These are a few of their favourite things

I am delighted to have one order after another coming in at the moment - long may it last - which means that I have a bunch of cards from birthdays passed to show you in this post.
The young man featured above turned 16. His Mum asked me to include the much-loved family dog on the card and she had to be wearing a red collar. Liav, the birthday boy, plays the drums and the electric guitar - I wonder if his dog likes that - and is a big fan of all the Apple products too.

I was asked to give this card a sushi theme as the birthday girl was having a sushi making demonstration with friends for her birthday celebration. Her favourite sushi is from a place called Yo Sushi, so I popped their logo on to the card along with some yummy maki rolls and a spot of spicy wasabi.

Roi, above, is really into hiking and the great outdoors at the moment. His Mum asked me if I could make a card showing him with his backpack -  or rucksack as I know it - and with a sleeping bag and blue mat rolled up and attached to it. I have made birthday cards for Roi for several years now and try and pay attention to the length of his hair. It has gone from short to long, and back again, and at the moment it seems to be something in between. I hope I got it about right!
His Mum, my dear friend, was sweet enough to write and tell me that my cards have become a very important part of her boys' morning parties and that this one was another great success. She even sent me a photo of the birthday boy holding up his card. It makes me very happy to see my cards being enjoyed and appreciated so much.

Since I'm showing you the teenage cards today, here are some Bar and Bat Mitzvah cards I made recently for a customer whose son has a few parties coming up. A Jewish boy becomes Bar Mitzvah upon reaching the age of 13, whilst the girls, who we all know are far more mature, celebrate their Bat Mitzvah at 12. My customer did not want anything overtly religious on the cards but I couldn't resist adding a small Torah scroll to the Bar Mitzvah cards to mark the occasion. During Shabbat services on a Saturday shortly after the Bar Mitzvah boy's 13th birthday, the celebrant is called up to the Torah to recite a blessing over the weekly Torah reading. The scroll seemed the perfect thing to put on the cards.