Ariella's Album

Ariella celebrated her Bat Mitzvah back in February and her mum asked me to make a personalised album for her. Ariella likes art, music, baking, sushi, Netflix, shopping and jewellery, mum told me. She also has a favourite T-shirt, which she asked me to show Ariella wearing. Ariella's hair is strawberry blonde and she has blue/green eyes, mum said.

There was plenty for me to work with!

I have shown Ariella with some paintbrushes in one hand and with a big cake in the other. To her right is some sushi and a paint palette. To her left is a laptop computer with Netflix open on it, some music notes and a wooden spoon and spatula. Ariella is wearing her favourite T-shirt, silver earrings and has a shopping bag over her arm. Mum asked me to put the logo of Claire's on the front of the bag, since it is Ariella's favourite place to shop.

Ariella's name and the words Bat Mitzvah appear at the top of my design and the date of her Bat Mitzvah celebration is at the bottom. The album opens the English way, from left to right. (Hebrew books open from right to left.)

The colour scheme for Ariella's Bat Mitzvah celebration was raspberry, gold, peach and black. I made the background box and border raspberry coloured. Her T-shirt is khaki but she is wearing a black skirt. The Claire's shopping bag and a couple of the music notes are peach, and the lettering is gold.

All the requested colours were used!

I decorated five pages inside Ariella's album as well. They covered her interest in art, music, baking cakes and shopping, along with her love of jewellery, below.

* This post has been shared on The Good. The Random. The Fun.

Rotem & Natan

Rotem and Natan got married in May 2023. Natan's mum wanted me to make a piece of art for the couple back then, but I was in the throes of organizing the art exhibition in Gadi's memory and it was simply not the right time for me. I told her that she could ask me again for their first anniversary, which is what she in fact did. This time I was able to create a special card for the couple and I had a photo from their big day to base it on too.

Natan's mum sent me the couple's favourite photo and, in addition, a second one which she thought had a nicer background. I suggested showing the couple posed the way they are in their favourite photo, but with the second, more natural background.
Mum thought it was a lovely idea.

I was careful to match the exact shade of Natan's green suit and the flowers in Rotem's bouquet. I added his maroon pocket square and the dainty flowers in her hair.

Natan's mum wrote to tell me how much they loved the card. "Once again a really beautiful job. Thank you so much." she said.

I cannot finish this post without mentioning the Hamas war on Israel. On 8th June 2024, after 245 days in captivity, Noa Argamani, Almog Meir Jan, Andrei Kozlov and Shlomi Ziv were rescued from Gaza in a joint operation by the Israel Defence Forces, Shin Bet, and the Israel Police. A total of 116 hostages, taken prisoner during the 7th October 2023 attacks on Israel, have now been freed. 120 hostages remained in captivity in the Gaza Strip.

Bring them home now!

* This post has been shared on The Good. The Random. The Fun. and Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday).

"Ha-Morah"

As summer approaches and you all start thinking about end-of-year teacher gifts, I thought I'd share with you some pieces I created back in 2022. I have not yet posted about them here.

My customer wrote to me to tell me that her daughter was graduating high school that year. She had had the same two teachers for the past six years and really wanted to get a special gift for them. She asked me to create a custom-made papercut and was totally open to suggestions regarding the design.

One thought my customer had was to include the word "Ha-Morah" (the teacher) in the design and to add decorative leaves and vines. Her daughter also wanted to incorporate an infinity symbol, which has been adopted by the autism/neurodiversity community, though she didn't want the symbol to be the main focus. Flowers are great too, she said.

I created a circular piece, which fitted into a 9x9 inch frame. The inside circle is solid with the word המורה (the teacher) cut out of it. The outer circle is filled with pomegranates, flowers and vines, along with my signature little bird. The infinity symbol, which specifically represents autism acceptance, appears at the bottom of the papercut and blends in nicely with the swirly vines.

If my customers are local, which this lady is, I offer to frame my pieces too. My customer asked me to frame one piece in jewel tone green and one in jewel tone blue.

The papercuts were very well received.

* This post has been shared on The Good. The Random. The Fun., Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday), Inspire Me Tuesday and Wonderful Wednesday Blog Hop.