As soon as my sale was over back on October 4, I jumped right in to Christmas mode.  So I’ve been busy creating Christmas decor for the shop for a few weeks now.  My main goal when creating for Christmas is to give typical vintage items a unique twist.

At the end of this post, you can let me know whether or not you think I’ve succeeded with these ice skates.

And what could be more Christmas-y than vintage ice skates?

Earlier this summer I came across an estate sale where they had an entire storage closet full of old ice skates.  I came home with three pair (and a few other finds).

They were all in pretty rough shape, and looked to be quite old.  I wasn’t entirely sure I could work with them (spoiler alert:  I could, and probably should have bought more!).

I didn’t do much with the men’s skates.  I cleaned them with a damp rag and then gave them a coat of wax.

I also replaced the laces with some brown velvet ribbon and then tucked some old book pages inside.

The addition of that velvet ribbon really elevates the look, don’t you think?

These would be fantastic in a dark academia sort of setting, or a room with that men’s sporting club sort of vibe.

As for the ladies skates, after cleaning them all, I decided that one pair of them needed a coat of Bonding Boss.

This particular pair had some sort of weird pink staining that I thought might bleed thru my coat of paint.

After the Bonding Boss was dry, I painted all of the white skates in Dixie Belle’s Ecru, which I think is the perfect ‘aged’ white.

Then came the fun part, pulling out all of my various transfers and deciding what to use on each pair.

I started with adding some of the I.O.D. Clementine transfers to the first pair.

The Clementine transfers aren’t overtly Christmas-y,

But with the addition of some pinecones and sprigs of holly from a couple of other I.O.D. transfers, they definitely look the part.

I swapped out the laces for some red velvet ribbon, and I tucked some faux greenery into the top of each skate.

This next pair were in the worst shape of them all.

I wondered if I would be able to give them enough of a spruce up to appeal to a future buyer.

The Ecru paint job went a long way towards breathing some new life into them.  Then I used some segments from the Dixie Belle Vintage Post transfer to create a black and white background.  Next I layered some bits of holly here and there over the Vintage Post.

The “Factory No 1896” wording is from the Tim Holtz Eccentric Remnant Rubs transfer.

I think my photos make the ribbon look a bit more orange than it is in real life.  It’s more of an orangey-red, and it works perfectly with the berries on the holly.

For my 4th pair of skates, I decided to push the envelope a little on what qualifies as Christmas-y with some of the I.O.D. Saint Germain transfer.  I think we’ve established that florals are in season all year ’round.

I also added some bling with the I.O.D. Figgy & Flourish transfer, which is one of their gilded transfers.

I used some gold velvet ribbon for the laces on this pair.

And finally I tucked some off-white faux evergreen into the top of each one.

This pair doesn’t scream Christmas, but instead they would work well all winter long.

Secretly, they might be my favorite pair.

For the last pair, I decided to go with some birds and butterflies from the Winter Botanist transfer from I.O.D.  Again, not overtly Christmas, but a bit wintery with the holly and red berries.

I also added in a few small snippets of typography from that Tim Holtz Eccentric Remnant Rub, including the “Finest in the World” wording shown below.

I have to admit to a little inside joke with that choice.  You see, when I went to clean up this particular pair of skates I found a handwritten note tucked inside one of them.  It was addressed to Mary Alice and basically said that this pair of skates were worn by a competitive ice skater and the blades alone cost $100 (and who knows how long ago that was).  It went on to say that “If some child wants them – fine, but someone may want to check at a skate exchange and see if they are worth some money”.

Clearly that never happened, and instead the skates went into the skate closet to die a slow death.

Until I rescued them that is.  Now, perhaps once again they could be considered the ‘finest in the world’ 😉

Now tell me, which is your favorite pair?  The one with the red laces, orange laces, green laces or gold laces?

Oh wait, I didn’t even include the men’s skates in that collage … and maybe they were your favorite?

Leave a comment and let me know.

I will be taking the skates in to the shop later this week (Reclaiming Beautiful in Stillwater, MN), just before I head off to Florida with my sister and niece on Friday.  The Reclaiming Beautiful Holiday Open House will be taking place while I’m out of town, so I want to get a bunch of my holiday merch in before I leave.

So if you’re looking for some gorgeous ice skates to use as winter decor, be sure to head in to the shop soon!