Peg Dolls: How To Paint Anna and Elsa!

I’ve been having so much fun organizing and planning for the girls joint Disney’s Frozen birthday party. It’s not for a few more weeks but the invitations are (almost) all sent so most of our little guests have received their little peg doll princesses! They only cost about $0.59 to make each set so I’m super happy with the decision to make them for the kiddos. Granted I had everything on the materials list except the pegs. So definitely time consuming but so worth it! My girls’ already play with theirs in their doll house all day every day and I’m always finding them tucked into a pocket 😉 So sweet.

For this project you only need a few things:

Materials:

1. PEGS (I found mine first at Joann’s for something like $1.29/set of two, but I later found them at Pat C’Tan’s for $0.59/set of two! The checkout lady told me Joann’s actually buys from Pat C’Tan’s (ha) so they usually have the best pricing. Good to know! Michael’s carries them too. Either way- try and use a 40-60% off coupon and they will literally be dirt cheap!)

2. Tiny detail paint brushes. Look in the “fine art” section of your local craft store for these. They usually don’t have them stocked in the more craft/hobby sections. You want to find the smallest brushes possible. A pin, toothpick, and q-tip might come in handy too!

3. Acrylic craft/hobby paint. I’ve experiment so much with paints for my Story Stone sets and have found what works best for me using a whole variety of different acrylic/soy/enamel brands. When in doubt, I usually buy the cheaper brand. They’ll be in little bottles near the spray paint and wood items. Sometimes you can find acrylic paint pot “strips” where the paint is divided into connected mini tubs… these are good too. You are going for maximum coverage. Random tip- yellow fabric paint covers on wood much better than yellow acrylic paint. I have no idea why!

4. Mechanical pencil. Not a number two, not an art pencil. Just a regular ol’ mechanic pencil (the kind with the white eraser).

5. Clear nail polish.

That’s it! Not too daunting of a materials list, eh?!

Now for the how-to-paint part… Don’t be scared! You can totally do this.

1. Use the mechanical pencil to duplicate the black lines in the images above onto your peg dolls. This will be the trickiest part, I promise! If you mess up a line or it isn’t looking right, simply erase the pencil off and try again, and again…and again! It’s not a natural talent to be able to draw on a rounded smooth surface… so just be patient and keep checking my lines. If you get pretty close- you’ll end up with a great (and most importantly- recognizable!) peg doll as a finished product.

2. Starting with your LIGHTEST color (in this case, white or yellow) fill in the areas of corresponding color very carefully with your detail brush. It only takes a minute or two, but let the first color dry completely.

3. Chose your next lightest color and repeat, filling in areas of that color and letting dry.

4. Continue in this manner until all large areas are filled in. If necessary, use the darker colors to touch up any mistakes in the lighter colors. Dark colors will ALWAYS cover the lighter colors. SOMETIMES you can overlap a light onto a dark – but this really depends on the type of paint you are using.

5. Let the doll dry again, completely, then add details. Eyes, cheeks, dots- these are all best done with the tip of a pin or a pointy toothpick.

6. The final step is to coat each doll in a clear protectant, in my case- clear nail polish!  If you want something a little more professional, use an acrylic clear lacquer and give the doll a coat or two after it’s completely dry.

I’ll be adding tutorials for all of the princesses (there are 14 believe it or not…if you include Tink, Mulan and Pocahontas). I’m giving the whole set to my daughter for her 4th birthday! Eeek I can barely stand the excitement!

And just for fun… you may or may not know who these two guys are…

The important thing is that I tried, guys. Common. Haha. (I can’t help but laugh every time I see them!)

Happy painting!

xo

-J