Tuesday, October 16, 2012

An Alphabet of Saints

You know how much I love Jessica and her family, right? She is such a beautiful inspiration in so many ways! Look at all of the fun alphabet schooling she's done and is doing. I almost can't wait for Cupcake to be ready for some fun lessons like those. Then again, I don't want her to grow one more inch. Sigh.

Well, I figured while I'm waiting for her to get bigger, I can start on our own alphabet of saints so they will be well loved by the time she's ready for them. I had already painted some a few years ago for my big girls, but I figured it would be ok to have more than one for each letter, right? Since we have this poster in our school room, I am trying to paint one for every saint on the poster, but also allowing for a second one that might be more personal. I am no painter, but it's been fun and an exercise in creativity to try to figure it out. So far, we have...
 St. Anne (holding baby Mary) with an Angel (singing, not yawning)
 St. Brigid and St. Bernadette
St. Cecilia (Again, singing, not scared.)
 St. Dominic (I think this is one of my favorites.)
St. Elizabeth of Hungary and St. Elizabeth Ann Seton
 St. Francis of Assisi
St. Helena
 St. (not Blessed) Kateri (this is one I painted earlier for my big girls)
 St. Lucy (also an early one)
 St. Martin de Porres 
(I don't like the shiny coat on this one and a few others. 
I stopped using it and just used Modge Podge to seal them.)
 St. Nicholas with bag and crozier
 St. Patrick
 St. Rose of Lima

 St. Therese of Liseux (this was also an early one)
  
I need some different colors to continue like silver for St. George. My big kids are having fun trying to figure out who am painting as I go along. These really are fun to figure out. How to represent a beloved heavenly helper in a few strokes of paint and marker.
 

13 comments:

  1. Lovely, Charlotte. All of them. I've really enjoyed making these little saints, too, though I don't consider myself artistic. I really like the raised paint and the little details you've added to each one. I find this to be one of the more difficult aspects for me. My hand is not as steady as I would like.

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  2. Awwww!! I love you all too! This post totally made my day!

    Your little collection of saints is turning out so beautiful!! I love them all, especially St. Dominic! (He makes me want to try again, with our St. Dominic, since he was one of my first and makes me laugh every time I look at his huge cheesy grin!)

    Can't wait to see the rest! I'm thinking it's not going to take you nearly as long as it took me to finish ours!

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  3. They're all so cute! I've been making these little dolls for my little one over the past couple of weeks. My older girls keep putting in requests for their favorite saints. I have a feeling the 40 peg dolls I ordered aren't going to be enough.

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  4. They're adorable, Charlotte! My faves are Kateri and Nicholas, but they're all great. What are you using to make the really fine lines---like Brigid's cross?

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    1. I'm using Ultra Fine Point Sharpie Markers. The weird thing is that Jessica said when she used them, they smeared when she was using the sealant on them. She uses Sharpie paint pens, now I think. But the markers have worked just fine for me.

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    2. I finally dove into this activity, and I used a sharpie on St. Maximilian. When I had to paint over the sharpie, it bled purple through the paint. That was a regular black sharpie, not a paint pen.

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    3. Hmmmm... i usually add the Sharpie marker details at the end, after painting but before I Modge Podge.

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  5. Wonderful Charlotte! I need to do these...on that list of things to do and your inspiration will move them up!

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  6. I love them! I need to finish our collection before Pio starts his Alphabet of Saints.

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  7. I love these! What size peg dolls are you using and where did you purchase them from?

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    1. I bought them from www.craftparts.com and they are the 2-3/8" Dad - Little People. I've also seen them at Hobby Lobby. They are called Man 7/8" x 2 5/16" over there.

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  8. Charlotte, these are just gorgeous. How lucky your children are! I wish I had the time and energy for projects like that.

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    1. Melanie, please take note that I'm making these for my youngest child and my oldest is 14. When I had three under three and four under 6, painting peg dolls would not have been on any of my to-do lists.

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