When Raine Schraa, 13, visited her grandparents this summer in Rocky View County, she wanted to do something to bring a little unexpected joy to residents of the nearby retirement community.
“When I was younger, I used to always go to walk through that area,” she said. “One time, we saw Christmas ornaments in the trees and that gave me inspiration to do something people would enjoy.”
Schraa became familiar with Prince of Peace Manor, located west of Chestermere, when her great-grandmother lived there.
The Saskatchewan native decided to incorporate something she enjoyed doing with her grandmother, Nancy Elroy, with her desire to make people smile and began creating peg doll fairies and houses for them. She would then leave them along the walking trails surrounding Prince of Peace.
“I saw peg dolls a few years ago, myself, when I was looking for activities for her to do when she comes to visit in the summer,” Elroy said. “I pointed those out to her and, ever since then, she has enjoyed doing the peg dolls.”
Peg dolls are small, simple dolls, made from wooden clothespins.
Schraa decided to paint her dolls as fairies and used birdhouses to make the fairy homes.
Schraa, Elroy and other family members placed the dolls along an approximately two-kilometre stretch of trail surrounding the retirement community.
“I thought it was crazy knowing that people would see it and it would bring a smile to their faces,” Schraa said.
The family returned to the trails to check the dolls, Schraa said, and found one of the fairies had been moved and placed with a garden gnome.
“There was one peg doll that was not there,” she said, “and it was in a gnome’s arms. I didn't mind because it was adorable. It was to let me know that they were enjoying it.”
Elroy said Schraa wanted to take the fairies and houses down before the winter, but Elroy convinced her granddaughter to leave them and to make more next summer.
“I might encourage her to do some new ones every time she comes, so that it's an ongoing sort of an exhibit,” Elroy said.
Schraa said she was excited to create and share the dolls, and learned a valuable lesson in the process.
“You should always let your mind and your creativity flow, because you don't know where it'll take you and what it will do for others,” she said.
