A Special Handmade Card to Celebrate an Engagement

A long-time customer got in touch to ask if I was available to create a card for her. She was looking for something special for a young couple who had recently become engaged. She then sent me a photo of the couple which, from past experience, I knew she hoped I would recreate in paper.

The photo my customer sent showed the couple in a garden, beside a table adorned with flowers. The bride-to-be is proudly showing off her engagement ring. I recreated the scene, adding just a hint of the table and flowers to frame the couple.

I hope they enjoyed seeing themselves brought to life in paper!

Here is another engagement card I made for the same customer, inspired by a proposal photo, together with this one.

* This post has been shared on Happiness is Homemade, Mosaic Monday, Handmade Monday, Monday Morning Blog Club, Busy Monday, Inspire Me Monday, Wonderful Wednesday Blog Hop, Creative Muster and Funtastic Friday.

A Match Made in Tel Aviv

The war continues to rumble on, and in our part of the country we hear sirens and the loud booms of missiles being intercepted overhead throughout the day and night. The result is broken sleep and a lingering tiredness that carries into the following day. In most cases, we first receive a preliminary alert on our phones, followed a few minutes later by a more urgent warning instructing us to get to a safe space, where we sit and listen to interceptions close by.
In our home, we are fortunate to have a safe room - as do all houses and apartments built since 1992. These rooms are constructed from reinforced concrete and steel, with heavy doors and protected windows. However, many people across the country are not in the same situation. Some must hurry down multiple flights of stairs, while others even need to go outside to reach a shared bomb shelter. This is especially challenging for families with small children, and for the sick or elderly, who often cannot manage it at all.
These moments, repeated throughout the day, create a new rhythm to daily life - one marked by pauses for alerts and a constant need to stay aware. And yet, in between the sirens, we are trying really, really hard to maintain our normal lives.

Just before the war began, a friend in the UK was excited to tell me that her daughter had got engaged to her long-term partner. "Can I ask if you could make a card for them?" she wrote. "So excited to be able to ask you!"

Her daughter and future son-in-law met each other through NOAM, the youth movement that my own boys belonged to. NOAM is an acronym for No'ar Masorti, Masorti Youth, a Zionist youth movement. The couple got to know each other when they both lived and served in Israel and though they are now in the UK, they plan to settle here again one day.

My friend sent me the couple's engagement photo and told me they share many interests: they're both vegan, they love Israel, they met through Noam Masorti, and they both love Tel Aviv.

I showed the young couple, with the bride-to-be proudly displaying her engagement ring, against the backdrop of Tel Aviv. The Israeli flag is blowing in the wind behind them. Next to the flag I included the NOAM logo, and below it I added a little bowl with vegetables in it, as a nod to their shared vegan lifestyle.

The card reached the UK quickly and seemed to be very well received!

The bride-to-be wrote:
"Hi Lisa, I just wanted to say the biggest thank you for making the card my parents sent for our engagement. It’s SO beautiful and you are incredibly talented! I already want to frame it!"
Shortly after, my friend messaged:
"Hi Lisa! The card has arrived! They love it 🥰 Thank you so much again, and I can’t wait to see it myself!"

* This post has been shared on Happiness is Homemade, Craft Schooling Sunday, Mosaic Monday, Handmade Monday, Busy Monday, Talking About It Tuesdays, Tuesday Turn About, Tuesdays with a Twist, Wonderful Wednesday Blog Hop, Saturday Sparks Link Party, BFF Open House, Funtastic Friday, Crazy Little Lovebirds and Thursday Favorite Things.

Living the Fairytale

A long time customer wrote to ask me if I could make a picture for her. Her husband's brother had recently got engaged. She wanted to send me a photo of her brother-in-law and his wife-to-be, above, for me to make into a "Lisa picture". "We'd like a framed picture of them, with the words "Living the Fairytale" written at the bottom" she wrote.

I recreated the photo of the couple out of paper, changing the background slightly, from their kitchen cabinets to something "bubbly". I am told that they really loved the picture and are already planning where to hang it!

* This post has been shared on Craft Schooling Sunday, Tuesday Turn About, Wednesdays in the Studio and Wonderful Wednesday Blog Hop.

Emily & Sam ❤️

A customer wrote to tell me that her niece in the UK had just got engaged. She wanted to order a card showing Emily, her niece, with Sam, her now fiancé. Sam should be pointing to the ring, she said. She sent me a few of the couples' engagement photos for reference.

It was a cute card to make and my customer was happy. "It's absolutely fantastic... Wow, you are so talented. Thank you so much!" she wrote to me. She loved the fact that I had included the exact background where the couple had got engaged.

It seems that the bride-to-be's mum was thrilled too. "The card is amazing Lisa. You are beyond talented. We love your cards ❤❤❤"

* This post has been shared on Craft Schooling Sunday, Tuesday Turn About, Wednesdays in the Studio, Wonderful Wednesday Blog Hop and Creatively Crafty Linky Party.

Their Engagement Announcement

* This post was written before my son passed away.

A regular customer contacted me with a request for another card. Two of her workmates had just got engaged to each other. She sent me their engagement announcement and asked me to base my design on the photo of the couple. She also requested that I add the date they got engaged.

I carefully copied the photo of my customer's workmates, making sure to include the pattern on the bride-to-be's top and the stripes on her groom's shirt. Her hair was difficult since her light brown hair is darker at the roots but I managed to merge the two different colours of paper quite successfully.
I placed my portrait of the couple on a green background with a white frame, just like their own announcement. The flower was similar to one they had used too.

The Hebrew greeting on the card simply says "Mazal Tov Rivka and Michael". Mazal Tov literally means "good luck", though in practice the phrase is used to express "congratulations".
My customer was delighted. "Received the card. Beautiful as always. Thank you" she wrote to me.

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

Engagement and Wedding Wishes

I met South African born Dani back in 1995 when we were both on the same ulpan (a school for the intensive study of Hebrew; the Hebrew word means studio or teaching, instruction) in Jerusalem. Roll on many years and Dani has moved onto pastures new in the US, whilst I am obviously still in Israel.

We have met up a few times over the years and social media of course means that we are able to keep in pretty regular contact. Recently I was excited to wake up to a Whatsapp from Dani telling me that she had got engaged to her partner of 7 years, Brendan. I know that she appreciates my handmade cards since she has ordered a few for her friends, so I decided to make the couple a card to mark their engagement.

I cut out their names and added some hearts and a banner marking the date of their engagement to the design. Of course, once I had finished, I realised that I had written the date using the British English format and not American English! Oh well, I guess I'm a Brit and that's the way I write the date.

I realise I forgot to share the card I made for my niece and her new husband when they got married last October. You may remember the trip I made to the UK and the lovely places we visited. The invitation we received for the wedding was in gold lettering, so I decided to create a design using white stock and a yellow (in place of gold) paper inlay. In fact, the colour scheme for the wedding turned out to be a gorgeous autumnal rust-brown. It was a beautiful wedding!

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