A little Jewish Learning and more

'Sacha' celebrated her Bat Mitzvah this month and her grandparents in the UK requested a special card to mark the occasion. Since no particular hobbies or interests were mentioned apart from a request for the colour pink, I based my design on a traditional theme.
When a Jewish girl reaches 12 years of age she becomes responsible for her actions and becomes a 'Bat Mitzvah' (Daughter of the Commandment). I put two Shabbat candles on the card to illustrate the obligation of a Jewish woman to light two candles before sundown on a Friday evening to "Remember the Sabbath" (Exodus 20:8) and "Observe the Sabbath" (Deuteronomy 5:12). (Strictly speaking an unmarried girl should light only one candle.)
In Judaism a white dove is generally a sign for peace. The Torah (Jewish Law) describes a story in which a dove was released by Noah after the Great Flood in order to find land. The dove came back carrying an olive branch in its beak, telling Noah that the flood had receded and there was land once again. The white dove also represents purity and innocence, so it seemed appropriate to perch a small dove atop of the Bat Mitzvah girl's age, twelve.  I added a flower and the Hebrew word 'Mazal Tov' (literally meaning "good luck", though the phrase is used to express "congratulations") to complete the design.

Leaving religious matters for the time being, the young man above celebrated his tenth birthday last week and his Mum asked me to make a card for him. He is part of a local gymnastics team and trains several times a week, so Mum asked me to show him doing some gymnastics and carefully explained to me what he wears. I crafted a little Pikachu, sitting on the gymnastics horse, because he loves the Pokémon series on television. His Mum was kind enough to let me know that  her son "...absolutely loved his card. He could not believe how brilliant it was."

These two cards were going to slightly older men. Both are big football fans, 'Simon' supporting the English Premier League football club Manchester City, whilst 'Stephen' favours Newcastle United. Both have received football cards from me several times before - I remembered cutting out the black and white stripes of the Newcastle shirt for Stephen's birthday last year -  so this time I focused on the team's badges, adding some football boots, balls and a goal to the designs.
"Mazal Tov", "Happy Birthday" and "May the best team win" to everyone who has recently received one of my cards!