In a few weeks, Baha’is around the world celebrate Ayyam-i-Ha which is a time of bringing cheer to others, visiting the poor and needy and giving gifts.  One of the ways I like to celebrate is by giving Ayyam-i-Ha cards to show my love for my friends and family.  Each card is hand-made using beautiful Japanese paper and come in a set of 5 cards with gold envelopes.  The cards also come in a lovely gold cloth bag to adorn them.  I will be making sets of them soon and will be sending out orders in about a week.  Here is the link to view the cards.  Enjoy!

I recently blogged about a bazaar I will be participating in on November 27 at Western Academy of Beijing.  Each day I’ve been making new cards for the bazaar (each one is unique) so there is a wider selection to choose from.  A few days ago, I set up a mock table in our home and designed what it would look like for the bazaar.  I’ve been thinking a lot about presentation and I wanted the table decoration to be as beautiful as the cards themselves. Here are some photos I’ve taken of the table and the cards.  Hope to see you there!

I’m excited to participate in a bazaar at the end of this month.  There will be many different booths selling a variety of gifts for Christmas and New Year.  Last year when I attended the WAB bazaar, I felt inspired and also a little left out and was hoping I’d have an opportunity to have my own booth the following year.  The opportunity has arrived and it hasn’t come without some trepidation.  It’s the first time I’ve had my own table  and I’m not sure how people will respond to the products.  I’ll be selling our Birds of love gift sets (we’ll have a discount special on them) as well as a variety of specialty cards. I have printed a selection of photographs that I’ve taken of flowers from around the world and have made a lot of hand-painted cards using a special technique that I created to make them.  They are all unique as each little painting comes out quite differently.  Here are a few photos of the cards that will be at the booth. Wish me luck!

Today I had a great time making the finishing touches on 3 of the handmade cards for orders I received for the Birds of Love limited edition. Creating the specialty cards for the limited edition has truly been a joy. The process is an exciting and lengthy one as I make them from scratch. Each card is unique as there are no two that are alike. I never know what it will look like till the end so I enjoy the process of discovering how the creation will unfold. I use a simple technique with paint to make them and once they’re dry I mount them on gold paper with a quote from Abdu’l-Baha from the Birds of Love book. The quote is: ‘What a power is love! It is the most wonderful, the greatest of all living powers.’ What inspires me is beauty and adorning these precious words with dignity so I wanted the cards to be unique in their style and design. Here is a photo of a few of them that I sent out today for someone who plans on giving the Birds of Love gift set to his wife on their 30th anniversary! For more info on the limited edition click on this link.