DIY Reindeer – Easy Scandinavian Inspired Christmas Craft!

Upcycle a wood reindeer from the thrift store into this cute Scandinavian-inspired DIY Reindeer! It’s the perfect decoration for Christmas!

DIY Reindeer

Is anyone just absolutely in love with Scandinavian-inspired Christmas decor? I’ve been on the lookout for some beautiful pieces lately.

I see a ton of these homemade wood reindeer at the thrift stores every winter, and I realized that it would be a relatively easy item to update into something super chic and cute.

If you prefer a more rustic look, you could stain the wood reindeer a dark color, and then use a white paint pen to add the decoration. It think it would look great that way!

How to Make a Scandinavian-Inspired Reindeer

The full directions to make this painted reindeer are in the printable card at the bottom of the post, but here’s a condensed version of the directions:

1. Prime the reindeer with gesso.
2. Paint with your favorite color of acrylic paint.
3. Use a paint pen to draw on the designs.
4. Enjoy displaying your new beautiful Christmas decoration!

Painted Reindeer Tips

1. The reindeer I used is mostly raw unfinished wood, which makes this project a lot easier. If you use a sealed wood, you’ll have to either strip it, sand it off, or use a strong primer.
2. Even though the reindeer I used was a little rough on the edges, I didn’t sand it too much because it’s a really soft wood and it kind of seemed like the sandpaper was just eating away at it. I did sand off a bit of the parts that were painted black though because I knew I’d be painting it a light color.
3. I primed it with two coats of gesso (both to fill in the gaps a little, and to give good base coverage for the acrylic paint).
4. Two coats of a warm white acrylic paint on the most visible parts worked perfectly. I only used one coat on the not so visible parts.
5. If your pieces are separated, check that they still fit together between each coat of paint. I ended up with one leg that could barely be squeezed on, so it didn’t need any glue. I glued on the other leg and the antlers.
6. I definitely recommend using a paint pen for adding the design. Preferably a good quality paint pen – I ran into issues with a dollar store one smudging a lot even after it dried.
7. Try to paint the reindeer and add the design on the same day – since I ended up with some paint pen smudges on the horse, it was super helpful to have the mixed color ready to go to cover up the smudges.
8. I felt like the legs were a little bare and needed just a little something, but not too much because I didn’t want to draw the attention away from the torso and antlers. If you don’t have a steady hand, or really like things that look a little more perfect, I’d skip lining the leg because it’s kind of hard to keep the paint pen steadily on the edge. Surprisingly, it was easier to paint the edge while holding it in the air than while it was on the table.

What You’ll Need

To make these Scandinavian-inspired reindeer you’ll need a couple of tools (affiliate links):

1. Wooden reindeer. I’ve found tons at the thrift store, but if you can’t find any (or don’t want to deal with removing any existing finishes), you can buy a new one here.
2. Gesso. Gesso’s a great primer for wood, and since it’s a little thicker than paint, it helps fill in some of the ridges in the wood.
3. Acrylic paint. I used a combination of white acrylic paint mixed with the tiniest bits of red acrylic paint and orange acrylic paint.
4. Paintbrush. I use this set for pretty much all of my crafting because it always has one that will work for my project.
5. Paint pen. I used one from the Dollar Tree, but can’t fully recommend it. I much prefer this one.

DIY Christmas Crafts

If you’re looking for more easy upcycled and thrift flip Christmas crafts, be sure to check these out!

• DIY Chalk Paint Candlestick
• Christmas Gnome Ornaments

Click here to pin this project for later!

Yield: 1

DIY Painted Christmas Reindeer

Print

Upcycle a wood reindeer from the thrift store into this cute Scandinavian-inspired DIY Reindeer! It's the perfect decoration for Christmas!

Active Time 45 minutes

Additional Time 1 hour

Total Time 1 hour 45 minutes

Difficulty Easy

Estimated Cost $5 or Less

Materials

• Wooden Reindeer
• Gesso
• Glue
• Acrylic Paint
• Paint Pen

Tools

• Paintbrush

Instructions

1. Start by priming the reindeer with gesso. I ended up using two coats. This both kind of filled in some of the ridges on the wood, and prepped the wood for the acrylic paint.
2. If your reindeer isn't glued together (like mine was), go ahead and glue it together after the gesso has dried.
3. Mix the color you want to use for the base of the reindeer using acrylic paint. I wanted a warm white, so I added just the tiniest little touch of orange and red to my white paint. If you do the same thing, just know that it's really easy to add too much, so add almost nothing at a time.
4. Paint the reindeer. I used two coats.
5. Once the reindeer is dry, draw on the design using a paint pen. I used one from the Dollar Tree, but recommend using a better one (it ended up smudging after it was dry). There are lots of ways you can add the design, but I thought the antlers, face, neck/chest, legs, saddle, and tail were the most important parts.
6. Antlers: I painted the flat edges a solid gold, made a border with gold dots, and decorated with swoopy lines and dots.
7. Face: I kept it simple with very basic eye, nose, and mouth outlines.
8. Neck/Chest: This was more inspired by the white on the necks of white-tailed deer than by reindeer, but I thought having a filled in gold teardrop shape here made the piece look more complete.
9. Saddle: I drew a relatively simple saddle that was accented with different lines and dots.
10. Tail: I drew an upside down heart on surrounded by a border of dots.
11. Legs: I outlined the very edges of the legs with a thin gold line.

Notes

The reindeer I'm using is mostly raw unfinished wood, which will make this project a lot easier. If you use a sealed wood, you'll have to either strip it, sand it off, or use a strong primer.

I felt like the legs were a little bare and needed just a little something, but not too much because I didn't want to draw the attention away from the torso and antlers. If you don't have a steady hand, or really like things that look a little more perfect, I'd skip lining the leg because it's kind of hard to keep the paint pen steadily on the edge. Surprisingly, it was easier to paint the edge while holding it in the air than while it was on the table.

Keep an eye out at the thrift store for a wooden reindeer so you can try making this super cute painted DIY reindeer!