Terrific Treasuries

'just because' by fabriquefantastique

Baby Blue Extra Lon... anakit $120.00	Treasure Box handmadeinisra... $8.00	Sentimental sign SamsShenanigan... $12.50
Sterling silver wir... nicolehill $9.00	Gauloises Cendrier ... LaManche $40.00	vintage french empt... thehopetree $26.00
10% SALE Woodland f... LKAdesign $12.50	sale Winter purple ... KarensLoom $22.40	Cobalt Blue Celtic ... artophile $
Earrings - Turquois... RussellJewelry... $	Fused glass engrave... uniquenique $	Nuno Felted Silk Sa... realfaery $95.00
The White Bridge - ... thecyclingarti... $1420.00	Crazy Quilt Patch R... SewFineFashion... $19.00	Blue Christmas Cat ... SuzyJaneB $17.50

Generated using Treasury HTML code generator by Whale Shark Websites.

I am fortunate to have my work quite regularly included in some fabulous Etsy Treasuries. Of course there are naturally some that I prefer more than others but I always appreciate the time and effort that people have put into them in order to give my art a little extra exposure.
I have often posted these treasuries here on my blog so that I can return the favour and showcase the work of other Etsy artists. With the onset of Christmas and the holiday season I have pretty much received an e-mail every day or two day telling me that my work has been included in one treasury or another and obviously I cannot post them all here without it getting boring! Therefore I decided to pick one of my recent favourites and try out the new Treasury HTML generator tool. Please feel free to click away and check out the gorgeous items in this stunning  blue and purple treasury and then check out some of the others where my work has been featured below.
Oh, and which is my piece in this particular treasury? The little blue Treasure Box, featured above, in the middle of the top row.

Under 20 Last Minute G I R L G I F T S !!!
Presents for women who celebrate life
Tag your gift
An Expats' Christmas... Where Will Your Heart Be?
Stalking the Mailman
Let's Hear It For Etsy Expats!
Looking Forward to 2011
and finally, another beautifully curated one and a particular favourite of mine, My first time

So, did you spot all my pieces?

Chanukah Latkes

Today is the last day of Chanukah. We lit the eighth candle on our Chanukiah last night and now the kid's bags are being packed for school tomorrow. It's always a little sad to have the end of a holiday in sight but, no matter, we have once again had an amazing week travelling a little around Israel, opening presents after candle lighting each evening, eating delicious doughnuts and latkes and generally having lots of fun. Once the kids are back at school I intend to show you photos from our various trips. In the meantime, here are the courgette (or zucchini) latkes I made and the recipe too.

Bon appetit, or as we say in Hebrew, b'tayavon!

Ingredients

3 medium zucchini, shredded

1 teaspoon salt, divided
2 eggs, beaten
1 small onion, grated
1/4 cup matzo meal or dry bread crumbs
1/8 teaspoon pepper
Oil for frying
Sour cream, optional

Directions
In a large bowl, toss zucchini and 1/2 teaspoon salt; let stand for 10 minutes. Squeeze zucchini dry. Stir in the eggs, onion, matzo meal, pepper and remaining salt.

In a large skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Drop batter by tablespoonfuls into oil; press lightly to flatten. Fry for 2 minutes on each side or until golden brown. Serve with sour cream if desired. Yield: 16 latkes.

Of course, whilst I have been running around enjoying myself, others have been hard at work creating some gorgeous Etsy Treasuries. I am very pleased to see my cards and pictures popping up all over the place and my Jewish Boy's Treasure Box is no exception. Here it is, above, top row, second from the left, amongst a great collection of Chanukah goodies. I am sure that there was some very successful 'Chanukah Shopping' done on Etsy this year.

10+10

Whilst we're on the subject of tenth birthdays, two of my friend's daughters also turned 10 around the same time as my son and I was asked to make cards for them both. I can't quite believe that these kids are getting so big, though I really shouldn't be surprised since I have 'tracked' their development with my card making each year!
I am pleased to say that both of these girls are pretty keen on my work. I know that the young lady illustrated above collects my cards from year to year, whilst the blonde ballerina, her Mum told me, even put in a specific request as to what should be on this years birthday card!
For the card above I was asked to show a happy, smiling young lady reading a book. She had to be wearing hoop earrings and, to get specific, her hairstyle had changed slightly since last year and I was to add a little fringe. Her Mum excitedly told me that "T. *loved* the card". I am sure that it has been added to her small collection and hope that I will be able to add to it year after year for many years to come.

The young ballerina had asked to be shown doing a jete. Being a Mum to two boys who play football and go to Tae Kwon Do rather than dance classes, I had to look it up! Now I know that a jete is a leap in ballet in which one leg is extended forward and the other backward. Even though the birthday girl had specified what should be on the card, I hope that she was still pleased with it and enjoyed seeing her paper self jete-ing away.

The Jewish holiday of Chanukah is approaching and now is the time to purchase some cards and pop them in the post to your friends and relatives who may not live close by. My cards, showing the dreidel, a four sided spinning top with a different Hebrew letter on each side which children play with at Hanukkah, are in my shop now. For those of us here in Israel, I also have cards with the fourth side of the dreidel inscribed with the letter פ (Pe) - "A great miracle happened here" rather than 'there'.

My Chanukah cards have already appeared amongst a nice collection of Chanukah goodies, many of which are currently being promoted in The Miracles of Hanukkah Sale, details of which you can find here. You can see my cards above and in the Etsy Treasury below, top row on the right.Finally, Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, may have been and gone but my cards recently made a fresh appearance in a very sweet treasury titled 'A Bowl of Apples'. I loved the colours in this one and was happy to see my own apple cards, bottom row on the right, make one last appearance for this calendar year.

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Update - My Chanukah cards have appeared in another lovely Treasury of gift ideas for Chanukah. Please check it out here.

Something Sweet

Not too long ago we observed the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur with a day of fasting and intensive prayer. Most of my day was spent in the synagogue but a little preparation before sundown, when the fast began, meant that my husband and I had something sweet to enjoy once the fast was out after the Ne'ilah (the closing prayer) service the following evening. I have blogged about these delicious cookies before, yet each and every time I make them I think of the girls at 'A Spoonful of Sugar' and silently thank them for posting such a fabulous recipe. Above you can see a sneak peak of a new design for my handmade card range. Bird icons seem to cross the age barrier and appeal to many people, myself included. This sweet and simple design came together very easily and I can see myself repeating it over and over again in many wonderful colour combinations. Lastly, I'm delighted to show you a couple more treasuries which feature some of my items. Above, middle row on the right, is a pack of my pink and blue New Baby Cards in amongst a delightful collection of fairy items. Below, second from the left in the middle row, my Little Penguin Papercut Picture, which I have just renewed in my shop. As always, a very big thank you to the lovely folk who have selected my pieces for their treasury collections. With so much to choose from in the world of Etsy, it is always a great thrill to discover that my work has caught someone's eye.

A Well-Received Gift

Back in July I mentioned that my father-in-law was celebrating a significant birthday. I popped a card into the post for him but, since we were travelling to the UK later in the summer to join in with his birthday celebrations, I still had a little time to think of a suitable present. My husband is next to useless when it comes to gift ideas and frankly I was finding it hard to think of a good present for an eighty year old myself. A quick e-mail to my sister-in-law solved the problem though. When I asked her if she had any suggestions, she pointed out to me that I could make the perfect gift myself! "What about doing him one of your albums, then on his birthday lunch people could write in it and we could put in photos?" she said. Bingo! An album it was then.My husband provided me with a list of all his father's hobbies and interests and the album cover came together quite easily. My father-in-law is a retired lighting engineer, thus the light bulb and electronic equipment. He enjoys going to the theatre and pottering around on his computer. Both my own Dad and Dad-in-law are really very good at DIY - very useful when they come to visit for sure - so I added a few tools into the picture. The Jewish religion plays an important part in my father-in-law's life, so a Magen David, or Star of David, the generally recognized symbol of Jewish identity and Judaism, was included. He is also a keen Bridge player, hence the symbols of the four playing card suits - hearts, spades, diamonds and clubs. Inside I layed out some family photos. I was able to include a nice variety and decorated them with various papercut illustrations, depending on what each photo showed the family doing. On the first page of the album, above, I added a photo of my husband and I with our two boys and wrote a short message of congratulations from us all.
The album was almost forgotten about on the day of the celebration but I noticed it sitting on the bottom step of the stairs during lunch and my husband quickly encouraged the first few guests to get writing.
It would be pushing it to say that my father-in-law and I are in regular e-mail communication, yet on our return to Israel I received the following message from him:
"I must thank you for the lovely album you made with its thoughtful symbols on the front which reflect my interests and pastimes. I shall always treasure it and the comments that my friends and relatives wrote."
I think he liked his birthday gift.
The Etsy Treasury Gods have been smiling upon me once again. This time a set of my Bar Mitzvah and Bat Mitzvah cards, above, bottom row in the centre, were included in a lovely Judaica collection, whilst my Jewish Boy's Treasure Box, below, top right, made it into a predominantly blue themed compilation. Thank you for making room for it Rachel at Swirsky Designs. All these items and more are of course currently available in my shop.

The Princess and the... Teddy Bear

The day after we got back from our summer holiday I had a phone call from a friend. She always tries to send my customised cards to her family in Australia on their birthdays but hadn't thought to ask me to prepare some before I went away. "So", she asked, "Could I please make her two customised cards, like, now?". I wasn't really back in the swing of things yet but I aim to please! A "girly, princessy" type card was requested for her two year old niece. I depicted the dark-haired little girl wearing a golden crown and sitting in a party dress, holding a big cupcake with a number 2 candle on it. Girly enough?
My friend's nephew was also due to celebrate his birthday. The three year old is into diggers and cars and has a huge brown teddy bear in his bedroom, of which I have seen photographs of him sitting cuddled up against. I think I included everything on his card, below!

Whilst I was away my blog was awarded the “I ♥ Your Blog” award by JCB Design Studio. It's always nice to know that others are enjoying your blog. I know how much I love writing it, but how great is it to know that others are keen to read it and love it too! Thanks so much for presenting it to me, JCB!

I have received so much exposure lately from kind people including my pieces in their Etsy Treasuries that frankly I cannot keep up with them all! It has been wonderful to be included in so many of them and additionally, they have displayed so many different pieces of my work. The two examples below show my Penguin Papercut Picture, middle row on the left, and underneath that one, one of my Treasure Boxes, bottom row on the right.

Now could someone please make the Sales Fairy convert all these Treasury appearances into some Etsy sales please ;)

Rosh Hashanah 5771

On Wednesday evening my family and I will begin celebrating the two-day holiday of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. Rosh Hashanah is the first of the High Holidays, the most solemn days of the Jewish year, which conclude with the holiday of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.
Members of the EtsyChai team have been busy creating some beautiful items for the holiday - a holiday which sees us eating apples and honey to represent the sweetness of the new year - and I was delighted to see one of my Rosh Hashanah card sets included in a recent treasury (below).
I would like to wish all my Jewish customers and friends a very happy, healthy and successful new year - 'Shana Tova U’Metuka' ("May you have a happy and sweet year").

How Much Is That Doggie In The Window?

I have already described here and here the customised cards I was commissioned to create for a family of boys, the three sons and husband of a good friend currently living away from Israel. Finally it was recently the middle boy's birthday and my friend let me know that she had given her son his card.
His brothers love playing football and painting, cutting and gluing respectively, but for this card I was asked to illustrate the birthday boy with a dog. Apparently he loves playing with dogs and really wants one of his own. That wish has yet to come true but in the meantime he loved his card and "everyone around thought it was beautiful too!".
Below you can see the cards for the entire family, now all distributed on the corresponding birthdays. I am looking forward to making another set next year, once my friend has decided what the current favourite hobbies and activities are.
My Etsy Treasury luck continues and this time my Purple Cupcake Notebook, middle row on the left, made it in to a lovely purple collection titled 'Softness'. It proved to have been a lucky treasury because I am pleased to say that the notebook was purchased this week and is currently winging its way to Beverly Hills!

One more post before I go! I have pretty much managed to finish off everything that I needed to do and now, with just a few days to go before we head off, I intend to start thinking about our trip and what we need to take with us.

Eighty

My father-in-law recently celebrated a significant birthday. I make no secret of the fact that I find cards for men just a little bit challenging, and cards for older men even more so. This card came together quite nicely though and I was pleased with the end result, even if no mention has been of it at all since I mailed it!

Whilst I appreciate that most 80 year-olds do not celebrate their birthdays with a cake and balloons, those items seemed to fit the bill and allowed me to get the number eighty clearly into the picture. Who doesn't like a big chocolate cake with candles anyway?

Once again I am pleased to be able to display another lovely Etsy Treasury which included a piece of mine. My Penguin Papercut Picture can be seen in great company on the top row, second from the left. Blue and silver is a great combination and one that you can hardly go wrong with. Whilst my penguin doesn't actually have any silver within it's frame, several shades of blue make up the penguin's pool and it was great that the picture measured up anyway.

We will be travelling abroad soon, visiting the extended family in the UK, and so I am currently really busy completing orders and creating cards for Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, which will be pretty much upon us by the time we get back and the kids return to school. I am enjoying the rush though and am pleased to say that I will have tons to show you here over the next few weeks. Heck, I might even get clever and try and schedule a few posts whilst I am away! What do you think?

Elton hadn't cancelled

My boys finished school today for two whole months. Here in Israel the summer holidays are known as the Hofesh HaGadol (literally meaning "the big holiday"), and by some parents as the Onesh HaGadol ("the big punishment"!). I am quite happy with the idea that we don't have to wake up at 6:30am in time for school for a while, though the boy's presence at home does have quite a dramatic effect on my ability to craft! I'm pleased to say that I have quite a backlog of handcrafted paper goodies to show you though, so there won't be a lack of blog posts, even if there is a lack of work going on! Last month the husband of one of my regular customers celebrated his birthday. He is the Marketing Director at Strauss Group Ltd., the second largest food and beverages company in Israel. The company was about to unveil a 3D advertisement for the Milky 3 chocolate pudding, the first ever 3D commercial to be broadcast on Israeli television. It seems that the birthday boy was quite excited about this new advert and very specific requests were made about his card (above). I had to show his kids wearing their red and blue 3D glasses, awaiting the new advert. In the middle I created a paper version of the Milky pudding itself, and the kids are armed with a spoon, ready to dig in. Because the recipient of the card is the Marketing Director of the company in question, I decided that for once there would be no problem with me using their logo in my design! Above and below you can see yet more treasuries that I have been fortunate enough to have had my work included in. Both show different sets of my Bar and Bat Mitzvah cards, above, top right, and below, middle row on the left. The Bar Mitzvah cards below in fact appeared in no less than three treasuries recently! It is very nice to receive that little bit of recognition and the extra publicity that comes with it. Both of these card sets are available in my shop.
Finally, nothing to do with the arts and crafts world, but exciting all the same. Look who I went to see in concert a few days ago! Sir Elton John had been lobbied not to appear in Israel but I am happy to say that he didn't let down his fans. “Shalom, we are so happy to be back here! Ain’t nothing gonna stop us from coming, baby! ” he declared to 50,000 fans at the Ramat Gan stadium near Tel Aviv. The show was a great success. Sir Elton entertained us with many of his greatest hits. We sang. We danced. A great night was had by all. Elton had actually turned up, something of a novelty in the last few weeks, following a string of politically inspired cancellations. "Musicians spread love and peace, and bring people together." he said. " That's what we do. We don't cherry-pick our conscience."

Monkey Business

I am fortunate that my little business keeps on ticking over nicely. Though my Etsy shop serves me well as an online gallery for my work, it must develop a little more for me to be able to rely on it alone. Therefore I was delighted when I recently received a convo from a prospective customer with an enquiry about my Monkey Papercut Picture.
The customer wrote to tell me that she had recently moved house and was in the process of decorating her children's bathroom "in all things monkey". She had decided that my papercut picture would look cute hanging in there but wanted to know if I would consider changing my colour scheme a little to the same colours as the monkeys that she already had in the bathroom. She even provided me with a link so that I could see what colours her monkeys were!
Tweaking the colours of my artwork a little was of course not a problem for me, and I even adapted the style of some of the leaves to match too. My customer wrote to tell me that she loved the picture and I assume that by now it has been hung in it's new home, amongst all the other monkey paraphernalia in her kids' bathroom!
A few posts back I mentioned that I have been fortunate enough to have had my work included in quite a number of Etsy Treasuries recently. Without wishing to fill up this blog with too many treasury screenshots, but all the same being thrilled to have my work included in them, I will display just a couple more for now. Below, you can see the very first appearance in a treasury of my Jewish Boy's Treasure Box, middle row, second right, and below that, my Purple Cupcake Notebook, bottom row, second from the left. With so much to choose from in the world of Etsy it is always a great thrill to discover that my work has been picked out for inclusion in a treasury. For those of you doing a little shopping whilst browsing those treasuries, both of these items are currently available in my Etsy Shop.