Leah Chen's Album

I made a Bar Mitzvah album for Gavriel back in 2021 and another for his brother Yair in 2024. In September, it was their sister's turn to celebrate her Bat Mitzvah.
Leah Chen's mum told me that her daughter enjoys singing and dancing. She's a huge Potterhead, proudly Ravenclaw, and even dressed up as Luna Lovegood for Purim. She also loves sushi.

Leah Chen's favourite colour is blue, so different shades of blue were chosen as the colour scheme for her Bat Mitzvah celebration. Mum sent me the Save the Date and the logo to show me the shades they were using.

I created an album cover showing a bespectacled Leah Chen surrounded by all the things she loves. On her right, I added the Bat Mitzvah butterfly logo, a couple more butterflies, and some teeny-tiny sushi and chopsticks. On her left, I added more butterflies in shades of blue, musical notes to represent her love of music, and finally the Ravenclaw logo below them.

The album opens the English way, from left to right, but Mum asked for the wording to be in both English and Hebrew. The English lettering on the cover reads "Leah Chen's Batmitzvah September 2026", while the Hebrew gives the wording as "Leah Chen's Batmitzvah 2026". I generally write "Bat Mitzvah" as two words, but this customer had requested it as one word, "Batmitzvah". Flowers in different shades of blue add a pretty, feminine touch to the cover.

I decorated five pages inside the album. On the opening page, I added the Bat Mitzvah butterfly logo, followed by a page with musical notes in the corner. The Ravenclaw logo featured on the next page, with butterflies and flowers completing the set.
"The book is stunning. Thank you," Mum wrote to me. I hope that Leah Chen loved it too.

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She Requested a "Lisa Card"

I made this card a month before my youngest son died, so Meital is now a little older. It's a cute card though and one that I still wanted to share here. I hope she doesn't mind.
Meital requested a "Lisa card" that she could use as a new door sign for her bedroom. I made a set for her whole family back in 2019 and Meital wanted to update hers.

I was asked to show her singing and dancing. She loves 'Just Dance', a dance video game, and 'Simply Sing', an app that enables you to improve your singing. Mum also asked me to show Meital wearing the green shirt of NOAM, the youth movement she goes to. (NOAM is an acronym for No'ar Masorti, Masorti Youth, a Zionist youth movement.) The orange cord at the collar of Meital's shirt, known in Hebrew as a sroch hadracha, displays her rank.

Meital loves the caramel shortbread chocolate bar Twix and, in mum's words, "unfortunately her phone". There was also a request to include 'BTS', also known as the Bangtan Boys, a South Korean boy band and 'Black Pink', a South Korean girl group, on her card. I had to look them up!

I already knew that Meital loves Christmas and anything to do with it. I added a red Santa hat and some Christmas decorations, quite an unusual request for a Jewish girl living in Israel but hey, I love Christmas too! Finally mum told me that light grey is Meital's favorite colour, so I made that the background colour of her card.

Meital was going to be turning 10, but since she wanted to use the birthday card as a sign for her bedroom door, I decided to leave her age off the card on this occasion.

Mum told me that "I made someone very happy today!" when she opened her card. The accompanying photos were a delight to receive.

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14 and 15

Meital was turning 14 and her mum asked me to make her a couple of cards. I have previously made birthday cards showing her dancing and on her phone. This time the card from mum and dad was to have a TikTok theme. Redheaded Meital likes making dance videos for the social media platform. She also likes shopping, especially from the online clothing store Shein and the Spanish retailer Pull&Bear.

I decided to show Meital as she appears in her TikTok video. She is wearing a favourite striped jumper and behind her is a glittery disco lights background. I carefully cut out all the icons on the TikTok screen: Meital's user image, a heart, the speech icon, arrow icon and a spinning record.

Next to the phone I added a big number 14 to mark Meital's age, along with a Pull & Bear shopping bag and the Shein logo. Finally I cut out several versions of the TikTok logo, which represents a music note.

Mum also wanted a smaller card for Meital from her siblings. This time I made her age the focus of the card and then added cupcakes, bunting and some hearts.

Mum was happy with the cards. "Just got them. [They are] amazing as always. Thanks so much!" she wrote to me.

Daniel has also received cards made by me many times over the years. Last year his mum told me that he was into basketball, exercising using his doorway pull-up bar and that he loved to cook. This year he turned 15 and apparently he writes music all day long on his computer!

I have shown Daniel looking at his white laptop with earphones dangling from his ears. A bar of music behind him represents what he is creating on the screen. Mum also asked me to include another instrument that he uses on the side. Apparently it is always next to him when he writes his music.

She sent me a bunch of happy photos showing Daniel opening his card, though I know that he prefers me not to share them here. Mum wrote that the card was "Another HUGE success!"

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Bar and Bat Mitzvahs Down Under

My friend Nomi is originally from Australia and most of her family still live there. Several younger members of the family were recently Bar and Bat Mitzvah but sadly because of the coronavirus she was unable to travel there to celebrate with them. The mail to Australia was also not getting through because of limited flights but I came up with a solution! I made cards for all the young people and scanned them. That way they got to see their custom-made cards on their special day!

Talia celebrated her Bat Mitzvah first. A Jewish girl typically becomes a Bat Mitzvah when she turns 12. Talia likes bike riding and was getting a new teal coloured bike for her birthday. She is also into Lego, likes music, she does hip hop style dancing and she loves flowers. Oh, and of course, her iPhone is important to her too! Nomi told me that Talia's favourite colour is purple.

I showed curly-haired Talia hip hop dancing on her card. She has her iPhone in her hand. Behind her are some music notes and her new bike. In front of her I cut out some tiny pieces of Lego and added some flowers. The number 12 marks her age.

Coby, my friend's oldest nephew, loves bike riding with his friends. She mentioned the name of a particular canal in Victoria where he likes to hang out. He also favours Champion branded clothing.

On his Bar Mitzvah card I showed Coby on his black bike. He is wearing a grey Champion T-shirt. Behind him is a photo of the canal. Jewish boys become Bar Mitzvah at 13, so a big red number 13 marks his age.

Finally, Orly, Coby's sister, was Bat Mitzvah. She loves cheerleading, doing TikTok dances and talking to and FaceTiming with her friends. She also plays the guitar. I asked my friend to find out what Orly wears for cheerleading and recreated her blue and gold dress out of paper. She has a gold pom pom in one hand and her guitar in the other. Then I added the TikTok and FaceTime logos and a little phone with her friends faces on the screen.
Nomi told me that they all loved their cards!

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