I've been painting peg dolls for a couple years now. Before my oldest was born, I saw the idea on Pinterest and loved how I could bring the lives of the Saints into our house in a fun, creative way. One of my dearest friends, my second child's "Mati," a.k.a. Godmother, inspired me to get started when she gave my oldest the sweetest little St. Therese peg doll, after her namesake.

Why Peg Dolls?

Over the last few years, I've painted maybe 60+ different Saints, and continue to grow our collection. Our children love to receive them as gifts for their birthdays, baptism days, feast days, and other holidays, like St. Nicholas day. They love to play with them in the peg doll monastery I made from an old Melissa & Doug wooden princess castle (I'll post that at some point). They also enjoy lining them up on the coffee table in parades, setting them up in a big bunch to celebrate Mass, play with them alongside a herd of their animal figurines, and this week, they just filled a backpack full of them and carried them around. Oh, and our youngest likes to gnaw on their heads...

I love to paint them. It helps me connect with each Saint as I learn about them through their symbols. I started out pretty simple, and have gotten more and more elaborate as I've learned new techniques. I love to add little details to make them little works of art. Painting on these little wooden dolls also has a special place in my heart, not only for the special memories they're creating for my children as they play, but it reminds me of my dear grandma who did a lot of craft painting. We'd always been kindred creative spirits, a special bond I always had with her. I remember fondly the little cowboys and cowgirls she painted on kids' stools, the little wooden puzzle reindeers, decorative hooks for our rooms when we were kids, and all sorts random household items (like toilet paper holders) and wooden figures (as tacky as they may have been...hehe).

Our Family Traditions

We display our peg dolls in our oratory (a.k.a. living room/library) because the time and care put into them aren't worth keeping hidden. We like for reminders of our faith to surround our children, and this is perfect. There's nothing more important, am I right? I found little display shelves at a thrift store, adjusted the shelves a bit to fit the height of the peg dolls, painted them, and hung them where the kids can see them. Their peg doll monastery is on the ledge below. And when our littlest kiddos decide to knock all of them off the lowest "Saint house" (as we call them), we can throw them in the basket on the ledge. Makes for easy access for our curious little "Saints in the making" to play!

As we celebrate the liturgical year, we use our peg dolls, of course! We display them on the kitchen table on their feast days. And when we learn about new saints or dress up as new saints for All Saints Day, those are usually the saints I paint and give as a gift on the next holiday. My daughter just received a St. Brigid peg doll as a gift from her brother's Mati just after we had read the story of St. Brigid's cloak! Not a coincidence in my opinion! She was intrigued to see that Mati had painted a St. Brigid's cross on the peg doll, something our book didn't mention and we hadn't learned about yet. The next day, of her own asking, we took out some pipe cleaners and learned to make St. Brigid crosses! The learning never ends, and our love of the Saints grows! It has been a great way to enhance our celebration the liturgical year.

Painting the Peg Dolls

There are lots of post out there about painting peg dolls, sealing them, etc. So I'll be brief about my painting process. I purchase my unfinished wood dolls from this site. I choose the 3 1/2" female body and 3 9/16" male body. I use the basic acrylic paints from the craft store (the cheap ones), and have invested in some nice long fine tip paint brushes for the details. I seal it with this craft varnish that you can probably get at any craft store. I've also used glossy spray paint sealer-type stuff, and that's great too (I do love the glossy finish). My kids play rough with the peg dolls, and generally with either varnish I mentioned, the paint doesn't chip too much (I do have a handful that are scuffed up, but it gives them character, right?). I also do a little cheating and use fine-tip Sharpies for the details on my peg dolls. Invest in a good gold sharpie; that's one I've used A LOT! (Be careful: varnish over Sharpie will bleed! Don't use a lot of varnish on the first coat).

Our Female Saints

I plan to create several different posts about our peg dolls and include pictures! This one I've focused on the female saints I've painted so far. Future posts will include our male saints, angles (and my kids painting their own guardian angels!), Marian & Jesus peg dolls, non-saint dolls (like altar servers, priests, bride & groom), the nativity, and our peg doll monastery.

Here are the female saints I've painted. The more elaborate ones are first...and the first ones I did are at the bottom. Hope this gives you some inspiriation as you paint!