celebrate Make-Up Artist a guide to simchahs A Professional, Skillful, and Experienced Makeup Artist For All Occasions (Octit/ SfeCiat ex)eiib wdZ Lab c& cia", 644 th.e,f d-Loecd, ea46 a, ez(reht.i.ei 0604,6ea.4x Cosmetics and Accessories PHOTOS BY: COLLECTIVE IMAGE PHOTOGRAPHY continued from page C24 Alec, Blake, Drew and Shane Levine at Drew's bar mitzvah celebration. 248-798-9888 Salon Edge 6595 Orchard Lake Road I West Bloomfield msrsalon@aol.com -or I ne Boys Rabbi for Weddings f ,Xecmai Collection Of Day into Evening For all Your Special Occasions BEST OF on the Boardwalk 248.932.5253 HOUR 1 .,81 .1 0 Lhipdsksty Feature your business with HipCityDeals to acquire quality and eager new customers via our highly-targeted marketing. By running an offer with HipCityDeals, your promotion will be e-mailed to thousands of loyal subscribers who will read about your offer, visit your website, share your business with their friends and follow you on social networks like Twitter and Facebook. C 2 6 celebrate! I March 2015 For each of her four sons' b'nai mitz- vah, Cindy Levine completed one significant component of her work before anyone even got official word of the milestone. "I made invitations for each bar mitzvah boy," she said of her sons, Blake, 23, Alec, 20, Shane, 18, and Drew, 14. "I love the idea of making some- thing original and creative; the invita- tions allowed me to do that." "The first was a Torah," Levine said. "I painted wood dowels a sparkly-gold color, then printed Hebrew-style English font on a gold- flecked fabric. I attached the fabric to the dowels and rolled it up like a Torah. I tied it with a ribbon that had a gold Jewish star charm attached. I then mailed or hand delivered them in gold tubes. "The second was a tallit. I printed the same font on a gold-flecked antique-looking fabric and glued white fringe onto each end so it looked just like a small tallit." Shane's invitation depicted a mezuzah. "I printed the Hebrew-style font on a beautiful, shiny, iridescent card stock," said Levine, who lives in Franklin. "I then rolled it up, tied it with a gold ribbon and placed it in a long, shiny, gold jewelry box lined with navy blue felt. Then I decorated the box with a blue, velvet ribbon and a star made out of Shrinky Dinks on top of a faux, gold leather star." For Drew, she began with a blue star. "I placed a shiny, white card stock printed in the Hebrew font and cut into a hexagram inside," she said. "Then I folded each point toward the middle and placed a Jewish star stick- er in the center to hold it closed." Levine, who holds a degree in spe- cial education along with an M.S.W., and now work as a yoga teacher, said, "It was very time consuming, but I involved my kids in the project as well. I love a challenge, and I also love the uniqueness of a handmade invitation." She also said she loves other cre- ative projects, including those that involve knitting, and took on more of them in advance of each bar mitzvah. "I made kippahs for the bar mitzvah boy and guests for the first three," she said. "My friend Perri Rosen's mom, Nora Kanat Stone who lives in West Bloomfield, taught me to crochet." And Levine made a tallit for each of her sons who store them in tal- lit bags needlepointed by her mom, Ilene Gittleman of West Bloomfield. "The tallit were definitely challeng- ing, but came out so beautiful," she said. "I get into a zone when I'm doing these things," said Levine, whose husband is Bruce. "It's like a medita- tion for me." The atarahs (neckbands) were done with tiny Japanese beads, called deli- cas and took about nine-12 months to make. She made them after teach- ing herself to use a Japanese bead loom. "The kids enjoyed watching the progress each day, and they chose the patterns they wanted," Levine said. "It was a great feeling of accom- plishment when the fourth one was completed and the boys were all on the bimah together, (each) in their tallit." ❑ Drew displays his tallit and tallit bag.