DIY Gift for my Niece. Nailed It.

If you're my sister-in-law Shannon and you don't want to know what gift your daughter is getting from me for Christmas, you should probably stop reading now.


Shannon, if you're still reading at this point, you've been warned.


I am not a girly girl.  I don't do frills.  I don't do sparkles.  I'm not good with makeup.  And I definitely don't do pink.  I'm a farm girl.  While I was far from a tomboy, I was too busy playing outside to mess with baby dolls and dressing up.

That being said, I LOVE the Disney Princesses.  All of them.  I wanted to be a Disney Princess at Disney World until I heard you have to be between 5'4" and 5'7".  And they don't want you to wear makeup to the audition so they can see your face.  Yikes.  Since I wasn't exactly to that height in high school and this unmakeup-ed face isn't going anywhere in public, I decided to go to college instead.  Harrumph.

Every Princess had something I wanted.  I wanted Belle's library, Sleeping Beauty's looks, Ariel's ability to be a mermaid (wouldn't that be AWESOME??), Tiana's take charge attitude, Rapunzel's hair strength (seriously....she lifts people into her tower without a single split end?), Snow White's daintiness, Cinderella's ability to clean (girl can visit my house anytime), Jasmine's abs.  Love me some Disney Princesses.

So when I found this project on a blog I follow, I knew I was going to have to make these Princess dolls.  Lil Blue Boo is a fabulous blog full of craft ideas.  But it was the Disney Princess Peg Dolls that blew me out of the water.

I HAVE to make these. 

I bought the peg dolls forever ago, in hopes that I would make them for my niece's birthday.  In June.  Didn't happen.  I'm trying to get a head start on Christmas gifts this year.  My aunt brought her boys over last night for us to watch while they went on a date for their anniversary.  All three kids (Avery and the boys) played happily together with Marty.  Leaving this momma to tackle the peg dolls. 

First, I Googled the images for each one of the Princesses.  In the original on Lil Blue Boo, the Princesses were pretty basic (but still awesome).  I knew I wanted to kick it up a notch.  Aka...add more details.  

So I followed the Google image and sketched out each Princess, marking what color needed to go where. 

 Then I painted.  I love to paint, but there have been few projects I've had as much fun with as I did with this one.  By the end, I was considering keeping the dolls for myself and going to Walmart to buy a Barbie for my niece.

True story.

Presenting.......the Peg Doll Princesses! 

Belle

Belle is one of my favorite Princesses in real life.  She's spunky, she loves to read, she doesn't take any crap from the Beast and his bad attitude.  But Peg Doll Belle gave me more than a few problems.  I feel like the finished product is still looking a little flat.  Maybe I need to add a ball on the top of her head for her little bun thing.  Or a rose?  Sorry Belle.

Jasmine

No Jasmine is complete without her headpiece, giant gold earrings and funky braid thingy.

Snow White

I'll be honest.  Snow White isn't my favorite.  The nasal voice, the perfectness...it's all just rather grating to me.  But I'm pretty pumped about the Peg Doll Snow White. Can I just do a little bit of bragging?  Nailed it. I'm just debating on whether or not she needs an apple. 

Ariel

Ariel is my favorite Princess, by far.  She's just darn cool.  She's a mermaid, for goodness sakes.  But like the Belle doll, I think she needs something.  Maybe her tail?  Not sure yet.

Cinderella

Can I just talk about the actual Cinderella movie for a second?  Girl goes to the ball and dances with a guy for hours....and never tells him her name?  I get being coy, but they spend a couple hours together and she ends up marrying the dude, but she doesn't tell him her name right off the bat?  And that shoe.  There must have been something funky about Cinderella's feet if those shoes fit only her out of all the women in the entire kingdom.  Just sayin'.  

Onto the doll.  I'm really thinking she needs her bun on top her head.  Thoughts?

Aurora

Poor Aurora.  Girl's got more names than she knows what to do with.  I remember one time, I was working at the Disney Store and I asked a little girl if Princess Aurora was her favorite.  She was so confused.  I had to correct myself and call her Sleeping Beauty so the girl knew who I was talking about.  Fail. 

Anyways, I kind of love this doll.  She's so simple.  And the crown is so fun. :) 

Rapunzel

If Rapunzel's Peg Doll were true to the actual character, the entire thing would have just been wrapped in hair. As is, I think I did a pretty good job. 

Tiana

I'm just going to come out and say it.  Peg Doll Tiana is my favorite.  The curlicues in her hair, down to the flower on her dress.  Love it.  Love. 

There you have it.  Eight, painted with love, Peg Doll Princesses.  My niece better love these. Shannon, if you did give in to curiosity and are still reading this, please don't ever give these to Goodwill.  If she outgrows them (or hates them at Christmas....shudder), please let me have them back.  :)

Now, here's the question that everyone's been asking me....are you selling these?

Answer:  Yes.  But not until after Christmas.  I've been blessed with a ton of canvas painting orders and there is no way in this world (without cloning myself) that I can get all the canvases done and take on a significant amount of orders for these.  So, January 1st, you can start ordering your very own set.  I will take pre-orders now, as long as you know that you won't be getting these until 2014.  A set of 8 Peg Doll Princesses will be $55.  You can choose what Princesses you want (ones I didn't include:  Mulan, Pocahontas, Merida from Brave).  Or we can think completely outside the box!  Ideas I'm pondering:  a Peter Pan set (Pan, Wendy, John, Michael, Hook, Smee, Tink....), the Princes!! to each of the Princesses, Cruella and the Dalmatians (thanks Dayna!).  Starting in 2014, the options are endless!!  

HOLD THE PHONE.  

I'm not going to start taking orders for these until 2014. 

BUT. 

Here's your chance to win this exact set of Princesses dolls.....RIGHT NOW.  As in, before Christmas.  As in, hello happy Disney Princess fan on Christmas Day!

Wanna know how?

This is going to be so easy.  Just comment here on the bottom of this blog post OR comment on the Facebook status where I will share the link to this blog post.  That's it.  You can't comment on a shared status or on my Facebook wall.  It must be either on THIS specific blog post or the Facebook post where I share this link.  Got it?

You'll have until Friday, December 6th at 11:59 pm to comment.  Any comments made after this time will not count.  I will draw a winner at 8 am, Saturday, December 7th.  

Good luck. :)