Tali's Album

Happy 2012 everyone! I hope you all had a fun time. Sadly New Year's Eve is not a big holiday here in Israel, specifically because the Jewish New Year (Rosh Hashanah) actually falls in autumn, a few months previously. However, as a family we didn't let it go unnoticed and we had a nice evening at home, watching a film together, eating popcorn and viewing the fireworks in Australia and around the world on the television.

Anyway... what have I got to show you for my first post of 2012? A colourful album I recently made for a young lady celebrating her Bat Mitzvah in London.

This young lady had actually seen one of my albums at the recent Bat Mitzvah celebration of one of her good friends and subsequently requested one of her own. There was a small communication problem - a case of e-mails not reaching me - so the album was quite last minute, though not so last minute that I wasn't able to give it my usual great attention to detail!

I learnt that this Bat Mitzvah girl likes reading, baking cakes, making models, art, sewing, debating and singing and that her favourite colour is turquoise. Phew! That was a long list! She also asked me to include her Junior and Secondary School badges in the album.

After several e-mails back and forth it was decided that I should show the young lady reading, baking and crafting on the cover of the album, whilst her many other remaining interests would go inside. I also added her name, in both English and Hebrew, along with the name and date of the Bat Mitzvah celebration itself.

Inside I decorated some of the album pages with (clockwise from top left) a little illustration of the Bat Mitzvah girl chatting (her request!), the aforementioned school badges, music notes to represent her love of singing, and some little wooden houses, a bridge and some animals since she is a keen model maker. She's obviously a crafty girl since she loves sewing too (below).

The album orders are coming in fast at the moment! I have two more to create in the near future. I love designing them and it's always fun to 'get to know' these kids in a very small way. As the Hebrew expression goes, Rak B'smachot - “Only on joyous occasions". Happy New Year!