Ilana

Ilana celebrated her 50th birthday in November. She is quite a regular customer of mine and so it seems that her family and friends who have received my cards over the years wanted to return the compliment when it came to her birthday. 

Her daughter contacted me and asked if I could make her mum a card. As it happened, one of Ilana's friends had already beaten her to it, but her daughter didn't mind. I assured her that the cards would be different! She told me that her mum likes cooking. She loves butterflies and tulips. And she is a teacher.

I showed redheaded Ilana holding a big bunch of pink tulips. Some butterflies are fluttering past her. I added a little blackboard with the words "Back to School" on it, and an exercise book and pencils to represent her teaching career. A cooking pot and wooden spoon illustrate Ilana's love of cooking. A big yellow number 50 marks her age.

Ilana's friend asked me to make her a birthday card too. She requested a water bottle, and some vegetables, since Ilana loves to cook. She told me that Ilana teaches English and also loves to read.

I showed Ilana with the water bottle in her right hand. She is pointing to a blackboard with the words "50 Today!" on it with her left hand. Next to her are some vegetables and a small pile of books.

Ilana was delighted with her cards and kindly messaged me on the day of her birthday:

Thank you for my cards

I was soooo lucky to get two 

❤️❤️❤️❤️

Love them

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

Flowers

We did very little during the Passover holiday. There isn't much to celebrate at the moment and anyway it was extremely hot for some of the days of Hol Hamoed, the five days between the first day of Passover and the last day. I had however booked tickets for "Flowers" in Tel Aviv, which was advertised as the largest flower exhibition in Israel. We went to a wonderful flower show in Haifa back in 2012 and I was intrigued to see how this new show would compare. It was cool inside the Expo Tel Aviv complex, where the exhibition took place, though unfortunately we were far from the only visitors! It seems that every Israeli thought to escape the warm weather too and let's just say it was rather crowded.

The "Flowers" displays were created using over two million flowers. Many of these were rare species not native to Israel and were specially imported for the event, along with flowers that were grown in Israel, including in the Gaza Envelope.

Each hall in the exhibition had a different theme. The first hall was the Tropical Hall. It featured floral monkeys, a huge yellow, red and white snake which towered above the crowds, and a peacock with a four metre long tail that stretched out on the floor like a colourful fan. The peacock was made up of a variety of flowers including scabious and lisianthus. Other animals included butterflies, a lion, a zebra and more. 

Next was the Hall of the Planets, which included the sun, the moon and the earth. The earth was woven with beautiful blue lobelia flowers, while the crescent shaped moon was designed using petunia and lobelia. The sun was created in yellow and orange, using bidens, marigolds and chrysanthemum. 

The Hall of Legends covered the world of fairy tales. Alice in Wonderland's tea party table, below, included beautiful tiered cakes and cupcakes sculpted with more than 4,500 flowers such as carnations, Belvedere rose, alstroemeria, Craspedia, orchids and more.

The Yellow Ribbon is a symbol of hope and solidarity, expressing support for bringing home the hostages. More than 250 hostages were taken captive by Hamas following the 7th October terrorist attack. Since the hostage deal between Israel-Hamas in November 2023, 125 remain in captivity.

I wasn't a fan of the next exhibit, the magical Swan Lake. Ten swans covered with 5,000 chrysanthemum and white alstroemeria, which were grown especially for the exhibition, swam on a huge lake. Unfortunately they looked more like little fat ducks than swans to me! I have not included a photo.

The finale of the exhibition was a giant chessboard. The game pieces included a green knight decorated in pink at the base and with a mane made of amaranth flowers. The queen had a green base with 3 rings shaped like crowns, above, all made of alstroemeria flowers, scabiosa and orchid branches. The height of the chess pieces ranged from 2 to 2.5 metres.

How did the exhibition compare to the one we had seen in Haifa all those years ago? There were way too many people inside the buildings, making it impossible to see the flowers properly. While some of the displays were impressive, it was hard to enjoy them while jostling with the crowds. More attention should have been paid to entry times and the number of entrants should have been limited. In addition signage was poor. I would have liked to have read more about the flowers and the meaning of each piece, though frankly I could barely see the signs that were there anyway!

But, the flowers were beautiful, and that's what mattered. With everything going on in Israel today, it was nice to escape into the cool halls for a couple of hours to enjoy the beauty of the displays.

* This post has been shared on Sundays on Silverado, The Good. The Random. The Fun., Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday), My Corner of the World and Floral Friday Fotos.

80 Years Young

Once again I am playing catch up and sharing some cards that I made for some lovely ladies who were celebrating their 80th birthdays back in early 2022.

The first card was for a nana who was a tour guide by profession and also a wonderful baker. Her daughter-in-law told me that she makes delicious chocolate chip cookies and cakes.

I showed Nana with a plate of cookies in one hand and a sign saying "Tour Guide" in the other. Tour guides often carry a flag so that if/when people get lost they can spot the flag. Behind her is a view of Jerusalem and the Dome of the Rock, and next to her is some cake. A big blue number 80 marks her age.
I know this nana personally and she was kind enough to write to me after she received her card:

Hi Lisa

Just want to say thank you for the terrific birthday card you designed for my 80th birthday. I can't stop smiling at it all day. It's right here on the table so I am with this silly grin all day long!
Thank you, thank you!

My second card was for a mum who turned 80 at the end of May that year. She lives in the basement of my customer's sister's house and enjoys a bit of gardening at the entrance to the space. Her daughter told me that anemones are her favourite flower.

I showed this mum watering the flowers by her front door. I added a lot of red and purple anemones since they are her favourite. A big red number 80 marks her age.
Once again, the card was very well received:

Dear Lisa, I just wanted to share with you that I gave my mum the beautiful card you made and she absolutely loved it, showing it to everyone that came to her birthday tea.

Finally, a customer asked me to make a card for her friend who was soon to be celebrating her 80th birthday. She asked me to put a big number 80 on the card, but also requested an aeroplane to represent her friend's love of travel, a birthday cake and the blue and white Israeli flag.
She called to tell me that her friend really loved the card.

* This post has been shared on Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday) and Wonderful Wednesday Blog Hop.