Aderet's Album

I made a Bat Mitzvah album for Shirel back in 2021. This time it was her younger sister Aderet's turn to celebrate and mum asked me to make an album for her as well.

Aderet plays basketball and the piano. She likes sushi and Aroma ice coffee (Aroma is the largest coffee chain in Israel). In addition, she feels very connected to tefillah (prayer) and her siddur (Jewish prayer book containing a set order of daily prayers), so mum thought it would be nice to somehow include that. The colours scheme for the planned party was turquoise, dark purple and lilac. Finally, Aderet wanted to me to add some music notes to the design, just like her sister Shirel had.

I have shown Aderet holding her turquoise siddur in one hand and a basketball in the other. Behind her is a piano and some sushi and chopsticks. An Aroma iced coffee is to her right and I added some music notes too, all in the colours Aderet requested.
Aderet's name appears in Hebrew at the top in gold lettering and the words Bat Mitzvah and date of the celebration are at the bottom.

The album opens the Hebrew way, from right to left.

I decorated five pages inside the album too. The opening page shows a basketball and hoop, followed by a piano and then a siddur, to illustrate Aderet's connection to tefillah. Some tiny sushi on a lilac platter came next and then a page with Aderet's favourite Aroma iced coffee.

Mum was delighted with the album when she received it. "Just got the album. It's gorgeous!" she wrote to me. Of course Aderet's Bat Mitzvah plans were disrupted by the war, as many gatherings were, but mum said that they were still hoping to hold a small event to mark the occasion. I hope that they were able to do just that.

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

Doing a Lunge

A new customer saw one of my cards that a mutual friend posted on Facebook. She messaged me to say that she loves the cards I make, could I create one for her husbands upcoming 50th birthday too? She sent me some photos of her husband and asked me to show him wearing the blue sweatshirt with the logo of the company he works for. Other things to add to the card were a basketball, a Torah (he is a baal kore - the person who reads the weekly excerpt from the Torah during synagogue services) and numbers (her husband works in analytics). Finally, she asked me if it would be possible to draw him doing a lunge.

I showed the bespectacled birthday boy in his blue sweatshirt, doing the requested lunge. I even asked his wife which trainers he wears and copied the design on them as well! Behind him is a basketball and a net and to his right is a Sefer Torah or Torah scroll, which is a long scroll containing the entire text of the Five Books of Moses, hand-written by a scribe in the original Hebrew. It is rolled up around two ornate wooden shafts, attached to either end of the scroll.

I added a big number 50 to mark his age. Below that is a little bar chart, a graph and a magnifying glass which represent his career in analytics. I thought that was better than random numbers!

My customer loved the card.

* This post has been shared on Craft Schooling Sunday, Wonderful Wednesday Blog Hop

Shirel's Album

Shirel celebrated her Bat Mitzvah back in June. She is very athletic and loves many different sports but her main "thing" is football which she has played since she was 5, her mum told me. She also did a swimming class for a few years and plays basketball now too. She takes horse riding lessons, plays the guitar, likes listening to music and loves baking, particularly working with a piping bag making cakes and cupcakes. Shirel also did a baking project for her Bat Mitzvah to raise money for her local synagogue. Phew! I was not short of themes for the cover of her Bat Mitzvah album!

Shirel's favourite colour is aqua and the colour scheme of her Bat Mitzvah celebrations were going to be aqua, light purple and gold. While she is very sporty, mum was keen to point out that she also is "girly" and is very into styling her hair in different ways, makeup and nail polish. She wanted me to feature that very girly side of her daughter too.

Mum chose to have the album open the Hebrew way (Hebrew books open from right to left) and have most of the details in Hebrew but with Shirel's name in English too. I have shown Shirel in a blue shirt, with a football tucked under one arm and her guitar in the other. To her right is a brown horse with patches of white, just as she requested. In front of her is a piping bag and some cupcakes. To the right of the guitar is a basketball. She is wearing goggles on her head to represent her love of swimming and some music notes dotted around illustrate that she likes music too.

I decorated 5 pages inside Shirel's album as well. The first page featured a football and a basketball, representing her love for both those sports. Next I added a green boogie board, since mum told me that she likes boogie boarding at the beach. Some light purple swimming goggles, representing her love of swimming, appeared on that page too. Baking came next, with some little cupcakes and a piping bag, then I cut out a classical guitar, just like the one she is holding on the cover of her album. Finally I crafted a brown horse with white patches once again. I hope it looks just like the horse she enjoys riding.

Mum seemed delighted with her daughter's Bat Mitzvah album and told me that that Shirel loves it too. "It is beautiful!" she wrote to me.

* This post has been shared on Wonderful Wednesday Blog Hop, Little Things Thursday, Creatively Crafty Link Party and Craft Schooling Sunday.