Santa Christmas Countdown

Do your kids (or you) love counting down to Christmas? This Santa Christmas Countdown kit from Wood Creations was so much fun to put together, and my daughter has loved being able to start counting down the days until Santa comes!

The kit comes with the main Santa piece, his mustache, hat, blocks for counting down, and the vinyl "Santa's Almost Here" and numbers for each block. And just FYI, the kit comes pre-sanded and ready to go, but you might need to do a little sanding yourself on some areas to get them really smooth.

I started by painting the countdown blocks white with a few coats of Americana Snow (Titamium) White. Let dry between coats, then apply the vinyl numbers. After you apply the vinyl, press all the edges of the vinyl so that there are no areas that paint will seep underneath.

Next, I added a few coats of Americana Brilliant Red. I needed about 3-4 coats on each block. Be sure to let each coat completely dry between coats.

Once the paint is completely dry, carefully peel off the vinyl numbers. If you have any paint that peels up, or notice some of the red paint bled, just touch it up with the white or red paint with a small paint brush. After the touch-ups are dry, spray a coat or two of polyurethane varnish on top to protect the paint and give it a nice glossy finish.

If you don't want to do this technique, no problem! Just paint the blocks red, and apply the vinyl! The black vinyl on the red looks really nice, too.

To paint Santa, it's a but trickier, but definitely doable. Place the hat and mustache piece on the large Santa piece and lightly mark with a pencil about halfway under the hat piece, and a semi-circle around the mustache to form the face. You'll also need to make a circle on the mustache piece for the nose, and a small area on the hat piece for the red to show through/for the band and "puff" on the end of his hat.

Once you have everything marked, get painting! I mixed my own concoction for the skin color, but Americana does carry a few different flesh-tones. I mainly used a sponge brush on all the large pieces, and a smaller paintbrush for the smaller details.

*Yes, pizza boxes are extra handy when you have to craft on the couch!!

Once all the paint is dry, glue the mustache on with E6000, hot glue, or wood glue (don't attach the hat piece yet). Let the glue dry, then dot on some eyes with the end of a paintbrush dipped in black paint or use a permanent marker. You can pre-mark the eyes with a pencil if you are nervous about it or want to make sure that the eyes are even/where you want them. Black paint is hard to remove or cover, especially with a light-colored paint!!

Apply the "Santa's Almost Here" vinyl, and press well to make sure there aren't any air bubbles. The project could be complete at this point, but if you know anything about me, it wouldn't be an Artsy-Fartsy Mama project without glitter!

With a small paintbrush, paint some Mod Podge on the beard area, then pour white glitter over top. Let sit for a minute or two, then stand Santa up and tap the excess glitter off. Repeat for the mustache (not the nose), hat band, and hat puff. Since the hat isn't attached yet, you won't get red glitter all over the hat band. Once the red glitter areas are dry, attach the hat piece with your glue of choice.

A few tips: I highly recommend working in small areas at a time on the beard. Otherwise, the place you started painting could be dry by the time you get to the other side. I also took the time to carefully paint the Mod Podge around the vinyl. It was time consuming, but the effect in the end was worth the effort.

I'm sure you're thinking, "but I HATE when the glitter comes off and gets all over the house!!" While I do love glitter, my husband isn't a huge fan of having to go to work covered in it. So, to prevent most of the glitter from coming off, take it outside and give it a few coats of the polyurethane varnish (spray paint). It also adds an extra glossy finish that brings it all together.

Shop Wood Creations online, or you can visit one of their store locations in Utah and Idaho. You can also follow them on Facebook for new products, updates, and giveaways!

Disclosure: I received the Santa Christmas Countdown kit in exchange for this post. All opinions are my own.