Tamar and Eilon

Tamar recently celebrated her Bat Mitzvah and her mum asked me to make a special card for her, just as I did for her big sisters Yaara and Maayan in 2018 and 2020 respectively. 

Tamar loves playing board and card games, listening to music on her headphones, strawberries and pizza, mum told me. She is also in a drama club. Apparently she always does the "V" for "victory" hand gesture in photos too! Finally, Snowy the dog, who has already appeared in a couple of the family's cards, had to be included as well.

I showed Tamar wearing her white headphones. Behind her is a stage with red curtains. I cut out some tiny strawberries and a slice of pizza and added some games too. Snowy is sitting next to Tamar. Instead of a greeting on the front of the card, her mum asked me to add a number 12 to mark Tamar's age.

Mum said the card was "absolutely gorgeous - thank you!"

Eilon was turning 9. His mum told me that he loves playing PlayStation, so she thought I could show him with his black and white controller. In the background I added two of his favourite books from the series 'Diary of a Wimpy Kid' in Hebrew, or Yomano Shel Hanun. Eilon also loves milk chocolate M&M's, so I popped a packet in the background as well. A big number 9 marks his age.

Mum sent me this gorgeous photo of Eilon with his birthday card. "Another great success!" she wrote "And by chance he's wearing the same shirt!".

* This post has been shared on The Good. The Random. The Fun. and Wonderful Wednesday Blog Hop.

Recipe Cards

The very talented Ella of Ella Bakes got in touch. She had an idea that she wanted to discuss with me. Her sister was moving out and she wanted to get her some baking items and write her a recipe card for several favourite recipes. She wanted to know if I could make the blank cards for her to write each recipe on. 

She had ideas of me decorating each card with a little paper version of each of the baked goods she was writing the recipe for. She was happy for me to come up with a suitable design. "I just want them to be beautiful and I know that's what you do!" she wrote 😊. There were to be seven cards, each one A5 (148 x 210mm) in size.

The first card I put together was for challah, the plaited bread typically eaten on Shabbat and Jewish holidays. I made my own little paper versions, adding little packets of yeast and flour and some eggs to the design.

Next up was Rocky Road, which I believe is similar to the Tiffin Cake that I love to make. This time I cut out a teeny tiny chocolate bar and some marshmallows, then created some yummy looking pieces of the milk chocolate, biscuit and marshmallow filled treat.

Ella wanted to share with her sister how to make the very best chocolate chip cookies. I crafted some tiny cookies and added a wooden spoon, spatula and an oven glove to the design. The cookies looked good enough to eat!

Next came brownies, those moist and gooey baked treats! I created a paper version of the square cookie (the brownie is classified as a bar cookie rather than a cake) and added a whole tray of it too. Some chocolate squares added the finishing touch.

Pizza was also on Ella's list. I had fun creating some paper versions of the Italian dish, adding toppings of cheese, tomatoes and pepper. I had the most fun creating this tiny pizza cutter, below.

The last two recipe cards were for Amsterdam cookies and crêpes. I initially thought that Amsterdam cookies were somewhat illicit but it turned out that I had got it all wrong! They are actually stuffed cookies with a surprise nugget of white chocolate hidden inside. These cookies are best enjoyed warm while the centres are still melty. Yum! I added the flag of Amsterdam to this recipe card. It depicts three Saint Andrew's Crosses and is based on the escutcheon in the coat of arms of Amsterdam.

The recipe card for crêpes, below, showed a triangular folded version of the pancake-like pastry drizzled with chocolate. I added a mini frying pan, eggs and flour, just some of the ingredients needed for these delicious thin treats.

Ella was very excited to see the finished cards. I was concerned that all the little paper creations might not be so suitable for kitchen use, but she said that she didn't mind the cards looking worn after time, it shows that they're loved! In the meantime she is going to put them into clear plastic wallets, in a binder, so that they can be taken out and admired.

"They look amazing. Thank you so much!" she wrote to me. I hope that her sister enjoys using each card. So much love went into them!

* This post has been shared on The Good. The Random. The Fun., Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday), Inspire Me Monday, Handmade Monday, Craftastic Monday at Sew Can Do, Party In Your PJ's and The Happy Now Blog Link-Up.

Gavriel's Album

Gavriel celebrated his Bar Mitzvah in March and his mum asked me to make him an album. She told me that her son plays the guitar, loves computer games and that his favourite colour is green. He likes reading - especially Harry Potter - and his favourite food is pizza and chips. Gavriel and his mum had spotted Daniel's album here on my blog and asked me if I could show Gavriel in the same camouflage print T-shirt and wearing tefillin.

I have shown Gavriel playing his guitar and wearing the requested tefillin, which Jewish men start to wear around the time of their Bar Mitzvah. Tefillin (sometimes called phylacteries) are cubic black leather boxes containing four hand-written texts from the Bible, with leather straps that are worn on the head and arm during weekday morning prayers. Gavriel is left handed, so he is wearing them on the bicep of his right arm and on his head, with the two leather straps hanging down over his shoulders.

I included a laptop computer on the cover of the album to represent Gavriel's love of computer games and added the covers of two of his favourite Harry Potter books as well. His favourite pizza and chips are there too.

The colour scheme for the Bar Mitzvah was green and navy so I added a navy background and a green border around the cover of the album. The gold lettering says Gavriel's Bar Mitzvah and the Hebrew date of the celebration in both English and Hebrew.

I decorated five pages inside the album. The first page shows Gavriel's guitar once again, followed by a laptop computer, then some tiny chips in a red takeaway box and a slice of cheese and tomato pizza. A page featured Gavriel's Bar Mitzvah logo, which was based on the Magen David or Star of David. Finally, the last page shows the Sorting Hat, the sentient hat at Hogwarts that magically determines which of the four school Houses each new student belongs most to. I also included a wand and the covers of Gavriel's two favourite Harry Potter books once again.

Gavriel's mum seemed delighted with the album when she collected it and I was thrilled to receive the fabulous photo of him proudly showing it off, top. "He is so happy with it! And I absolutely love it!" mum wrote to me.
If you too would like an album, please take a look at the listing for it in my shop then get in touch to order a wonderful keepsake of your special occasion.

* This post has been shared on Happiness is Homemade, Inspire Me Monday, The Good. The Random. The Fun., My Corner of the World and Craft Schooling Sunday.