Project Post: God Gave Us Baseball - Baptism Gift

Everyone I know is having babies.

This means that many baby gifts are necessary, and (at least in my "circle" of many Catholic School Alumni friends) many Baptism gifts. I feel like a Baptism gift should be something that reflects the occasion and entrance of an individual into the Church and a life of faith, right?  I mean, I personally prefer to give something religious-related as opposed to like, toys or baby supplies or something -- for both my Goddaughters I've given Bibles (a very traditional heirloom version in one case and a bilingual baby version in another), and a few years ago I made a baby sweatshirt using a religious iron-on accented with fabric paints (I'll have to try to find the pictures on an old hard drive).

Anyways.

I had pinned the inspiration for this project (I believe the original is still available on Etsy) quite awhile ago and was looking forward to the right opportunity to make something similar. The opportunity came via our friends we met through a softball team a few years ago, and their precious little chunk of a firstborn, Matththew.

I thought this would be a great, personal gift for them -- they're both total sports freaks (we even ran into them at a Padres game a few weeks before their due date and they joked that they'd name the baby something like Tony Trevor Winfield Randy Garvey if labor started at the game #PadresFansJokes).

As luck would have it, I had a super-banged up softball in the trunk of my car, otherwise you'd have to pick one up -- I supposed you could check garage sales or thrift shops if you wanted a vintage-y looking one, or purchase new if you wanted something crisp and white. FYI - the softball, once opened up, fit almost edge-to-edge on my 10" square canvas... a baseball would be a bit smaller (I think my Pinspiration was done in an 8" shadow box) and you could go even a little smaller with a Little League baseball or search for some type of small souvenier ball of some kind).

 

Since I was going for the well-worn, vintage-y look, I didn't take much care in in disassembling it -- just scissors (a seam ripper would probably be even easier) to cut the stitching and I left the edges more or less ragged. You could do a much neater job if that's your jam.

Here's the thing -- despite being worn, the leather came off rock hard. Like, it stood up still rounded. Not sure if it would work (and also wanting to clean up something intended for a baby's room), I soaked it overnight in a bucket of water with a little vinegar and dish soap. This made it easier to work with, but I still needed it to lay flat. I laid it between two towels and then put a really heavy box on top of it overnight.  Note: you'd have more options if you're using a frame or shadow box -- for example, you could use straight pins to anchor it to the back of a box, or pull out the red stitching altogether and then re-sew it onto a fabric for the back of your frame or box.

The canvas was an easy prep -- just a couple coats of paint in a light beige. I also used my homemade ModPodge-y solution (half-and-half Elmer's glue and water) on the canvas and ball, seperately. So basically I coated the painted canvas and the two pieces of the softball. My goal was to seal each element, especially the loose ends of the red threads.

Here's where I overestimated the power of my glue gun (which doesn't happen often!). I tried gluing the softball to the canvas and the glue just peeled right off when dry. Sh*t (of course I'm working on this the night before it needs to be finished).

Ok... I run to Michael's about an hour before they close, thinking I'll pick up a shadow box frame and try attaching the softball with straight pins. Of course there's a too-small shadow box and a way-too-big and pricey shadow box.  I check out the Special Glue aisle. Among the wood glue, super glue, etc. was some variation of super glue that promised to work on wood, canvas, leather, fabric, metal, etc. A tiny bottle ran somewhere between $3-$4 (of course I brought the wrong coupon).

Hallelujah, it worked (at least it was bonded when I wrapped it the next morning and I haven't heard that it's fallen apart at all). Following the instructions on the glue bottle, I just went slow and inch-by-inch to put a bit of glue on both the canvas and softball before holding them together to bond. I wish I'd had a second bottle for back-up -- don't know what I was thinking -- because my one bottle just barely finished the job.

 

I used the Pinspired quote and added Matthew's name and Baptism date. I hope it's something that he can keep for awhile -- I can't imagine this kid NOT being a baseball fan. This would make a sweet gift for the Little League-r, coach or fan in your life. In fact I might have to make one for myself!

 

So Happy Spring Training! What are you looking forward to this baseball season? I feel like this is going to be a bittersweet time for Padres fans, since it is about to really sink in that we won't be hearing The Colonel call any more games with his gracious charm, wit and wisdom.  Also, what are some other ideas for Baptism/Christening gifts? Anything really cool and creative? Do you go with something very traditional? Something to be used as a baby/kid or something to last for a lifetime? I'm sure more babies are on the way so I can always use the ideas!!


May your feet be swift, bats mighty, and balls be... plentiful,