“But Kelly,” you protest, “This might be art for the home, but it hardly falls into the realm of devotional or liturgical art!”

Well, you’d be right.  But I still thought this blog post might be useful to readers here.  Let me sum up:

If you’re a Lutheran– or any other liturgical, sacramental-type Christian– you’ve probably walked into a number of Christian bookstores looking for a gift item, or perhaps a greeting card, or maybe even stickers, or something crafty.  And what you found was a lot of cartoon-type things for kids; and a lot of pretty, idyllic scenes; and slick, trendy-looking stuff; and a lot of stuff that has nothing to do with the Christian aesthetic you usually operate under.  Probably not a lot that had to do with Christianity, period.  There’s a Christian bookstore in the Morden area that sells scrapbooking stuff.  But it’s not exactly Christian in theme; it’s just generic, all-purpose paper with perhaps some stickers relating to family values and secular holidays.  (I’m all for scrapbooking secular occasions, mind.  But why would this be in a Christian bookstore?)

Anyway, say you’re a crafty type, and after thinking about it, you’ve decided that you want to make something really special for a child’s baptism.  Perhaps a scrapbook; looking through the local shop’s card selection, you realize you might have to make the card, too.  You might like rubber stamping, and be interested in creating some special gift wrap just for these occasions.  Or perhaps you’re doing a craft with your Sunday School students and you want it to reflect Lutheran spirituality, not the same-old stuff you see in the local bookshop.  Wondering if anything you’d be interested in even exists out there?  It does!  Allow me to point you to some lovely resources that I rather like.

1. Decorative cross border stickers.
2. Holy Cross Medallion rubber stamp.
3. Embellishments, round dot accents: Faith.
4. Blessings from Heaven stickers.  Just ignore that Wordsworth quote.    This would be great for baptism projects.
5. Dimensional beaded cross sticker.  This would also make a lovely baptism embellishment.
6. Small, silver, ornamental cross charms.
7. More metal cross charms, with “Faith” and “Hope.”
8. Baptism cross rubber stamp.  This could make excellent wrapping paper or greeting cards.
9. Adhesive rhinestone icons:  Crosses.  I purchased these once and they are very eye-catching.
10. Poem sticker:  Communion.
11. Baptism embellishments assortment.
12. Poem sticker:  Baby’s Baptism.
13. “Christian boy” Jolee stickers.  Appropriate for a baptism, but also anytime.
14. “Christian girl” Jolee stickers.  Appropriate for a baptism, but also anytime.
15. 8×8 scrapbooking album with crosses.
16. Karen Foster Baptism words scrapbooking paper.
17. A different “Baptism words” sheet of paper.  Sold in a pack of 25.
18. Holy Communion words scrapbooking paper.  Sold in a pack of 25.  (There’s a Confirmation sheet like this, too, but I refrain from posting it because it contains the word “sacrament.”)
19. Baby Blessing Words scrapbooking paper.  Again, Karen Foster.
20. This front page shows some nice-looking 3D baptism embellishments, but weirdly they don’t seem to actually be in stock online.
21. Ornate cross metal embellishments.  I’ve used these and they work nicely.
22. True Faith stickers:  Baptism.  Great Bible verses about baptism and communion!.
23. This is pretty cool… a choir robe embellishment!
24. True Faith stickers:  Godparents.  This nifty set includes a baptismal font.  Yes, with an 8-sided base!
25. True Faith stickers:  Symbols of Jesus.  These are more 3D and include an agnus dei and a chalice.
26. This kit has a lot of useful stuff in it for baptisms, communion, and other occasions– paper, cutouts, stickers (including 3D ones), etc.  You don’t have to use that one baby dedication sticker!
27. “Bless this child” stickers from Sandylion.  Quite beautiful and unique baptismal images.
28. Stained glass scrapbooking paper.  The first stained glass paper I’ve seen!  Why isn’t there more of this out there??
29. This paper, and this one, and this one, a ”faith” theme, matches the sheet above.
30. Angels Watching Over You paper, with the verse from Psalm 91.
31. God of Hope paper, appropriate for (among other things) “in memory of” projects.
32. A Jolee’s 3D Bible sticker.
33. Jolee’s Church stickers.
34. Jolee’s metallic cross stickers.
35. Jolee’s “priest’s robe.”  But– why is the stole over the cassock… who stole the poor man’s alb? 
36. If you gotta have Sunday School stickers, these are the ones to have!!
37. Jolee’s Open Bible sticker.  This is a big one.
38. Jolee’s Christening stickers.
39. A nice-looking Nativity sticker.
40. Sandylion 3D baptism stickers.  These are very nice.
41. Faith that Sticks classic Jesus images stickers.
42. There are some excellent chalice-and-host stickers in the center there.
43. Cool baptism stickers on the right.
44. Check out these great rubber stamps of Christian symbols like the Chi Rho, agnus dei, Holy Spirit dove, IHS, and more.  (In general, this store looks to be a bit hit-and-miss.)
45. This is interesting– a plastic Gothic window intended for a dollhouse.
46. These are Catholic images and projects, but they give you a good idea of the sorts of creative designs and ideas that people come up with using old school Christian art.
47. A neat Easter lilies stamp with a Paschal candle!
48. Easter lilies with stained glass cross window stamp.
49. The Last Supper rubber stamp.
50. Grapes and chalice rubber stamp.  A bit more free-form.
51. Crucifix rubber stamp.
52. A great rubber stamp for communion, featuring John 6:54.
53. Magnificat rubber stamp.
54. The Lord’s Prayer rubber stamp.
55. Good Shepherd window rubber stamp.

More ideas for papercrafting and scrapbooking:  try some of Dover’s fine art stickers, such as Angels in Art.  Or purchase some inexpensive, used stamps with Christmas or other Christian themes in fine art.  (In fact, you can get quite a few with Reformation images, even, depending on which stamp-collecting place you run across.)  Also, those cheap paper “holy cards” available at many Catholic bookstores are great for paper crafting.  You can get a number of traditional icon images, images of just Jesus, or other biblical scenes.  Some are even highlighted with gold.

I hope this proves to be helpful to some of you out there!

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