Shalva's Album

Shalva recently celebrated her Bat Mitzvah. Her parents asked me to make her an album that could be displayed at her party for all her friends to sign. They told me that she likes Harry Potter, baking, anime and maths. They requested an album that opens the Hebrew way (Hebrew books open from right-to-left).

I decided to show brown-haired Shalva wearing a black Harry Potter cloak and holding a wand. In her other hand she has a plate of cupcakes to represent her interest in baking. Behind her are some maths symbols and the number 12 to mark her age. There is also an anime picture behind her and in front of her is a mixing bowl and another cupcake. The background box is blue since that is her favourite colour.

Shalva's name appears at the top and the Hebrew date of her Bat Mitzvah celebration is at the bottom of the album's cover. Hebrew dates are written right-to-left with the day of the month, followed by the month name, then the Hebrew year. The Gregorian calendar date is below the Hebrew one.

I decorated five pages inside Shalva's album. The first page has a Harry Potter theme. I cut out a tiny broomstick, similar to the one Harry was given when he joined the Gryffindor Quidditch team. I added the black Sorting Hat and a cauldron for brewing and holding potions, below.

The next page has a baking theme, above. I added some tiny cupcakes, a mixing bowl, wooden spoon and a spatula. Shalva's mum mentioned that Shalva goes horse riding too, so I cut out a brown horse for the following page, below.

The last two illustrated pages in Shalva's album show various maths symbols, representing her interest in the subject, and some anime characters too. The word anime - pronounced "ah-knee-may" - is an abbreviation of the word animation. In Japan, the word is used to refer to all animation. However, outside of Japan, it has become the catch-all term for animation from Japan.

Shalva's mum was very pleased with the album and decided that she would like to use my cover illustration for other things at the Bat Mitzvah celebration. (I offer this as a package. Please discuss it with me if you are interested in doing something similar). I scanned the cover for her and she made these cute laminated labels which were placed on top of the napkin of each place setting at the party. The labels were also stuck on each party bag that Shalva's friends took home, above.

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

Gavriel's Album

Gavriel celebrated his Bar Mitzvah in March and his mum asked me to make him an album. She told me that her son plays the guitar, loves computer games and that his favourite colour is green. He likes reading - especially Harry Potter - and his favourite food is pizza and chips. Gavriel and his mum had spotted Daniel's album here on my blog and asked me if I could show Gavriel in the same camouflage print T-shirt and wearing tefillin.

I have shown Gavriel playing his guitar and wearing the requested tefillin, which Jewish men start to wear around the time of their Bar Mitzvah. Tefillin (sometimes called phylacteries) are cubic black leather boxes containing four hand-written texts from the Bible, with leather straps that are worn on the head and arm during weekday morning prayers. Gavriel is left handed, so he is wearing them on the bicep of his right arm and on his head, with the two leather straps hanging down over his shoulders.

I included a laptop computer on the cover of the album to represent Gavriel's love of computer games and added the covers of two of his favourite Harry Potter books as well. His favourite pizza and chips are there too.

The colour scheme for the Bar Mitzvah was green and navy so I added a navy background and a green border around the cover of the album. The gold lettering says Gavriel's Bar Mitzvah and the Hebrew date of the celebration in both English and Hebrew.

I decorated five pages inside the album. The first page shows Gavriel's guitar once again, followed by a laptop computer, then some tiny chips in a red takeaway box and a slice of cheese and tomato pizza. A page featured Gavriel's Bar Mitzvah logo, which was based on the Magen David or Star of David. Finally, the last page shows the Sorting Hat, the sentient hat at Hogwarts that magically determines which of the four school Houses each new student belongs most to. I also included a wand and the covers of Gavriel's two favourite Harry Potter books once again.

Gavriel's mum seemed delighted with the album when she collected it and I was thrilled to receive the fabulous photo of him proudly showing it off, top. "He is so happy with it! And I absolutely love it!" mum wrote to me.
If you too would like an album, please take a look at the listing for it in my shop then get in touch to order a wonderful keepsake of your special occasion.

* This post has been shared on Happiness is Homemade, Inspire Me Monday, The Good. The Random. The Fun., My Corner of the World and Craft Schooling Sunday.

Bat Mitzvah Girls

Freya recently celebrated her Bat Mitzvah. Her dad asked me to to make a special card for her to mark the event. After a little discussion it was decided that I should show curly-haired Freya wearing her blue headphones and holding her phone. She has a hamster called Polo, who I presumed was white, but dad sent me a photo so that I could match Polo's brown and white fur. I also suggested adding a Star of David, known in Hebrew as the Shield of David or Magen David, to the design to include a Jewish element.

Dad was pleased with his order. "The card has arrived. Love it! Thanks ever so much." he wrote to me. Later he let me know that Freya loved the card too.

Yaara was also marking her Bat Mitzvah. Her interests include reading, particularly Harry Potter books, chocolate, dogs and acting. Her favourite colour is light blue.

Mum told me that Yaara loves it when her hair has been blow-dried straight, so I showed her with her long dark hair styled that way. The little stage with red curtains behind her represents her interest in acting and there are a couple of Harry Potter books in Hebrew next to her. Yaara herself is holding another Harry Potter book in one hand. In her other hand is a large bar of chocolate. Yummy!

After some discussion a dog was left off the card as the family had not yet decided whether to adopt one. I believe that it's now going to happen, so maybe he or she will appear on a future birthday card!

Whilst we are talking of animals, my friend Mandy is, ahem, somewhat past Bat Mitzvah age, but she does love animals, particularly giraffes. I modelled my paper giraffe on Toy, the newest baby giraffe at the Jerusalem Zoo. Toy was born on the day Netta Barzilai won the Eurovision Song Contest and the newborn giraffe was named in honour of the winning Israeli song. Mandy is crazy about the Eurovision as well, so Toy just had to be on her birthday card this year.

* This post has been shared on Wednesday Around The World, Little Things Thursday, The Creative Circle, Share Your Cup Thursday and Creatively Crafty Link Party.