Saint Peg Dolls

A few months ago, a good friend wrote on her blog about a saint peg doll exchange that she participated in. I had started to see ideas for painting peg dolls, but nothing that inspired me to try it. After I saw her post, I said to my friends, "We must do this!" What a wonderful way to get kids interested in the saints! A few weeks after that, things got rolling and a group of 14 of us decided to do it! Some of us chose to paint two saints, others chose to do one. 

I chose St. Elizabeth Ann Seton and St. Nicholas for two of my children. (It is kind of fun to see them all lined up, isn't it?)

First, I chose to paint St. Elizabeth Ann Seton. I was inspired by several dolls of her that I found on Pinterest. I had fun painting these. My favorite part is the rosary, which I made with Liquid Pearls, so it has a bit of raised texture.

Next up, I painted St. Nicholas. Again, I was inspired by some dolls I found on Pinterest. I struggled with the arms on these, and I am still not satisfied. I started by painting them in the gray like I did on the St. Elizabeths, but the contrast with the red was too much, so then I used the rusty brown, which helped.

I wanted all of my children to have a peg doll of their patron saint, so I also made a St. William of Monte Vergine/ Vercelli and St. Adrian. Since I only had to make one of each of these, I went  little more detailed on them.

First up was St. William. There is a legend that says that he was building a church with his only companion being a donkey. A wolf came out of the forest and ate the donkey. St. William ordered that the wolf take the donkey's place. The wolf obeyed, realizing that he had interrupted God's work. He carried the stone and supplies for St. William. (source)

St. Adrian was a pagan soldier that was inspired to belief by the Christians he saw dying for their faith. He went on to become a Christian and died for his faith.

Neither of these saints had dolls available to look at on Pinterest, so I went from illustrations of them. In about a week, we will be doing our exchange, I am so excited to see all the other saints!