Hooray for DIY Catholic Toys! (Peg Post #1)

Good morning, gentle reader!

First of all, check this out because it's the FIRST of Februaaaaaarrrrrry.

I know it's been a while, but I've totally been wifing and momming it up, and we still have yet to acquire internet access at home (thank God).  The good news is that I've been reading like crazy.  I'm in an awesome facebook group called the Potato Peel Pie Society- and these people inspire me so much!  I've started a goodreads.com account to track my reading, and my goal for 2019 is 50 books. While I would totally love to do Word Nerd Wednesday in-depth reviews of them, I'd much rather be playing with my boy or doing other things.

SUCH AS THE REASON FOR THIS POST: peg dolls!

Last summer, a good friend of mine introduced me to something called a peg doll saint swap. Basically, someone organizes a swap, and all of the participants choose one saint to paint.  Each person gets as many pegs as there are participants in the swap (say 10), and they paint 10 pegs to look like their saint.  Then, on a given date, there is an in-person swap.  Everyone sets out their saints, and each participant takes one from each group.  You walk away with a whole new set of saints!  Pretty awesome.  I did St. Joseph for my first swap.

 

I'm satisfied with how he turned out, but I really don't like the lilies.  Blechk.

My next swap is Marian themed, and, of course, I chose Our Lady of Good Help (the only Vatican approved Marian apparition site in the USA!).  I used this image for inspiration:

I absolutely LOVE how she turned out!

I am thrilled to be coordinating a swap this summer, and our theme is totally and shamelessly stolen from Kendra Teirney's awesome post over at CatholicAllYear.com
I chose to do St. Benedict because he's one of JP's patrons!  Bubba absolutely adores his peg doll saints.  It's an amazing way to introduce the cloud of witnesses to our children.  He knows all of the ones that we have by name!

I want to catalog what I do this time so I can have a resource for future swaps.  Generally, the timeline for a swap is 4-6 months, and I tend to stretch my timeline slooooooooowly.  But, generally speaking, this is what I do.

1.  Order pegs
2.  Spot-sand any rough spots when they come in.
3.  If I'm using lighter colors, paint the pegs with a basecoat (or 2) of white.
4.  Research my saint, find holy cards or other depictions.
5.  Sketch out my ideas on paper.
6.  Sketch on my pegs.
7.  I always have a difficult time choosing a style for the eyes.  If I'm still unsure, I draw different options on the pegs and put up a poll on facebook.
8.  Choose colors/paints.
9.  Figure out the "order" in which I paint my pegs.  I usually pick one color/feature and paint them assembly line style.
10. Finish touching up the set after stepping away from the project for a few days.
11. Write the name of the saint and the feast day on the bottom of the pegs.
12. Seal the pegs.
13.  Pack them up- maybe give a holy card with them.
14.  Attend swap!

I am so excited to do this.  It's great to see all the different levels of talent, imagination, and devotion. Swapping saint peg dolls is also a great way to build community and fellowship with other Catholics who love our Heavenly family!

I hope you find this and subsequent posts helpful and engaging!

That's it for now.  St. Brigid and St. Benedict, pray for us!