of the paint and let it dry. 

Next I randomly added some of DecoArt's Crackle Medium around the edges of the chair and in areas that I wanted to give a very aged or crackled effect to.  I let that air dry...although it was not completely dry when I went on to the next step.

I added a vintage wash to the chair using DecoArt's Vintage Effect Wash in white.  After that, I lightly brushed over the chair in random areas with the Romance Chalky  Finish red paint again.

Now to really give it that aged look and to also sort of seal the chair, I brushed on a light coat of Americana Medium Creme Wax and wiped off the excess.  Where I had added the crackle finish, the wax stuck because the crackle medium was still a bit tacky and I loved the effect when I wiped it off.

My little brown chair was being transformed into a darling little antique style Christmas chair!  

I also ran across the cutest vintage Santa image on a package of paper napkins...so I bought them.  he's PERFECT for my chair!  I added an area of white to the seat of the chair so that when I applied Santa to the chair, he would really stand out.  The white paint is DecoArt's Everlasting Chalky Finish paint.  

The Santa image is torn out of the napkin because torn edges tend to disappear into the background better than cut edges.  I also removed all of the underlying plys of the paper napkin; leaving only the printed piece.

Next, using a light amount of paint from DecoArt's Media line; Transparent Yellow Iron Oxide, I "aged" around the edges of the white circle to better blend with the Santa napkin image. 

To apply the Santa to the seat, I brushed a generous amount of DecoArt's Matte Medium to the chair, laid my Santa in place, removed all of the bubbles and wrinkles and then brushed over him with another coat of the Matte Medium.  This works as a glue and then a sealer to project him from wear and also from the products I would shortly be adding to him.  I gently heat set the Matte Medium.



Here is Santa at this point.

Across the top of the chair, I embossed Santa and his reindeer using a white embossing powder.  

I have always loved images of Santa and his reindeer and this one was perfect for the little chair!

Now it was time to finish off the chair around Santa.  I added some gold and white embossed snowflakes.  I also added a gold embossed "Merry Christmas" in a vintage type.

Next, to add some "glitz", I added some crystal sparkles to Santa's image using DecoArts's Twinkle Writer.  I shook the bottler really well and then added the sparkles here and there.  It came out of the bottle pretty fast, so there was no need to squeeze it.  While the sparkles were still wet, I sprinkled in some clear and shiny mini glitter to really give things that festive sparkle!

Here is the seat of the little chair.  I love the way it turned out!

I also added the Twinkle Writer to Santa and his reindeer followed by sprinkling glitter on them.  In person, they are so sweet and the Christmas tree lights really catch the sparkles of the glitter.

Finally, I completed the look of the chair by adding DecoArt Media Metallic Gold paint along the edges of the chair.  I simply used my finger to swipe the paint all around the edges. It really finishes out the chair so perfectly.

From a plain little drag wooden chair, to this darling vintage style Christmas chair ... I wouldn't take anything for it and I know it would cost a WHOLE LOT MORE than $5.00 now!

Here is a closer look at the detail in this little chair.  So fun to bring back to life!

What a difference the gold edging makes!  It frames everything and just seems to say "Merry Christmas!"

Here's wishing you and yours a blessed Holiday Season!

Thanks for stopping by!