Santos Doll - Humility and Grace

I've often admired the Santos dolls seen in magazines and recent catalogs.  They look so peaceful and prayerful, while emitting a sense of humility and simplicity.  I love that they have been used in centuries past for in-home altars.  Original Santos dolls are expensive and hard to find, but reproductions are becoming more common recently.  I found a lovely Santos cage doll at HomeGoods for $9.99 to my delight!  Her original green color didn't suit me, so I transformed her with items I had on hand.  Here is the result:

First, I painted her with some Benjamin Moore 'Feather Gray' paint I had leftover from another project.  I simply used painters tape to mask off her neck and hands while painting. 
Next, I gathered some cheesecloth for her skirt.  I wanted to use a nice ribbon with some pattern to gather the skirt.  Although I was saving this printed ribbon (from PetiteMichelleLouise) for gift wrapping, I knew it would be perfect for this project. 
I had some coffee-stained round paper doilies in my stash.  I cut out the middle circle in one, then used the border to wrap around her skirt as added detail on her waist.

Next, I used the border of another doily to make a crown atop her head.  I glued tiny silver stars around the rim of her crown.  The stars were from a bag of 'fun-fetti' from the party section of the drugstore.
I  cut out angel wings from pages of a vintage German/English dictionary, then glittered the edges.

My husband was chuckling at how much fun I was having dressing my 'doll', and my young daugher was very curious about her.  If my Santos gets cold (it is a bit drafty in this old house), she wears a shawl fashioned from one of my crochet project remnants.
Here are her three 'looks':


Angel Wings



Unadorned



Winter Warmth

 
And close-up:

Considering she represents a humble Santo ('Saint'), I think she prefers her unadorned look.  I just couldn't help ornamenting her lovely grace.
She's come a long way from this ('before' pic), so I'll be sharing her at My Romantic Home's Show and Tell Friday:

You can visit www.santoscagedoll.com/history-of-santos-dolls to read a history of these dolls, and to view amazing reproductions & crowns.  Also, if you want to see an amazing adornment of one of those dolls, visit Rosemary at http://www.ozmaofodds.blogspot.com/.  Her muse is gorgeous! 

Next time you're at a discount store, be open to the idea of taking something home and making it your own.  You'll be glad you did!