Editor’s Note: Matthew Chicoine interviewed Sophia Chamblee via phone call on August 9th, 2025. Some of the questions/answers have been rearranged, edited, and paraphrased to provide the best reader experience without losing any integrity of the answers given.
What inspired you to start Playground Saints?
I think the inspiration started up around Covid. I noticed people starting up these small businesses. It started as an Etsy stop with bookmarks. The bookmarks were like a humble beginning. I really like stickers and I noticed that other shops prioritized stickers. I wanted to have stickers as my own.
After I graduated college, I got a printer and cricut. I use an app call Design Space.
What saints did you begin with for your stickers?
I use the same designs of Padre Pio, and Therese of Lisieux, and Mama Mary as when I began.
Thomas Aquinas and Martin de Porres and Rose of Lima were original saints that I have later upgraded the designs.
Your logo, “Mama Mary and Son,” has such a warm, whimsical feel. What was your inspiration?
I saw a lot of paintings and statues of Mary growing up. Those images are generally showing reverence. You know that’s not how a mother holds a baby in real life. I wanted a logo that has more of a sense of how it is in real life. I wanted to create something that showed Mary and Jesus looking happy being in each other’s company.
Why do you think it still resonates with you years later?
I think it still sticks with me today. When I first started researching saints I noticed that they were human and real. I attended Catholic school and learned about the saints, but there was not a lot of information about the ordinary human qualities of the saints when I learned about them.
I wanted to highlight the human side and the ordinary and relatable aspects of their life. To kind of highlight the struggles they want through.
Your work combines faith and fun — from saint stickers to skits. How do you see humor and playfulness helping people connect with Catholic saints?
I have gotten a lot of messages over the past year. I began the skits in 2024. People seemed to like them and I enjoyed creating those skits myself. I have had people reach out to me to mention how I helped make Catholicism and the saints relatable. Some people have even mentioned they are joining OCIA.
You have a special devotion to Blessed Pope John Paul I, who isn’t as well-known as some other saints and blesseds. How did that devotion start, and what draws you to him?
I believe it started with Pope Francis when he was in the hospital. I wanted to know Pope Francis while he was here. And I started researching the other popes. Benedict XVI and John Paul II. I realized that there was a JPI. When I started doing more research, I found that he was a pretty cool guy. It was sad he seems to be forgotten by history.
I found out that he and I share a birthday on October 17th. He is my spiritual twin born 88 years apart. Reading his letters, written in the 1960s and 1970s, before he became pope, John Paul I seems very human in his writing. I felt seen in the readings of his letters. I kept a journal and was writing letters to him and other saints.
As he is my spiritual twin, on my birthday I plan to bake a cake for him!
You’re going to Blessed Carlo Acutis’s canonization — what does that moment mean to you personally and as an artist who has created work inspired by him?
Personally, I relate a lot to him as someone who lived in the modern day and saw technology as a way to evangelize. I see technology as a way to educate myself. I always saw the Internet as a learning platform. That’s why I use it today to teach people about the saints. It was important to me when his canonization was announced I knew I had to attend. I have a unique devotion to him. Shortly after his beatification, I had a dream of him asking me if I wanted to be friends. And I said YES, of course!”
He has helped intercede for me in passing a computer coding class. We had to build a website from scratch. I was at the last night before the project was due, and I wasn’t able to understand the language of the code. I asked Carlo for help and I believe through his intercession that I was able to finish the project and learn in the final hours of the project timeline.
So as a result of these things, I have made Carlo a patron saint of Playground Saints.
Many of your saint designs have a joyful, approachable style. How do you decide which saint to feature next, and what’s your process for capturing their personality in sticker form?
It’s a variety of factors. I don’t do commissions. But I do listen to recommendations and demand for saints. Sometimes I will look at the symbolism of the saints. Sometimes I notice or stumble across saints and they become my hyperfixation.
I usually keep the news of a new saint sticker until it’s done before I share it publicly.
If you could collaborate with any other Catholic artist or business to create something truly unique, what would it be and why?
That is a very good question, probably Carlo Acutis of Ireland. It is a duo of creators, a brother and sister. I met them while at the Jubilee and they are trying to spread Carlo’s story in Ireland.
I would love to do a full collab with them and to learn more about Irish saints like Saint Brigit and Dympha.
Because Carlo is your patron saint, what are your favorite quotes of his?
“The Eucharist is our highway to Heaven.” The other one is “everyone is born as originals but many die as photocopies.” I think the 2025 version of that quote would be that everyone starts as originals but dies following trends.
Where is the best place for my audience, your content, and stickers?
Follow me on Instagram and visit my website and Etsy Shop (which does international shipping!)
About Sophia:
Sophia Chamblee, head of Playground Saints. Started drawing Saints during Covid and it slowly grew into a business. She sells Catholic Saint sticker, prints, and keychains while also making funny Saint skits online. Her goal is to show how human the Saints were, and that someday we can be saints too.
