Baptism booklet

I am super excited about this! The week before a child gets baptized I go to their house and go over a few things with the child and their parents. I go over things that they need to know about the day they are baptized and answer any questions they are their parents might have. I also introduce them to the scouting/activity days program. I wanted to take them something special and have been racking my brains about what I could give them. Last week I went to our monthly scrapbook night with the ladies and we made these darling Hot chocolate recipe books, they were super cute! I have always prided myself on being the world's best copy cat...I rarely come up with original ideas, my brain just doesn't function like that! So when I saw this little recipe book I thought "How can I turn this into a baptism theme". Well this is what I came up with.... they are seriously the cutest thing eva! For the boys I will have to make a few changes, like adding a male paper doll. They are only about 5 1/2"X 7 1/2", so they are perfect size for the kids to be able to look at. There are places for them to put pictures and answer questions about this special day. I have already had four people request that I make one for their child (they aren't in my ward). I think for the other ones that I will modge podge over the top of it (before I add anything dimensional) this way it will be waterproof and more durable. Take a look and tell me what you think! Front of the book

page 1 and 2

page 3 and 4

page 5 and 6

page 7 and 8

page 9 and 10

page 11 and 12

page 13 and 14

It's great to be....DONE!

As you all know, I am in charge of baptisms this year, which means I am also in charge of our baptism preview, which was tonight. I really wanted this to be a great night for everyone, so I tried to do things that would make them feel special. I tried to take pictures of all the things that I did and I am posting them not to brag, but to remember, so that next year I can try to copy myself or improve and do things better.

Our theme was 'It's great to be...8', so I tried to incorporate that in all the things that I did. Here is the invitation, which is what my inspiration was for everything I did. Everything I did was in white, cream and beige shades so it had a nice simple, but elegant look (in my opinion).

The band with the 8 on it slid off, so that the invitation could be opened and looked like this when opened. A special thanks to my good friend Donna who let me use her cool paper for these!


When I delivered the invitations I took my camera along. I wanted to get a picture of each child so that I could use it to decorate with. I made each child (yes, I had to force some of them to do this) do a nice smile and then a funny face. Then, keeping with the 8 theme, I cut out the pictures and put one at either end of the eight. Then on the top picture I put "It's great to be..." and on the other picture I put their name. It was simple, yet it turned out cute. I put these all over the doors to the font, which was at the front of the room. We have 18 kids getting baptized, so it nearly covered the doors. Here is what one of them looked like.

Then I made a little favor for each child. I made copies of the following poem

"I am making some important covenants on my Baptismal day.

I'll wear these socks to remind me that I'm choosing the right way.
As I go into the Waters of Baptism, these socks will be first to enter in.
Just as these socks are clean and white, I too will be cleansed from sin."

I bought each child a pair of white socks (girls had lace around the cuff) that they can wear on their baptism day. I put them in a white chiffon bag and tied a bow around it. Since I discovered this Christmas, how to make cute hair bows, I decided that I wanted to make some white ones for the girls getting baptized, so I made some and clipped it onto the bag. I didn't have anything for the boys and Chris announced that it was unfair; at this point I had nothing else for them. Well today at church, I was going through our Primary cupboard and found some white CTR brackets...not girly ones, but the thick rubber band type, so I attached them to the bag as well.

This is how the girls bag looked...sorry you can't see the socks, but they are in there!Here is a picture of the clip up close, but I decided that you just had to see it on someones head to do it justice, so I asked AnaLeigha to model it... she was only too happy to oblige!

Then I made the programs, I tried to keep them simple and in the color scheme of choice. I am not computer savvy, so I am pretty proud that I figured out how to do a '8' watermark on it. LOL

For the program, both the Primary President and a member of the bishopric spoke to the kids, then we had the cub scout leader and activity days leader do a little blurb about those activities. Chris 'lovingly' agreed to sing a musical number...which by the way was so beautiful (of course) and really brought the spirit into the room. Then we did a small spotlight on each child...which was so fun. We really have such a great bunch of little ones! It was a short and sweet program (my kind of program) and then we ate refreshments.

And now for the best part!!! My friend Lesleigh, who is also in the ward, has a cake business (you can find her link on my sidebar!) and she made us these TWO AMAZING CAKES! They were definitely the hit of the party! When you walked into the relief society room, the aroma just hit you in the face...plus they looked so BEAUTIFUL! Really, these pictures just do NOT do them justice. She went above and beyond for us with these two beautiful masterpieces and I am so thankful for her and that she was so willing to do this. THANKS LESLEIGH!

This cake was only supposed to be a small 6" round cake, just in case the other cake didn't feed everyone (we were expecting 60+ people). But when I showed up to pick them up yesterday, this is what I found! She made another smaller version of the eight cake...just amazing!

So the night is done and I am relieved that it went so well. All the hard work was definitely worth it, I got so much wonderful feedback and thanks from the parents. I feel so blessed to be able to be a part of such a wonderful thing.

How's that for fulfilling my new years resolution????!!! Oh, and another great part, there was actually a little bit of cake leftover that I think is calling my name right now. I better go and answer it...after all, it is rude to ignore something that is calling your name! So in the words of Marie Antoinette..."LET THEM EAT CAKE!"

Finding joy #2

This year the Primary presidency switched up their responsibilities and now I am in charge of Baptisms....YIKES! Talk about a ton of pressure! This is one of the most important days a child will have and I am in charge of planning it?! What if I mis-spell their names, what if I print up the program wrong, what if....the list could go on and on. As part of the job I go and visit with each child the week or so before they get baptized and just talk to them about what they need to know about that day. I also am planning the baptism preview, which is next Sunday. I had my first baptism on Saturday and lucky for me, one of the boys being baptized was my good friend Angie's son...so I knew that if I screwed up she would forgive me!
Well not only did the baptism go pretty smooth, it was such a wonderful spiritual experience for me. What an awesome blessing I have to be able to be a part of such a wonderful thing! I can tell that I am going to love this new responsibility. It really helps me to connect with the children on a personal level...which is what I think I have been missing out on.
I am still a little stressed about the Baptism Preview that is coming up, but at least I got all the invitations made and most of them handed out last night. PHEW! I also took pictures of each of the kids that will be getting baptized (there are 19 of them!), I am not sure how I am going to use them, but somehow I want to incorporate that into the program. *shrug* sometimes I feel like the blind leading the blind! LOL