Card: Rosh Hashana - Wings of Shekinah

Inspiration:  Almost 10 years ago, I took a short Hebrew Calligraphy course at the local synogague.  At the end of the course, we were supposed to come up with a project using calligraphy.  I'd always liked "B'ruchot Habaot" from Debbie Friedman's And You Shall Be a Blessing album.  While the imagery of the Shekinah is often a bird or a floating bride, I decided to use a butterfly.

How I Make Them:  I made a small circle template with slots that I use to get the earth centered and to space out the hebrew words for peace (Shalom) and love (Ahava) around it.  I do all the calligraphy first, starting with peace and love around the earth and then the feminine (on the right side) and masculine (on the left side) versions of the prayer on either side of the wings.  I usually do the prayer in a brown or gold ink color and peace/love around the earth in black.  Then I use colored pencils to color in the earth (free-hand style on the continents though sometimes they don't always look like we know them to be).  Then I finish by drawing the outline of the butterfly with colored pencils and then color in the body and wings.  I typically use the yellow and orange for the wings shown here.  I also color some sky blue in the areas that would otherwise be white on the card.  On the inside of the card, I write the English translation "May be you blessed beneath the wings of Shechina."

Alternatives:

• I've used this card for much more than Rosh Hashana.  It's sentiment is very appropriate as a condolence or get well card too.
• I've also made larger versions that I've framed. 

Links:

• Lyrics - 1st song on the left hand side
• Listen/Buy the song on iTunes
• Amazon - you can preview the song here