Sunday, April 20, 2008

Vintage Christening

Yesterday was the baptism of my niece's son, Benjamin. The babies in our family use a gown that my paternal grandmother made in 1902 for my uncle's birth. My father, my brother and sisters, most of my nieces, nephews, their children, my children, and I were baptized in it. So this image from Buggies and Booties from SU! is perfect.

Several years ago at convention, SU! demonstrated making a baptism record using this set. This is my version of it. I made a pink version for my niece when her daughter was born 3 years ago, so I made her one for Benjamin too.

This is actually quite easy. The gowns are stamped in
Stazon on watercolor paper and watercolored with markers. I used Bashful Blue, Almost Amethyst, and Apricot Appeal. I distressed the edges, mounted them on torn Barely Banana panels and tied off-white narrow organdy ribbon around the bottom of each panel.

I die cut 3 tags from watercolor paper and stamped them with date, time and place on each tag, using markers to color in the words I wanted. Then I wrote in the date, time, and church with a grey marker, and tied them onto the ribbons with a length of crochet cotton.

I really wanted to be able to have an embossed background because I wanted the vintage look that embossing would lend. The Cuttlebug folders are only about 4" by 5 1/2", and the Cuttlebug is only about 6" wide, so I wasn't able to emboss the entire sheet. I thought about cutting and piecing the background, but I really didn't want any seams. So, I got out my rolling pin and placed my folder on my large sheet and rolled away. It was pretty hard work, and I had to do it 6 times, moving the folder to a new section each time. The embossing didn't come out nearly as crisp as when it's done in the Cuttlebug, but I was pleased with how it turned out; sort of a "distressed" embossing.

The frame is from Walmart, $9.99. In the corner, I used a Hodgepodge Hardware frame to enclose the baby's name. I attached the frame with some dimensionals and attached some pale blue grosgrain around the corner.

I wanted to create a space, like a shadow box, between the framing glass and the art work, so I attached the glass to the inside front of the frame with my ATC gun adhesive. I tossed all of those filler pieces that come with the frame to help keep your picture against the glass.
Mounting the artwork onto the back panel of the frame left a nice space so that the 3 dimensional parts of the project stay that way.

Of course, the baby needed a Christening card, so I used the same gown image for the card. I die cut a tag and stamped the word Blessings from the SU set God's Blessings. The rest of the details for the card are the same as for the baptismal record.

I hope you enjoyed the weekend. We had a picture perfect spring day here in northern Illinois. Spring is finally here! Woohoo! Thanks for visiting!

Stamps: SU Buggies and Booties, God's Blessings
Ink: Stazon Black, Going Grey, SU Markers for watercoloring
Paper:Watercolor, Bashful Blue, Barely Banana
Extras: Hodgepogde Hardware, Ivory narrow organdy ribbon, Oval punch, Cuttlebug tag die cut and embossing folder, pale blue narrow grosgrain ribbon

8 comments:

Patti Gingrich said...

What a lovely gift Paula. It's beautiful! And you're right...it's perfect for the occasion and the wonderful tradition of the gown.

lalalla said...

I saw this wonderful card on SCS, soo nice design and coloring! the baptism record is great idea to use as a gift which will be precious keepsake in the future, thanks for the inspiration, great blog

Anonymous said...

This is one of my favorite sets. Both of your pieces are beautiful!

Juli Smith, said...

Beautiful Paula! What an awesome gift!

Love & friendship, Jules

Kelly L said...

This is gorgeous!! I really came here to get the details on your ATC card above, but when I saw this below, I just couldn't help reading! Wow, Paula. I bet your niece will truly cherish it. I know I would. :) Kelly

Suzanne said...

This is absolutely beautiful! What a wonderful gift for a very special occasion!

love2Bcreative said...

Oh WOW Paula ~ This is just awesome -- what a cool idea -- soo soo neat!
TFS~

Erin McKinney said...

Wow! Your framed picture and matching card are so beautiful!!! The recipient will be thrilled!