Benjo's Album

Benjo celebrated his Bar Mitzvah back in November and I made him an album, just like I did for his older brothers Ro'i, Yonatan and Daniel. And believe it or not, there is still one more brother to be Bar Mitzvahed! I will make him his own album in a few years time.

I have made many birthday cards for Benjo and his brothers over the years as well, so his mum knew exactly how I work. She asked me to show Benjo on the cover of his album wearing tefillin (phylacteries). Tefillin consist of two leather boxes with parchment with biblical passages inside. Jewish men start wearing tefillin just before their Bar Mitzvah. They are worn on the forehead and upper arm. A right-handed person, which Benjo is, places tefillin on the left arm.

Benjo loves sushi, so mum asked me to put some on the album cover as well. He has some prized Sonos Ace headphones, and finally, he wanted Chelsea Football Club somehow to feature too.

I have shown Benjo wearing his tefillin on his head and on his left arm. Behind him is the Chelsea badge with a blue lion rampant on it. The lion was initially based on the official coat of arms for the Metropolitan Borough of Chelsea. Benjo's white headphones are also in the background, while to his left is a plate with some sushi, and next to it some chopsticks.
Benjo's name appears at the top in gold Hebrew letters. The words Bar Mitzvah and date are at the bottom. There is a tallit in two corners of the album. The tallit is a fringed garment worn as a prayer shawl by Jewish men over Bar Mitzvah age during morning prayer services, and on the Sabbath and on holidays.

I decorated five pages inside the album. Each page had a tallit on it. In addition, on the first page I added the Chelsea badge and a football. The following page featured Benjo's Sonos Ace headphones and also his VR headset. Next came the GeoGuessr logo, with a map of the world in the background. GeoGuessr is an online geography game in which players are tasked to guess locations from Google Street View imagery. Benjo loves the beach, so I added a little beach scene with the sun setting. Apparently his family always head to the beach later on in the day.

Finally, Benjo likes to cook. Mum asked me to include his hand held food burner torch and Benjo especially wanted me to show it with a blue flame coming out of it. There was also a request for me to add a wok with noodles and chopped vegetables, just as I had done for his brother Daniel's album.

Mum was delighted with the album and prominently displayed it at Benjo's Bar Mitzvah celebration. He wanted to add all the memorabilia from his Bar Mitzvah to the book after the event.
"The album is absolutely stunning!! We all LOVE the album and feel special to have it!" she wrote to me.

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

Atara's Album

Atara celebrated her Bat Mitzvah back in April and her mum asked me to create a customized album for the occasion. Atara likes music and dancing, dogs, roller skating, emojis, tacos and Coca-Cola, she told me. 

Atara knew exactly how she wanted to look on the album cover. It was important to her that I show her side bangs (I am not sure what you call them in British English!) and to show her wearing her denim jacket and with lots of bracelets on her wrists. She wanted it to say Atara in English on top and then בת המצווה של עטרה (Atara's Bat Mitzvah) in Hebrew at the bottom. She also requested a cute white dog (like her next door neighbours have) and music notes.
I made sure she got everything that she wanted.

Atara's album opens the Hebrew way, from right to left. I have shown her wearing her favourite denim jacket, with some roller skates slung over her shoulder and a can of Coca-Cola in her other hand. Her hair is loose, with the side bangs shown as requested. Behind Atara is a little white dog, her favourite emojis and a plate with some tacos on it. Truthfully I thought there was already quite enough on the cover, but Atara wanted music notes in the background too. It looks a little busy but it made the Bat Mitzvah girl happy!

I made the background light purple, as Atara requested, and added some music notes in two corners of the album cover. The lettering is silver.

I decorated five pages inside the album as well. The first page has music notes on it, to illustrate Atara's love of dance and music. Next, I made another version of her neighbour's cute white dog, below. This was followed by a page showing a pair of white roller skates, just like Atara's own skates. Another page has emojis on it, then finally, one of the last pages in the album has some tiny tacos and a can of Coca-Cola on it. They are Atara's favourites.

It seems that Atara was delighted with her album. "It's so cute! We love it!" her mum wrote to me.

* This post has been shared on The Good. The Random. The Fun., Tuesday Turn About Link Party and Wonderful Wednesday Blog Hop.