You know I love giving vintage pieces a fresh start, and this pair of Christmas soldiers is no exception! These gems belonged to my mom’s friend, Helen, who had a passion for holiday decor—especially at Christmas.
After a little research, I discovered that upcycling flower pots to create soldiers was a popular DIY trend in the late 1990s to early 2000s. While they aren’t quite vintage, they still carry that nostalgic charm from a bygone era.
When these caught my eye, I couldn’t resist asking if I could revamp them—breathing new life into a classic holiday decoration is, after all, my favorite thing to do! Below is a photo of the “before.” Stay tuned to see their festive transformation!
I’ll assume you don’t have a vintage soldier in your back pocket — so, here is how to make one from scratch!
Materials Needed:
5 terracotta flower pots (one each for hat, head, body and two for the lower torso). I purchased mine on clearance at JoAnn’s for ~$4 ea.
Scrap 1/2″ plywood (arms & hands)
Spray paint (I purchased Krylon Mambo Pink, Rustoleum Matte French Cream, Rustoleum Black)
Glitter (various colors)
Mod Podge (and, foam brush)
Acrylic Craft Paint (black, pink, white, brown) and small brushes
Cricut Vinyl (black, blue, white)
Gold Ribbon (options: metallic glitter, velvet wired, champagne gold satin)
Red Ribbon (options: red plaid reversible, velvet red, gold edge
Instructions:
1. Cut Paint and Adhere Arms
Using a jigsaw, cut arms and hands, ensuring the edges are smooth by sanding. (Each arm should be approximately 3″ wide, with the “wrist” just below the bottom of the pot and the with extending another 3 or so inches.)
Adhere arms to the middle pot with construction adhesive. Position the arms at the top of the upside-down pot, with thumbs facing forward.
2. Prep the Pots:
Clean the flower pots to remove any dirt or dust.
If needed, sand any rough edges.
3. Spray Paint the Pots
(Spray painting provides a quicker application and smoother finish compared to hand painting. Expect to apply several coats, but they dry quickly!)
Hat & Legs: Use black spray paint to give these sections a polished, classic look.
Head & Mittens: Paint with “French Cream.” Start with the mittens, allow them to dry completely, then tape them off before painting the rest of the piece.
Body & Arms: Use “Mambo Pink” spray paint for a bold, festive pop of color.
(Note: If your soldiers are already partially assembled, cover and tape off any sections you want to protect while spray painting.)
Decoupage the Pants
(Note: I’m not a professional at decoupage, so there may be other techniques, but this method worked for me!)(Note: I am not an expert decoupager, so there is likely a better way to do this. But, this is how I approached it.)
Iron the tissue paper “plaid down” to remove wrinkles
Cut the tissue paper into 2-2.5″ strips
Apply Mod Podge to the first (of two) pots and adhere the 2.5″ strip to the pot, covering the top & bottom edges of pot. Work one strip at a time so the Mod Podge does not dry. Cover the adhered strip with Mod Podge.
Continue to work around the pot, apply Mod Podge, then the tissue paper, matching the strips in the plaid and overlapping to allow for the curve of the pot.
Apply the same approach on the bottom pot. (Note: The plaid on the bottom pot will not match the vertical plaid on the upper pot. Tried to keep the horizontal line straight though.)
4. Adhere the Ribbon:
(Note: Work with the ribbon you have and whatever will work with you color scheme. I acquired all my ribbon at estate sales throughout the year. So, while this took some labor-hours, it spent little on materials.)
Adhere the red ribbon (or, whatever you selected I used check ribbon on the other soldier) to the chest area of the Mambo pink pot using E6000
Adhere the gold ribbon crossing over the chest using E6000
Adhere the gold ribbon around the “waist” using E6000. This should be centered on the two pot bands that join the torso to the lower half of soldier
Adhere whatever other ribbons you have decided to use being mindful of the layering sequence. I adhered ribbon at the cuffs and tassels at the shoulders.
5. Hat
Adhere the hat pot to the face pot using construction adhesive. (Note: If during that process any of the paint is damaged, tape of areas and re-spray before moving to next step.)
Hand paint the hat brim onto the top of the “face pot” using acrylic black paint
Apply Mod Podge and the bottom (upside down) of the hat pot in small sections. Apply black glitter over the Mod Podge
Hand paint the ball at the top of hat with red acrylic paint. Let dry
Apply Mod Podge to ball and apply red glitter
Adhere red ball to top of hat with construction adhesive
6. Faces:
Find an example of a soldier face that you like.
Cut the pieces to fit the space of the face using a Cricut
(Note: I purchased a SVG from Etsy that included various facial feature options. I used the vinyl colors that I had on hand and hand painted the rest (cheeks and nose)
Hand paint whatever you are not doing with the Cricut
Adhere the Cricut vinyl pieces
(Note: Hand painting the entire face is an option as well.)
7. Assemble Pots
Adhere the pots to one another using construction adhesive. Let dry.
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