Personalized Bat Mitzvah Collage

Recently I worked on another personalized Bat Mitzvah collage (for an event coming up in a few weeks) similar to the one posted here. It's a very special keepsake that measures 32x40", made up of personalized photos and memorabilia. Its displayed at the Bat Mitzvah celebration for guests to enjoy and preserved in a large custom made shadow box. The theme for this celebration is different shades of purple with a splash of zebra print. It's always so fun to make these keepsakes, they tell a big story and there's so much to look at, you'll never get bored! Also, this type of collage can be made for ANY occasion! The sky's the limit! xo

A few close-ups...

Photos taken by; Wahkuna

The Pen Pal Project (Post #1)

pen pal 

–noun
1. a person with whom one keeps up an exchange of letters, usually someone so far away that a personal meeting is unlikely
2. Also called: pen friend  a person with whom one regularly exchanges letters, often a person in another country whom one has not met
 
Origin:
1935–40, Americanism

A few weeks back, while hanging out around the apartment, my mind started to wander and I began to think about communication outside the realm of the web. How did we get by without it? How did our lives function from day to day...there was no email, no social networks and definitely no websites. How did we send information, give information, look-up information?!? Dare I even utter the words; fax machine, phone book and yellow pages! These once daily necessities, seem so foreign now in a world where we don't even have to memorize important phone numbers because our cell phones do it for us, almost instantly. What happen to the simple days, when you had to stop at a pay phone to make a call, or reach out to a close friend via written letters. It's called personal communication, the type of interaction we once had, but seem to have lost, almost completely. The saddest part of it all, is that we are also losing the last generation that still holds onto most of the simple ideas...our grandparents.

This is when I got the idea of having a pen pal. I always wanted one when I was younger, but never had the chance. As fate would have it, I was visiting my favorite blog one day and the post was about her pen pal and being paired up with one if interested. I was delighted, it was like a dream come true-someone heard my thoughts, AMAZING! So naturally I jumped at the chance and now I'm officially a pen pal! I just received my "welcome" note from the creator, with an envelope and my pen friend's address. Its so exciting to get personal mail, other than bills or advertisements. It's refreshing, a personal note that's tangible, with their handwriting (which can tell you so much about a person). There's something about the "real thing" that all the advanced technology in the world can't replace! I'd rather sit with a friend in a cafe catching up over a cup of hot tea (since I don't drink coffee), than meet them on the web for a video chat, its impersonal and still makes you feel far away from each other.

So I'm very excited to send the first introduction letter to my pen pal, soon. I hope that we can become great friends, learn about each other's lives, share in wonderful experiences and keep a tiny part of those simpler days with us...for a long, long time.

Do any of you have or have had a pen pal? If so, I would love to hear about your experience! Don't be shy...introduce yourself!

Handmade Gift Giving!

It's THAT time of year again...when all we think about is spending time with family, enjoying the holiday cheer and giving gifts to the ones we love! It seems like such a magical time... and everyone is usually in a great mood because the Holidays are here!


Over the past couple years gift giving has become so much more important to me, especially when it's something handmade...something that you're giving from the heart, which you probably put all your heart into making! I feel that it's so much more meaningful when you put a lot of thought and effort into ones gift...it's not just slapped together, or given with little thought. I like to cherish every moment of the gift making process and in the end the gratitude and warmth that you feel from that person makes it all worth while!


Speaking of gift giving...there's been A LOT of baby showers at my job lately. It seems like everyone's been struck by baby fever! (Hopefully I won't get hit with that anytime soon...cause we are just not ready yet!). But babies are so sweet and so cute, how can you not LOVE these celebrations?!? I recently made a personalized frame for a woman at work who's having a baby boy. She's Israeli and so I wanted to incorporate part of her culture to make it personal. This frame includes the baby's name and then the Hebrew interpretation with the meaning. It was definitely a one of a kind gift. Take a look;

I was able to creat this frame fairly quickly, in a couple hours. It was a great addition to the 2 outfits she recieved as well. I can't wait to welcome little baby Ben into the world very soon!

Then there's the gifts that take us a while to complete. There's always some. While I was living in Jersey City, my neighbors had a little baby boy, and for the wife's birthday her husband bought a sweet keepsake box to put the son's first piece of hair (from his first haircut) and his first tooth, to always remember. The gift was wonderful, but he felt like something was missing...some added interest...which it was lacking since it was just a plain white box. So he asked me to do something with it, to make it more eye catching. I took on the challenge, knowing that I could do something with it to make this keepsake one they will always cherish. Of course with all the moving I've done this year, it took a while to complete the job, but it's finally finished! All it took was some cute patterned paper (making memories), a rub-on, a few buttons (making memories) and a ribbon to tie it all together! The outcome was great! The box looked so cute and definitely stands out. It was so simple to do and has so much more meaning... Enjoy!! :-)