Lior and Yishai

Lior is crazy about driving simulator games, his mum told me. He is also interested in the stars and planets and the family planned to go camping around his birthday to watch the annual Perseids meteor shower. Mum also requested a 20 on the card to mark Lior's age. There was plenty to work with.

I have shown bespectacled Lior with the controls of his driving simulator in his hands. The computer screen projecting his virtual driving skills is just visible in the corner of the card. Behind him is a little tent, surrounded by some planets and stars. I hope he saw some of those planets when the family went camping. The Hebrew greeting on the card says "Happy birthday to our Lior".

Yishai turned 12 in September. His mum told me that he is into dinosaurs and that a card on that theme would make him very happy!

I have shown Yishai on the front of his birthday card. Behind him is a blue Tyrannosaurus rex and child. I decided to be creative with their colours. Blues and reds were more fun to work with than the more usual T-Rex shades of brown! A Pterodactyl, the winged reptile, is flying by, while a rather cute looking Stegosaurus has wandered past Yishai. I added some jungle-like leaves and a big red number 12 to mark Yishai's age.

* This post has been shared on Little Things Thursday, Creatively Crafty, Creative Compulsions Linky Party, Craft Schooling Sunday and All Seasons.

2 Good 2 Be True

The customer who ordered this card for her husband recently came back to me for a birthday card for her daughter. The list she gave me of her daughter's interests included philosophy, hiking, camping and reading. Her daughter hates shopping, she told me, and is dreamy and rather messy!
There was plenty to work with.
I included a small image of Socrates on the card to represent philosophy. I added shopping bags with a big black cross through them, some walking boots and a tent. Next I added small graphics of the words 'Messy' and 'Dreamy'. 'Dreamy' is typed over a background of clouds. Finally I included a red book to represent her daughter's love of reading. The big yellow number 22 marks her age.

Rebecca's auntie requested a birthday card with a general birthday theme but also wanted me to include the fact that her niece is a makeup artist and also works at the British supermarket, Waitrose. I added a teeny tiny makeup palette to the card, along with a nail varnish, lipstick, balloons and cake! The Waitrose logo marks her place of work.

* This post has been shared on All Seasons, Creative Mondays, The Good. The Random. The Fun., Made by You Monday

Daniel's Album

My Bar Mitzvah albums have become a tradition with this young man's family. I have made albums for his older brothers, Ro'i and Yonatan, and hope that I will also one day make them for his younger brothers as well (yes, that's five boys in the family!).

Daniel chose what he wanted on the cover of his album. He wanted to see himself playing the ukulele, with a bonfire in the background. Mum added that he always wears camouflage patterned short sleeve T-shirts. She liked the tefillin (phylacteries) that I had given his brothers, and wanted me to show Daniel wearing them as well (Jewish men start wearing tefillin just before their Bar Mitzvah).

So I showed spiky-haired Daniel playing the ukulele. There is a small campfire behind him. Daniel is wearing a camouflage T-shirt and he is wearing tefillin on his head, on his left arm, and the straps are hanging down over his shirt. (Tefillin consist of two leather boxes with parchment with biblical passages inside. The first one goes on your arm, the second on your head. A right-handed person, which Daniel is, places tefillin on the left arm).
The navy blue background box matched the colour scheme of the Bar Mitzvah celebration. Daniel's name appears in Hebrew in gold lettering at the top, the words Bar Mitzvah and the date of the Bar Mitzvah celebration are written below.
Black and white tallitim also appear in two corners of the album cover. The tallit is the large sheet-like fringed prayer shawl worn during the morning prayers. Tallit is an Aramaic word from the root tll / טלל meaning 'to cover over'. By wrapping yourself in the tallit, or by covering your head with it, it is believed that the intention and direction of your prayers can be enhanced.

The album opens the Hebrew way, from right to left, and on each page I once again added a black and white striped tallit. Then, on the first page I added a paper version of all the musical instruments Daniel plays - a piano, a guitar, a harmonica and a melodica. I won't let on how long it took me to create those teeny-tiny instruments! Next came his beloved camouflage hat and, yup, his camouflage tefillin carry case. A page dedicated to Daniel's favourite Avengers superheroes followed. Once again, the list was a long one. I included Spiderman, the Hulk, Superman, Captain America and Iron Man. The Avengers logo features prominently in the centre.

Daniel likes to cook with a wok. I created a little paper wok for another page of his album and added curly noodles, chopped vegetables and some chopsticks.

Finally, on the last page, I showed Daniel's sleeping bag and walking shoes that he takes with him on Sayarut, or "Green Horizons", as it is known in English. Sayarut offers hiking, navigation, camping and nature activities for youth aged 10-18 in Israel. The organization was founded in 1974 by friends of Uri Maimon, a passionate hiker and charismatic leader of youth projects who fell in the Yom Kippur War.

It seems that Daniel and his mum were both delighted with the album. "We are speechless!" she wrote to me. "It's everything we talked about! It looks just like him! You nailed it! We all LOVE it! Daniel loves it!"

I also made Daniel a card to congratulate him on his Bar Mitzvah. It shows a tallit prayer shawl, a kippa (skullcap) and a Sefer Torah (a long scroll containing the entire text of the Five Books of Moses: the biblical books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy). I made sure to include the camouflage pattern that he is so fond of as well.

* This post has been shared on Amaze Me Monday, The Good. The Random. The Fun., Creative Mondays, Made By You Monday, Make it Pretty Monday, {wow me} wednesday, Wonderful Wednesday Blog Hop, The Happy Now Blog Link-Up, Creatively Crafty and Flaunt it Friday!

The British Empire Medal

A lady who lives in the same city as me saw one of my customised cards and contacted me to ask me if I could create a card for her Mum. She had just received the British Empire Medal for her work and dedication with her dance charity Magpie Dance, which she founded over 30 years ago. Her daughter thought that it would be nice to congratulate her with one of my cards.
My customer sent me a picture of her Mum proudly wearing her award. Mum is a dancer and artistic director, she told me. The dance company is for adults and children with learning disabilities and it is contemporary dance, very modern.
Together we decided to show Mum in the black and white outfit she wore to collect her award. I suggested adding the Magpie Dance logo and some papercuts and pictures of the dancers as well.
Whilst I was away I was delighted to receive a message from her, letting me know how pleased Mum was with her special card. "Just gave the card to my mum and she was thrilled. She said what a clever woman, she even got it down to the dress!"

Shortly afterwards she got in touch again and requested a card for her friend's 40th birthday. Her name is Max and she is an amazing spiritual individual, she said. She does breathwork, acupuncture and inner dance (spiritual dance through a sound healing journey). She is spiritual, mindful, fun, quirky, mother earth. She is originally from the UK, travelled to Australia when she was young, loves camping, just led and did a red tent spiritual retreat, leads Breathe & Receive workshops,  as well as running her business Helping Hands. Lastly, her favourite saying is "Honor your truth" she said. I think that there was more than enough to work with!
I showed Max with her hands clasped together in the namaste gesture, which signals welcome and union in a symbolic way. Candles, a lotus flower, a hand receiving some acupuncture treatment, and a red tent surround her, along with a little green tent to represent her love of camping, and the logos of her businesses. To finish off the card, I included her favourite saying.

Lastly, Sophie was turning 20. Her auntie asked me for a card which showed off her niece's baking skills. She has her own business called Sophie's Sweet Treats. She sent me a photo of some of the cakes Sophie has made, and requested a cake or two on the card. I picked out a very fancy chocolate cream cake from the photo, and added a couple of cupcakes and a wooden spoon. A bold number 20 finished the card off nicely.

* This post has been shared on Wednesday around the World, Wonderful Wednesday Blog Hop, Wow Us Wednesdays, Moonlight and Mason Jars, Artsy-Fartsy, Share Your Cup Thursday, The Homemaking Party, Little Things Thursday and Happiness is Homemade.