Our sweet Miss Penelope got baptized this month a new member of The Church of Jesus Chris of Latter-Day Saints (aka Mormon, aka LDS). It was a really sweet day for the whole family, it was hard not to get rather emotional over it.

As a way to make a big deal out of her birthday and her baptism I threw her a party. The first real party since her dino brunch (favors, printables, invitation) when she turned three. I’ve got an amazing track record, folks. AMAZING.

As I was looking around online, many of the baptism invitations I found looked a lot like wedding invitations (super formal copy, formal design and a glamor photo). Photos usually included the girl wearing the poofiest princess dress. And while that’s exactly what some girls want (hey, you do you!), it just didn’t seem like Penelope. But hey, I’m sure you could use these graphics for a wedding invitation. Just depends upon how formal/informal the thing is. So, you know, I’m totally a hypocrite.

For the design, I hand-lettered the whole thing with bits of watercolor. Materials used for the design work:

• Sakura Pigma Professional FB (they’re waterproof, BONUS!)
• Sakura watercolors
• Canson marker layout paper (for the brush work)
• Strathmore cold press watercolor paper (for the watercolor stuff)
• Huion light pad

For the process, I sketched out the wreath idea, and inked it up. Instead of watercoloring directly on top of the wreath I used a light pad and watercolor paper to do watercolor. I wanted to have as much flexibility as possible for changing things up as the design progressed.

Then I sketched the outline of the wreath and drew out lines for the text. I inked and scanned. Beyond cleaning up scans, I pretty much just layered everything together and printed. Coming up with the concept took longer than the actual design time itself. It still took a fair amount of time to complete.

Penelope invited her closest friends to the baptism, but since many of them aren’t of our faith, I wanted to include separate information in case a friend didn’t feel comfortable attending the baptism (everyone’s welcome to baptisms, but it can be uncomfortable if you’re not sure what to expect).

Since making the artwork, I wanted to put it out there for anyone to use (for personal use only, obviously). So see below for the printable blank version! I think it’d be the perfect printable invitation for a tea party, outdoor picnic, baby or bridal shower. Prints 2 5×7 invitations per sheet. Single-sided, full color. I hope you like it and use it!

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD

Click the link above to download the printable. The printable is free for personal use only. Alteration or distribution of the files without written permission is prohibited. Feel free to email if you have questions about the artwork (see contact form above or comments section below).

For the actual party, I didn’t get around to taking many photos of the set up. It was just pure family and friend chaos. But so fun. We decorated for the party with handmade paper flowers and succulents. I managed to sneak shots of the cupcakes I made. I made strawberry vanilla cupcakes with these darling liners that kind of reminded me of flowers.

The food faire was simple. Make-your-own sandwiches, veggies, fruit, chips, dip, etc.

And I set up a photo booth for Penelope to take photos with family and friends. As soon as the baptism was over Pen swapped her darling dress for play clothes. She had so much fun goofing off in front of the camera. I printed out all of the images she took with friends and created a little scrapbook for her with them.

I kind of went a little bit on the crazy side for her big day! Part of me thinks I set a terrible precedence by making a big deal out of it; but I’m looking forward to Felix and June’s big days should they decide to get baptized as well.