Invitation templates / Christening invitations
Nursery Sketchbook: a christening invitation template
A soft-bound sketchbook of the little one: the page is ruled in light guide lines, the name is blocked in as hollow outlines, and then a soft pencil sweeps across and shades every letter in.
The design
The whole invitation is one nursery sketchbook, open on the desk with its wire spiral down the edge: cartridge paper with a visible tooth, 2H construction lines that are ruled first and never rubbed out, headings lettered by hand with the pencil grade noted in the margin, hatching instead of rules, plate numbers, and a thumbnail of the page worked out small at the top. It opens the way a drawing is made: the guides are ruled, the child's name arrives as outlines, a 6B sweeps across to shade it in, graphite crumbs fly, and the photograph comes up out of its blocked-in oval. As the guest scrolls, Plate I, the corner of the nursery, is outlined and then hatched in patch by patch by their own reading. A guest can press harder on the name to go over the whole word a grade softer, shade the study with a fingertip (what the finger lays down stays, so nothing is ever hidden under a hand), pick up the kneaded eraser to lift the graphite back out for highlights, go over each godparent's name from 2H to 6B, turn the sharpener until shavings curl off the page, lift a coloured pencil out of the tin so it lays its band on the colour study, and choose which photograph is taped up as the big plate. The reply is signed on the drawn-by line at the foot of the book.
Colours and type
Nursery Sketchbook comes in 3 colourways: Graphite & cartridge, Rose studio and Cornflower & graphite, with 2 type pairings: Sketchbook hand and Studio pencil. The colours and type change in the editor at any time; the layout stays its own.
Who it suits
Made for christening / baptism, baby dedication and naming day, in the Playful & illustrated style.
What is included
An invitation website with the church and the celebration after, the godparents, your photos, a song if you want one, and the RSVP with the number of adults and children coming. You write your own words and add your photos in the live editor, send every guest a personal link by email or any messaging app, and follow the replies as they come in. Free for up to 20 guests, with the full design.
More christening templates
- Painted Tiles: A wall of hand-painted blue-and-white tiles: the panel is set tile by tile, the name goes in last, and guests turn crooked tiles, fire the glaze and repaint the frieze.
- Christening Bells: Two polished brass handbells tied with satin ribbon on white linen: tap one to ring it and the name appears, then polish the tarnish off the brass to reveal the engraving.
- The Christening Cake: A three-tier christening cake in white fondant and sugar roses on a porcelain stand: turn it with a finger, watch the name piped onto a sugar plaque, and cut a slice at the close.
- Written by Hand: A calligrapher's desk: the child's name is written live in pointed-pen copperplate, and the guest changes the nib, blots the ink, tests the colours and tries the pen.
- The Certificate: An engraved baptismal certificate on a leather writing desk: press the brass stamp into the molten wax to seal it, and watch the godparents sign in ink.
- Blind Dove: A thick white cotton card with a dove pressed in without ink: the light rakes across as you scroll, and the dove rises out of the white.
- The Favour Table: The bomboniere table on the christening morning, seen from above: one satin ribbon unspools down the table as you read, threading every favour and tag of the day, and ends tied to your own.
- Fresco Under Plaster: An old chapel wall: a fresco of a May sky and olive trees comes out from under the whitewash, patch by patch, with the child's name painted in the band beneath.
All christening invitation templates