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.

Ariella's Album

Ariella celebrated her Bat Mitzvah back in February and her mum asked me to make a personalised album for her. Ariella likes art, music, baking, sushi, Netflix, shopping and jewellery, mum told me. She also has a favourite T-shirt, which she asked me to show Ariella wearing. Ariella's hair is strawberry blonde and she has blue/green eyes, mum said.

There was plenty for me to work with!

I have shown Ariella with some paintbrushes in one hand and with a big cake in the other. To her right is some sushi and a paint palette. To her left is a laptop computer with Netflix open on it, some music notes and a wooden spoon and spatula. Ariella is wearing her favourite T-shirt, silver earrings and has a shopping bag over her arm. Mum asked me to put the logo of Claire's on the front of the bag, since it is Ariella's favourite place to shop.

Ariella's name and the words Bat Mitzvah appear at the top of my design and the date of her Bat Mitzvah celebration is at the bottom. The album opens the English way, from left to right. (Hebrew books open from right to left.)

The colour scheme for Ariella's Bat Mitzvah celebration was raspberry, gold, peach and black. I made the background box and border raspberry coloured. Her T-shirt is khaki but she is wearing a black skirt. The Claire's shopping bag and a couple of the music notes are peach, and the lettering is gold.

All the requested colours were used!

I decorated five pages inside Ariella's album as well. They covered her interest in art, music, baking cakes and shopping, along with her love of jewellery, below.

* This post has been shared on The Good. The Random. The Fun.

Aderet's Album

I made a Bat Mitzvah album for Shirel back in 2021. This time it was her younger sister Aderet's turn to celebrate and mum asked me to make an album for her as well.

Aderet plays basketball and the piano. She likes sushi and Aroma ice coffee (Aroma is the largest coffee chain in Israel). In addition, she feels very connected to tefillah (prayer) and her siddur (Jewish prayer book containing a set order of daily prayers), so mum thought it would be nice to somehow include that. The colours scheme for the planned party was turquoise, dark purple and lilac. Finally, Aderet wanted to me to add some music notes to the design, just like her sister Shirel had.

I have shown Aderet holding her turquoise siddur in one hand and a basketball in the other. Behind her is a piano and some sushi and chopsticks. An Aroma iced coffee is to her right and I added some music notes too, all in the colours Aderet requested.
Aderet's name appears in Hebrew at the top in gold lettering and the words Bat Mitzvah and date of the celebration are at the bottom.

The album opens the Hebrew way, from right to left.

I decorated five pages inside the album too. The opening page shows a basketball and hoop, followed by a piano and then a siddur, to illustrate Aderet's connection to tefillah. Some tiny sushi on a lilac platter came next and then a page with Aderet's favourite Aroma iced coffee.

Mum was delighted with the album when she received it. "Just got the album. It's gorgeous!" she wrote to me. Of course Aderet's Bat Mitzvah plans were disrupted by the war, as many gatherings were, but mum said that they were still hoping to hold a small event to mark the occasion. I hope that they were able to do just that.

* This post has been shared on Busy Monday, The Good. The Random. The Fun.