We Can’t Keep Up!

Remember the birthday card I made for the Spurs supporter? I made one for the same customer's dad too. He loves fishing, tennis and whisky, his daughter told me. She also mentioned that he is a huge Zionist and asked me to include an Israeli flag somewhere on the card.

I showed my customer's dad wearing a bright red T-shirt (she mentioned that he likes to wear bright colours like yellow or red). He has a fishing rod, with a fish dangling from it, in one hand and a tennis racket in the other. A yellow tennis ball is flying off the racket.

Behind dad is the river he is fishing in. There are some reeds on the banks of the river and the Israeli flag stands in them! Finally, next to my customer's dad is a tumbler of his favourite tipple, whisky, along with a bottle of whisky too.

"We love you Dad, we can’t keep up!" was the greeting his daughter asked me to put on the front of the card. It does indeed sound like her dad is a busy man!

* This post has been shared on Little Things Thursday, Crafty Creators Link Party, Creatively Crafty Link Party and Thursday Favorite Things.

Claret and Sky Blue

Martin recently turned 50. His wife asked me to make him two special cards to mark the day. Her first request was for a large card covering the themes of West Ham United F.C., running, tennis and music. I made a card for Martin with a West Ham theme back in 2014. This time I showed him in their 2020/21 kit.

I showed Martin running on his card. He is showing support for his favourite football team by wearing their shirt. Behind him is his yellow and black tennis racket (I copied the colours from a photo his wife sent me!). Some notes represent Martin's love of music.
In front of him is the West Ham United crest showing a pair of crossed hammers. West Ham were formed as the Thames Ironworks Football Club in 1895. The club later became West Ham United. The hammers emblem was inspired by the team's nickname, the Hammers, which was derived from the hammers used by the Thames Ironworks shipbuilders.

Martin's wife loved the card and shared it on Facebook, saying "Thank you to the amazing Lisa Isaacs for once again creating a fantastic birthday card."

I also made a second card for Martin, this time from his kids. I wanted to create something totally different to his other card, so decided to make him a papercut one. I carefully cut out a big 50 to mark his age and added the name "Abba" (Abba means father in Hebrew) and some bunting. Those of you in the know will see that I still couldn't resist returning to the West Ham theme. The paper inlay is claret and the envelope was sky blue, to match the house colours of Thames Ironworks, adopted by the team in the early 1900s and now the official colours of the West Ham United F.C. team.

* This post has been shared on Creative Mondays Link Up, The Good. The Random. The Fun.

The In-Laws

A customer asked me to make a birthday card for her mother-in-law. The lady in question is clearly a lot of fun! Her daughter-in-law sent me a photo of her wearing pink sparkly Mickey Mouse ears and plastic glasses. She wanted me to recreate it in paper.
I carefully cut out the plastic glasses and pink ears. I added the buttons on mum-in-law's top and included the mirror on the wall and the Shabbat candlesticks on the sideboard that I could see in the photo.

"Great card. Brilliant likeness." my customer wrote to me when she saw the card. 

The same customer needed a card for her father-in-law too. He loves to watch tennis on the television, particularly when players like Nadal and Federer are playing, she told me. He plays Patience, or Solitaire, at the table and enjoys Rummikub too.

I have shown the gentleman sitting at a table, playing cards which are spread out in front of him. A television is on in the background and it looks like Federer and Nadal have just finished a match. A Rummikub tile tray is in front of the television.

The greeting on the card says Happy Birthday Dad - Zeida. Zeida is the Yiddish title for "grandfather".

"I have no doubt that we will love the card... yep, we do!" my customer wrote to me once again. 

I celebrated my own birthday just a couple of days ago. Last year, the year I turned 50, my birthday was right in the middle of lockdown and though I had a really nice day, I could not celebrate it as I would have liked. Never mind, everyone said, you can party next year.
Well, one year one and Israel is recovering nicely from Covid-19. We just have the not so small problem of rockets flying over our heads at the moment! There was to be no party again but I had a lovely, lovely day all the same. Mister Handmade in Israel treated me to these gorgeous flowers and a good friend brought the balloons. Who wants a party anyway?

* This post has been shared on Wonderful Wednesday Blog Hop, {wow me} wednesday, Little Things Thursday, Creatively Crafty Link Party, Craft Schooling Sunday and Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday).

Zeph the Border Collie

I first spotted a photo of Zeph the blue merle border collie on the Fancying France blog. June, Zeph's owner, often posts gorgeous picture of him, one of which caught my eye. Therefore I was delighted when June contacted me and asked if I could make a birthday card for her husband with Zeph on it!

"I would like the card to feature Zeph and my husband's two main hobbies, field hockey and tennis" June wrote. It was a simple brief and I couldn't wait to get to work! I made a sketch of Zeph, breaking down the beautiful colours and pattern of his coat and paying extra special attention to his different coloured eyes and black and pink nose.

Zeph was of course the centrepiece of the card but I made sure to include June's other requests too. A tennis racket can be seen to one side of him, whilst a layout of a hockey pitch and hockey stick are on the other.

June seemed very happy with the card. "I just wanted to say how delighted I was with the card. My youngest son (of 23) was equally impressed and couldn’t get over the likeness of Zeph." She then let me know that the card was a big hit and that she plans to frame it "as it's so special".

* This post has been shared on Little Things Thursday, Thursday Favorite Things, Creatively Crafty Link Party, Craft Schooling Sunday and All Seasons.