Twenty Four

Our eldest son, Nadav, turned 24 last month. I shared his 22nd birthday card in January and his 23rd in July. I am squeezing this latest card in at the end of the year so that I can get back on schedule!

Nadav moved to the southern Israeli city of Be'er Sheva in September and recently began his university studies in Computer Science there. Be'er Sheva is the largest city in the Negev desert of southern Israel and is often referred to as the "Capital of the Negev". He and his girlfriend Hila found a nice apartment there and have made it their home. Their student flat is a lot different to the ones I lived in back in the day!

Nadav's card this year shows him using his new ASUS laptop. He is wearing his 2024/25 red Arsenal home shirt. The logo of the university where he is studying, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, is on his left. The flame symbol comprises the letters "alef" and "nun", the first letters of "Universitat Hanegev" (University of the Negev - the name of the University until 1974). The colour orange was chosen to symbolize the different hues of the desert, focusing on the vision of David Ben-Gurion, Israel's first prime minister, to establish a university with a mission to develop the Negev.

Next to the logo I added a road sign pointing to Be'er Sheva, representing Nadav's move to a new city.

On Nadav's right I added a red heart with Hila's name on it. She is an important part of his life and could not be left off the card! Behind him is a photo of their apartment. They have done a great job of making it look nice. Finally, a big red number 24 marks his age. 

There was a homemade birthday cake as well, though he only got to enjoy it the day after his birthday, when he paid us a flying visit. On the day of his birthday itself there were university studies to get on with!

* This post has been shared on Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday) and Creatively Crafty Linky Party.

Twenty Three

It took me a bit longer than I anticipated to share the birthday card I made for my eldest son's 23rd birthday. My blogging schedule is a little off and I only shared his 22nd birthday card in January (his 23rd birthday was the previous November). I am sharing his birthday card now, before his next birthday comes around!

Nadav is a big Arsenal fan. I have mentioned it many times before. His birthday cards since the age of five have all somehow featured football, or more specifically, Arsenal.

This year I showed Nadav and his girlfriend, Hila, wearing Arsenal shirts. They flew to the UK last September to visit our family there and of course managed to squeeze in a couple of games too! My card is loosely based on a photo of the two of them taken at the Emirates Stadium, where they went to see Arsenal vs. Tottenham Hotspur. The final score was 2-2, for those of you who are interested!

You can see the stadium in the background, along with a little aeroplane and a big number 23 to mark Nadav's age. Nadav and Hila were supposed to start several months of post army travel in October, but the war began and they both ended up back in the IDF (Israel Defence Forces) instead. The little plane was to remind Nadav that he would one day get to travel, which I'm pleased to say happened in the end.

As with all birthdays in our home, there was a homemade cake as well.

* This post has been shared on Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday), The Good. The Random. The Fun. and Tuesday Turn About Link Party.

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.

Elinor and Galia

Elinor's mum asked me to make a special card for her daughter's upcoming 18th birthday. She plays the violin and is a competitive swimmer, so a violin and swimming cap and goggles were requested. Elinor also likes to bake, so mum asked me to include a chocolate cake with decorations. Finally, I was told that she drives a grey seven-seater Mazda 5. I had to look that one up!

Mum was delighted with the card. "You did an outstanding job!" she wrote to me. "Elinor loved the card!"

Galia started her medical studies several months ago. Back then, her mum asked me to create a card somehow featuring the Tel Aviv University Faculty of Medicine. I went one step further and showed Galia wearing a blue medics overall and hung a stethoscope around her neck. Behind her is the Tel Aviv University Faculty of Medicine logo, along with a small pile of medical books, a bottle of pills and a syringe.

"Galia's card is just brilliant" mum wrote to me, then followed that up by telling me that Galia too loved the card.

* This post has been shared on Busy Monday,  Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday)