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