Thyme to show you Sweet Treats Santa

A couple of months ago my good friend 

Jane Allen 

asked me if I would paint her 

Sweet Treats Santa 

and 

blog about him.

Of course I said yes!

The pattern  for this project can be found in the book

Jane and Amy Create Christmas.

The book is co- authored 

by 

Amy Mogish 

who is another favorite designer of mine.

You can purchase the wood kit for this Santa

HERE

You can purchase the book

Jane and Amy Create Christmas

HERE

Lets step inside my STUDIO and get started!

My Palette

DecoArt Americana Acrylics

Antique Rose, Burnt Umber, Black Plum, Camel, Deep Burgundy, Dove Grey, Evergreen, Flesh Tone, Foliage Green, Forest Green, Light Buttermilk, Raw Sienna, Sand, Slate Grey, Soft Black, Spice Pink, Tomato Red, Warm White, Zinc.

DecoArt Dazzling Metallics

Emperors Gold

Americana Decor Metallics Tin

Americana Decor Chalky Finish

Yesteryear

I began by sanding my surface lightly.

I sealed the wood and tin with Multi-Purpose Sealer

I base coated the coat and hat with Antique Rose.

I used a Tim Holtz Collection Stencil ( Flourish THS032) for his coat. 

I used a small stencil brush and Tomato Red to stencil the design on the coat.

I divided his coat into 4 sections and started in the lower left corner and then flipped to the right. 

I then positioned the stencil to do the top right and flipped to do the top left.

I then used a piece of Punchinello to stencil the hat with  Tomato Red. 

I base coated his face with Flesh Tone.  I base coated the fur with Camel, mittens with Forest Green. The hair, beard and mustache are Slate Grey. Boots are Soft Black

I have started working on the facial features.

I use Silver Micron Mini brushes for detail work such as the facial features.

Close up of face.

I am now painting the mustache and eyebrows.

I stroked Dove Grey on the eye brows, mustache, and beard. 

I then added  Light Buttermilk strokes followed by Warm White

I'm adding some shading under the mustache.

A closer look at face so far.

I have transferred on the remaining details using graphite paper.

When I shade I either use a 1/2" Scharff FLAT brush 

or 

I especially like to use a #8 or #12 Lowell-Cornell Ultra Round brush. 

I always have a Maxine Mop in hand!

Ultra Round brushes hold a lot of water!

I am shading the arms of his coat and also the hat with Deep Burgundy. 

I deepened the shading with Black Plum.

I shaded next to the cuff and the bottom of the mittens with Evergreen.

I am going to start working on the fur now.

I did a short You Tube video below demonstrating painting the fur.

CLICK on the lower right hand corner of video for view FULL SCREEN

Fur painting video.

Close up of fur on hat as I was painting it. I first floated the edges with Raw Sienna. I reinforced it with Burnt Umber. I used a 20/0 liner brush to stroke on the fur. I painted tiny strokes following the direction of the fur. I stroked Burnt Umber around the outside edges, I worked toward the center of the fur adding Raw Sienna strokes. I then went over all the fur with strokes of Camel. The last step was to add highlight strokes of Light Buttermilk.

Completed fur on hat.

I'm working on the coat fur.

I have shaded the cuffs and ball on hat prior to painting the fur.

The fur on hat is complete. I am working on the cuffs.

I decided I had too much white showing on the eyes.
This is the before and after pictures showing the changes.

Close up showing the changes to the eyes.

Another close up view of face.

I'm working on the belt and buckle.

I am now base coating the gingerbread with Camel.

I have shaded the gingerbread with Raw Sienna .

I reinforced the shading in the darkest areas with Burnt Umber.

I have painted the icing around the edges of the gingerbread.

I have painted the eyes and buttons on the gingers. 

I have also painted the bakers twine on the necks of the gingers.

Close up of painted gingerbread men. 

Another close up of painted gingerbread men.

He really is looking like one SWEET guy!

I have painted the holly on the hat.

I used my graphite paper to add the cake to his left arm

The next goodie I will be painting is the cake.

I love using my Silver Micron Mini for painting all the tiny details in this project.

I am now painting the cake.

"The icing on the cake."

I love all the sweet goodies.....there are many more to paint!

I am now starting to paint the cupcakes in the basket.

I have painted the cupcakes.

I am working on the pie, the basket is base coated in Camel.

I have painted the lattice work on the pie.

I will now begin painting the basket.

I am painting the weaving on the basket.

I am continuing to work on the basket.

I've added some shading to the basket.

It's always good to step back and look at your work as you go along
to see if you need to make any changes. 

I always notice changes that I want to make by looking at my photos.

Do you see anything you would change?

As you can see the two sides of the basket are different.....now how did I do that? !!

I have fixed the basket .
 I added the remaining details to it.

I am now going to work on the pack.

Sweet Treats pack.

I have finished painting the pack. 

I now will paint all the goodies for the pack.

I am now painting the stencil design on the back of the coat.

I am painting the fur on the back side of the hat. 

I have painted the hair on the back side.

I decided to make some goodies of my own to add to this project!

I took 2 1/2" wood balls and painted them Camel. 

 It took about 2 coats. 

I let them dry completely.

I frosted each ball with

DecoArt Dimensional Effects 

using my palette knife. 

I found some green glittered scrap book paper.
I drew tiny holly leaves on the back of the paper.

I cut out all the tiny holly leaves.

I stuck the leaves in the "frosting" while it was still wet.

I cut the red berries off their wired stems with small pliers.

I added the "berries" to the icing while it was still wet.

How SWEET!

I sprinkled Deco Art Glamour Dust on the completed cookies while the " icing" was still wet.

I carefully shaded under the "icing" line 

with 

Burnt Umber 

to give the cookies 

a 

"baked" appearance.

Now to add the "cup cake" papers.

I put a tiny dab of glue on the bottom of the cookies. 
I then set them in the cup cake papers and let them dry.

They look good enough to eat!

I am now going to use the checkerboard stencil to work on the base of the Santa.

Finished checks.

After the checks were dry I used the punchinello again to stencil around the edges of the base.

I decided to add another of my own touches to this project.

I found an old wood lazy susan at a thrift shop.

The surface had a smooth somewhat shiny finish. 

I painted the surface with Yesteryear Chalky Finish paint.

This served as a "primer" for the surface  in addition to applying a stain blocker first.

I used an American Decor Flat Brush to apply the paint.

I let that dry well.

I keep a small blow dryer near my table to speed the drying times.

I painted the underside of the surface in the same manner as the top.

I wanted the surface to appear like a metal tray.

Next I painted the surface 

with 

American Decor Tin Metallic

It made the surface look exactly like a wanted! A shiny tray.

I started painting the tiny treats for the pack.

I was looking at my tray when I had another idea!

Paper doilies!

I decided my tray needed a doilie.

I carefully applied

  American Decou-Page 

to the doilie with a sponge brush.

I let this dry well and then carefully added a couple additional coats of the product.

The tray is done.......but I couldn't stop there!

I'm painting the tiny treats for the pack on his back.

I used Americana Dura Clear Ultra Matte Varnish to seal my Santa. 

 I often apply the first coat of varnish with a large brush.

 I apply additional coats with a sponge.

Be sure to allow each coat of varnish to dry completely before apply the next coat to avoid clouding!

I am now making the tree for the back pack.

The pack is attached to the back with tiny screws.

I used floral sticks, wire and floral tape to prepare the goodies for the back pack. 

Then another idea popped into my head! Candy Canes!

To make these all you need is Dollar Store plastic candy canes.

Tear 3/4" strips of homespun. 

Wrap around your candy canes and secure with glue.

AND what do you have?

Old Thyme Candy Canes of course!

Well......I just couldn't stop myself! I was on a ROLL with ideas! 

So I rolled out my mixer.

Lets make some Ornamental Ginger Bread Dough!

You can find my 

Ornamental Ginger Bread Dough Recipe

and 

some other great craft recipes

HERE

They look good enough to eat!!!

I used cloves for the eyes.

I painted the icing on with Light Buttermilk.

I added Bakers Twine bows.

Of course I had to bake more! 

They make the whole house smell YUMMY!

They are so much fun to paint and decorate!

I added Dazzling Metallics Twinkles for sparkle!

They look like REAL cookies don't they?

Sweet treats!

So remember the tray?

I attached the base to the Santa with a screw. 

I then attached the base to the tray from underneath with a couple screws.

I arranged the Sweets I made on the tray!

I saved some of the "ornamental gingerbread cookies" I made
 and
put them in an old antique jar.

Are you ready to see him yet?

I added some of the 

Old Thyme Candy Canes 

I made to the back pack 

along with all the tiny treats I painted.

Front view.

Deco Art and Rosemary Reynolds

provided me with the paints and products to complete this project as part of their 

Helping Artist and Blogger Outreach Programs

Thank you DecoArt!

I hope you have enjoyed watching me paint 

Jane Allen's Sweet Treats Santa!

Thank you Jane for this wonderful project!

Happy Painting !

Lynn