A Dedicated Vet and a Lawyer Extraordinaire

The customer who ordered this card for her bestie was seemingly very happy with it because not long afterwards she contacted me again, this time for a Mother's Day card. Mum's a veterinarian, she told me. She is obsessed with the mobile/PC puzzle game Candy Crush and she loves chocolate. Mum also loves the colour red and her favourite dog is the greyhound (she was the vet for racing greyhounds).

I then learnt that Mum always wears a gold necklace with diamonds, that Haigh's Chocolates are her favourite, particularly their chocolate freckles, oh, and her eyebrows are such a feature on her face - could I try and add them please? Of course I could. It's all about the details.

I love writing about the cards I make, but my blog has an added benefit of course. A friend of this particular customer saw the bestie card and decided that she liked the look of my customised cards too. She wrote and asked me if I could create a 50th birthday card for her friend, an intellectual property (IP) Lawyer.

Her lawyer friend Caz, she told me, loves champagne and collects stone eggs. The ladies used to work together, so I included the logos from a couple of projects they worked on (whited out). They also had an in-joke she wanted me to include. The Brits amongst you will recognise "T please Bob". I added the little signs pointing to Orbain Road and the one denoting Caz's job, and included a big yellow 50 to mark her friend's special birthday. There was also the obligatory paper portrait of the birthday girl herself.

My customer was delighted when she received the card. "Hi Lisa! I got the card - it looks fab!!! Thanks so much!!!"

* This post has been shared on Seasons, Happiness is Homemade, The Good. The Random. The Fun., Amaze Me Monday, Inspiration Monday, Modest Monday, Monday Morning Blog Club, Make it Pretty Monday, Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday) and Moonlight and Mason Jars.

Uncle Ronnie

A customer ordered one of my extra large cards for her Uncle Ronnie with the intention of framing it for his birthday. She sent me a super long list of the things she and her Mum feel represent him. He is a handy man, she wrote, and so a screwdriver, hammer and nails were requested for the card. He absolutely loves chocolate, especially chocolate from the British chocolatier Paul Young, and particularly loves his hot chocolate, so she asked if I could show him holding a Paul Young hot chocolate drink. She also wanted a peppermint tea to go in somehow too! Uncle Ronnie is a big fan of the Radio 4 programme The Archers and he loves singing Barbara Streisand songs. He also loves cars and gadgets, so cut-outs of a silver SLK Mercedes sports car and a Lexus were requested.

Uncle Ronnie is a Past President of the City of London Law Society so my customer wanted some kind of image relating to the fact that he is a lawyer. He loves skiing and scuba diving and flying kites with the children in the family, oh and she wanted me to show him wearing the Master of Ceremonies red sash that I could see in the photo she sent me. Finally, Uncle Ronnie has the most enormous wonderful winning smile and that should really stand out, she said.
There was a LOT to include!

You can see some of the many cut-outs I created. Above is a picture of the tiny screwdriver, hammer and nails, and below them a paper fox to represent Ronnie's law firm which is called Fox. The fox appears on the card above the Scales of Justice, below. Finally, the colourful kite was also a request.
The card took me, ahem, quite some hours to create and I was delighted to receive the following emails after my customer and her Mum had seen it:

Dear Lisa
I hope that you had a lovely Rosh Hashanah and I wish you and your family a very happy New Year. I cannot even begin to tell you how thrilled my brother was with the card and the fun he had identifying all his special interests - it was a great success and I know that he has already put it up in his home. I'm sure that he would not mind at all your using the card - and I do hope that it brings you in lots of orders - you really deserve the success. You took such immense pains to get everything just right and I do hope that it will help your business go from strength to strength. Thank you again for all your help and patience and if it would help for someone to give a personal recommendation I'd be more than happy to do so." 
Her daughter added, "Uncle Ronnie really is one of the most amazing men I know and I absolutely adore him ... you probably feel like you know him better than anyone!".
Um, I think perhaps I do!