A Grandma Who Loves Gardening, Reading, and Games

On Thursday morning, the last day of Passover, after 40 days of war, we woke to a ceasefire. The quiet felt unfamiliar. No planes overhead. No sirens. Not even the usual blaring alerts the moment I stepped into the shower. It was almost unsettling in its stillness.
And yet, I can't help but wonder - is this really what we hope for after everything we've been through? Homes lie shattered. Too many lives have been lost. And despite it all, the Iranian regime remains a global threat, continuing its pursuit of nuclear capability while tightening its grip on one of the world’s most vital waterways, the Strait of Hormuz.
We find ourselves standing in the wreckage, somehow expected to return to normal after more than a month of living on edge, in a reality that feels anything but ordinary.
Soon, Israel will shift from this fragile quiet into remembrance. The country will mark Yom Hazikaron, the day we remember Israel's fallen soldiers and victims of terrorism. Since losing Gadi, this day has become deeply personal for me, and I can no longer make the emotional transition to Yom Ha'atzmaut, Independence Day, which begins the following evening, the moment Memorial Day ends.
And still, despite everything, I return to my cards. With paper and glue and careful hands, I keep creating. It is my way of holding on and, in some small way, moving forward.

This card request followed soon after the extra-large 80th birthday card I designed for another special grandma, and the briefs for the two projects were strikingly similar. Both grandmas, it seems, enjoy gardening, so once again I started with a background of a garden and shrubs. This grandma, Vicki, was turning 85. She has 5 grandchildren and, as well as gardening and flowers, she enjoys reading and board games.  

My customer wanted her children's names incorporated into the flowers, which I arranged into girls and boys for visual balance. I also checked which board games grandma enjoys and learned it’s backgammon, cards, and Rummikub.

I chose to depict grandma sitting at a garden table, a Rummikub rack before her and a tile poised in her hand. Next to her sits a small pile of books, waiting to be read. In the background, I added the requested flowers, along with a plant pot and trowel. Finally, a large 85 marks her age.

Her daughter, my customer, was delighted with the card!

* This post has been shared on Happiness Is Homemade, Mosaic Monday, Handmade Monday, Busy Monday, Monday Morning Blog Club, Talking About It Tuesdays, Wonderful Wednesday Blog Hop, Creatively Crafty Linky Party, Little Things Thursday, Funtastic Friday and Crazy Little Lovebirds.

Sarah and Kerry

My customer received one of my cards for her own 50th birthday last year and has since started asking me for cards for her friends too! Her friend Sarah's 50th birthday was in October 2024. Sarah likes reading, baking, and is a dental nurse. Apparently she is always losing her glasses as well!

I have shown Sarah with a book in one hand and a toothbrush in the other! A big white tooth is next to her. I added a mixing bowl and a spatula, and, in the background, some chocolate chip cookies, a cupcake and a wooden spoon, to represent her love for baking. Some teeny tiny glasses are hiding just behind her.

My customer loved the card. "I just picked it up. It's great!!!" she wrote to me.

Kerry was also celebrating her 50th birthday. Her sister-in-law told me that she is in to meditation, loves the beach and, in her words, is "zany". She wanted to me to include an Israeli flag on the card and also told me that Kerry likes spicy food.

I have shown Kerry sitting cross-legged and meditating on the beach. Her left hand shows the correct placement for meditation. It is called gyan mudra and is a sacred hand gesture or 'seal' used to direct energy and maintain focus. Kerry is waving the Israeli flag with her right hand.

I added a little pot of red spices and a chili pepper. A big red number 50 marks her age, and a banner below that brands her as "zany".

* This post has been shared on Mosaic Monday, Tuesday Turn About and Wonderful Wednesday Blog Hop.

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.

Elisha's Album

"I would love to order a Bar Mitzvah book for our son Elisha", my customer wrote to me. She and her husband had taken a good look at my blog and decided that they would like an album similar to the one I made for a young man called Jack back in 2022. They wanted me to show their son wearing tefillin, the cubic black leather boxes containing Biblical verses, with leather straps, that Orthodox Jewish men wear on their head and their arm during weekday morning prayer.

Elisha likes football and especially Liverpool Football Club, mum told me. He is also into Rubik's cube, reading, and Fanta Orange. She sent me some photos of Elisha and said that she liked the blue background I had used on Jack's album.

I have shown Elisha wearing tefillin on his head and on his left arm. He is right-handed, so wears tefillin on the bicep of his left arm. The tefillin box worn on his head is centered just above the forehead, with the two leather straps wrapped around the head, then hanging down over his shoulders.

He has a Rubik's cube in one hand and a football in the other hand. Next to him is a Fanta Orange and a small pile of books.

Behind Elisha is the Liverpool F.C. badge. The bird on the Liverpool crest is the Liver bird, a mythical creature that also serves as the iconic symbol of the city of Liverpool. The Liver bird has been representative of Liverpool for over 800 years and appears on the city's arms.

Elisha's name appears in gold letters at the top in English and Hebrew. The year of his Bar Mitzvah is at the bottom.

Five pages inside the album also cover Elisha's various interests. The first page shows the Liverpool F.C. badge once again and I added a red and white striped football scarf as well. Then I made a black and white football and put it in front of a goal. Apparently this type of football first got its famous black and white markings for the 1970 World Cup in Mexico. According to the adidas website, this ball was called the Telstar and was developed to help people see the ball more clearly while watching on television.
Another page in Elisha's album shows a can of Fanta Orange, along with an orange and a tiny slice. I then cut out a hand holding a Rubik's cube and, lastly, crafted some little books to illustrate his love of reading.

Mum was delighted when she received the album and said it was beautiful!
Elisha was supposed to celebrate his Bar Mitzvah in October but, as I am sure you know, war broke out here in Israel on the first Shabbat of that month. I hope he was ultimately able to mark his special day in some way.

* This post has been shared on  Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday)