Twins 18th Birthday

I have made birthday cards for twins Amitai and Gavriel many times over the years, the last time being in 2021, when they turned 15. In October they turned 18 and once again their mum asked me to make each young man a special card to mark their big day.

Amitai enjoys spending time in the gym, where he builds up his strength and muscle with dumbbells and barbells. He plays FIFA on his Xbox, and goes to כושר קרבי, or combat fitness, a pre-army physical fitness class. He is also a big Spurs supporter.

Amitai's mum told me that he has a mullet haircut, a style that first became popular in the 80s and has once again come back into fashion!
His birthday card shows him working out, the latest FIFA game, the cockerel and ball emblem of Spurs, and the fitness class logo. A big number 18 marks his age.

Amitai's brother, Gavriel enjoys playing computer games. He loves the family's cat, Molly, and is also a regular at כושר קרבי, or combat fitness, where mum said they mostly seem to run around and crawl though sand!

My card shows bearded Gavriel holding Molly the cat. The computer game Polygon can be seen on his laptop. Once again I added the fitness class logo, and a big number 18 to mark Gavriel's age.

Mum was delighted with the cards and sent me these fabulous photos on the day of their birthday. They were captioned with the simple message "Perfect".

* This post has ben shared on Little Things Thursday, Thursday Favorite Things

Under the Sea

A lady in the US found me on Etsy. She messaged me to ask me if I could make a card for a friend’s daughter who was soon to be celebrating her Bat Mitzvah. She said that she hadn't liked any cards until she came across mine! Plus, she thought it would be extra special for the card to come from Israel.
I was happy to make one for her. 

The young lady in question loves all animals, especially cats and sea life, my customer told me. She likes music, plays the piano, dances and is in the Girl Scouts. She likes a lot of different colours: blues, purples and pinks. Her Bat Mitzvah celebration was going to have an ocean/sea life theme.
My customer sent me some photos of the Bat Mitzvah girl. I noticed that she often wears a bow in her hair and checked whether I should show her with one. My customer agreed that I should.

I showed the Bat Mitzvah girl in the centre of the card wearing a pink top and a pink hair bow. She has one arm in the air, as if she is dancing, and she is holding a cat in the other arm. Behind her is an underwater scene, with a little blue fish, a purple seahorse, an aquatic plant and a shell. Bubbles and music notes surround her. To her left are the green badges of the Girl Scouts of the USA and also the Girl Scouts of West Central Florida. Lastly, I added a piano because you can always spot a piano under the sea, right?

My customer was delighted with the card and left me a wonderful review in my Etsy shop:

"I received my customized card today. I could not be happier. It is for a Bat Mitzvah so having it created especially for her (especially since her name is never on anything) and being from Israel is super special. I know she will love it. This Etsy shop was also an absolute pleasure to work with. And though international shipping takes longer, they shipped my item out very quickly and communicated well. Thank you again!"

* This post has been shared on Link-up Potpourri, The Good. The Random. The Fun. and Wonderful Wednesday Blog Hop.

Swimming and Spurs

Gavriel and Amitai are twins. Their mum told me that Gavriel likes playing the piano, swimming and Molly the cat. These themes were very similar to those that mum gave me last year, so I made sure to make Gavriel's birthday card as different as I could, primarily by starting with a vertical layout.

I showed Gavriel holding Molly. He plays the piano but practices on an organ at home. It is his dream to have a piano, so I showed one on the card. I added a swimming pool ladder and some water and Gavriel is wearing some blue goggles on his head to illustrate his love of swimming. A yellow number 15 marks his age.

Amitai's favourite football team is Tottenham Hotspur. Mum sent me a picture of Spurs 2018-2019 teal coloured third kit (Tottenham Hotspur Football Club are commonly referred to as Spurs) and asked if I could show Amitai wearing that particular shirt. She also told me that he is a regular at the gym and asked me to show him doing a squat, with a bar on his back. Finally, mum suggested I include his silver laptop computer as well.

I added the Spurs emblem, a cockerel standing on a football, along with a black and white football. Did you know that those footballs were first used in the 1970 World Cup, chosen specifically so that spectators watching black-and-white televisions could clearly see the ball, with the black accents on a white background revealing the ball's direction of spin?

* This post has been shared on Little Things Thursday, Creatively Crafty Link Party, Thursday Favorite Things.

Pull-ups and the Piano

Gavriel and Amitai turned 14. Last year I showed Gavriel playing the piano on his birthday card, while Amitai was into running, biking and swimming in triathlons. A year on and their interests have changed again, primarily because of the coronavirus.

Amitai is a big Tottenham Hotspur supporter, so mum asked if I could show him wearing his new Spurs shirt (Tottenham Hotspur Football Club are commonly referred to as  Spurs), while doing pull-ups for exercise in the park. He also likes playing on his Xbox, so I included that on the card as well. A big number 14 marks his age.

Gavriel still plays the piano. Mum told me that he has an organ at home and that is what he has been practising on. He also likes playing on his iPad and the family cat, Molly, had to appear on Gavriel's card as well.

For years they have had their favourite colours. Amitai likes yellow, so I made that the background colour of his card, while Gavriel favours red. Mum shared these brilliant photos of the boys with their birthday cards on Facebook. They look happy enough with their cards!

* This post has been shared on Little Things Thursday,  Creative Crafty Link Party,  Thursday Favorite Things, Funtastic Friday, Craft Schooling Sunday and All Seasons.