101 Not Out

Not long ago I received a phone call requesting an 80th birthday card. My customer initially did not know what kind of image he wanted on the card but, after some prompting, it soon emerged that this was a card that was travelling a long way, to Australia to be exact. It seems that 'Joe', the birthday boy, used to play cricket in his younger days, and was a politician and a retired lawyer to boot! I had more than enough to work with and, after seeing a snapshot of the celebrant, was able to put together an image of him in his cricket whites, bat in hand, with the score board not actually declaring the results of the match but rather his age. The blue background is the colour of the Australian flag and I included a 'Vote Joe' badge, which he may or may not have used in his political days. The black law book represents his career.

My customer seemed delighted with the card and actually posted the following message to our city's e-mail list:

"Lisa Isaacs has just made a birthday card for us. We gave details of the career/hobbies and interests of the recipient and she has made a really amusing card, incorporating these details, thereby making a really personalised card. Lisa has made several cards for us in the past and we've always been delighted with the results."

How nice was that?

My kids were blown away simply by the number on this birthday card and frankly so was I!  After all, how many times have I been asked to make a card for a 101 year old? Just the once actually! Last year I made this special centenarian a card acknowledging her talent for watercolour painting, a hobby which she has apparently recently taken up again! This year I focused on her incredible age, embellishing the design with a few colourful flowers. As I wrote last year, "ad meah viesrim", (until 120).

Lastly, the card above was also a request for a pretty incredible occasion. A friend's grandparents were celebrating 70 years of marriage. Such an amazing achievement! I was asked to make a card for them but my friend was concerned that, at the couple's respective ages, any hobbies were a thing of the past. Not a problem! I created little paper portraits of the couple and added a big 70 and a couple of champagne glasses to the design.

How wonderful to be creating cards for such monumental occasions!