South African Wildlife

I am a member of the Etsy Expats team, a friendly group of expats who "cheer each other on" (as the tagline on our Etsy page says). Not long ago a fellow team member asked me to make a birthday card for her Mum who lives in South Africa. Mum was turning 60 and my online friend wanted a special card to mark the occasion.
As is my usual way, I requested a list of Mum's hobbies and interests and discovered that she is an extremely talented artist and has been painting African animals and flowers for more than 30 years. I was blown away by her art and also a little intimidated by it too! Would someone so talented really appreciate a card made by little me?

I learnt that Christianity is also a huge part of her life and was asked to include a bible, along with a lion, zebra and paintbrushes and paint. She loves earthy colours like green, brown and orange. Oh, and could I add a number 60 too please?

I am happy to report that both my customer and her Mum, talented as they both are, loved the card. My customer noticed how long I had spent creating it - each of those zebra stripes were cut by hand - and thanked me for my hard work. With my approval she had planned to write a bible scripture around the edge of the card - the reason why there is no greeting on the front of the card - but apparently Mum didn't want her to touch it and the card stayed as I made it. It travelled a long way, from Israel to my customer in France and then on to South Africa, but it was well worth the effort since it seems to have really helped make Mum's day!