The Lily Pond

The Lily Pond

by W. Ashburner, 1882-1932

Painting Description: Wearing a long blue gown, and holding up one side of the hem, a woman stands the lowest step in front of a lily pond. Her dress is adorned with a white shawl-collar, edged  in a wide ruffle on the shoulders. The collar is tied in the front at the waist. The curved stone stair step leads behind her through a gate opening, and the entire background of the painting consists of foliage with dark pink flowers. The water shows a slight blue reflection of the gown, as the woman casts her glance downward to see the lilies.

Here are a couple of ways to create home made cards and letter-writing materials:

To make these you will need some pages from a daily removeable page picture calendar, some heavy paper or card weight paper, scissors and glue.  Match up the pictures to the card and glue in place.

Since the inside is blank, write on it as though you were writing a letter, and use the back, too. Or, just stamp your greeting, if you have one, that fits the occasion.

Using decorated stationery might develop your interest in writing letters.

Decorate blank paper to make special writing paper by rubber stamping various areas around the paper, and then placing a ruler on the straight edge of the paper. Draw lines with co-ordinating crayon or special pens just to join the images, like this:

It nicely frames your letter with a lovely border.

Friendship Letter Book

There are probably many people who feel, after writing a letter to their mother, or a friend, that they have written a novel. This is a sample of a "letter book" that is made of simple construction paper from the dollar store, which fits inside of an envelope, and can be mailed.

The pages are stitched on the sewing machine. The rose is cut out of tissue wrapping paper, and glazed with a glitter glue, using a brush. The clip art is just made from things around the house.

It fits inside a large card envelope. If you do one of these, remember to cut your pages about adequately smaller than the envelope, or it will not fit.

I was enjoying a new magazine that came in the mail today and I thought, "Wouldn't it be nice if I could get a magazine that had only the things I liked, in it?" This is a way of sending someone a personal magazine, without the ads, and with only the things that are pretty and suit her. Pages 1 and 2 are like the letter from the editor in some magazines. The white rose with the sparkle on it came off a gift bag, and the clipping of flowers from a used calendar page.

Page 2 was kept blank until the entire booklet was completed, so that it could be used as a table of contents. The clipping on page 3 is from the Victoria magazine subscription card that always comes in the mail or in the magazine. The picture is too pretty to throw away and also makes a great card when pasted on cardstock.

Page four has a little pocket for a tea bag. Bigelow English Breakfast is now making pink tea wrappers in a pink box, available in local grocery stores.

Page 6 and 7 has hand drawings and more construction paper is torn to look like parchment, for a handwritten verse, which is sprayed with a scent.

Here is page 8 and 9. A small round doily is pasted down, and roses are cut from a seed catalog. Then, the doily is folded on each side, making it look like a lace holder. Just as I was finishing page 9, I spilled some water on the page, but after it dried, it looked okay. I guess I won't be drinking water while I work with paper.

Page 10 is a clipping I tore out of the same garden catolog.

Here is the back. Below is a template for pages, if you want to try it, but please keep in mind that my drawings are not accurate. These are about an eighth of an inch smaller all around, than the envelopes.

Dollar Tree has construction paper that contains very nice pastel colors. Construction paper is light weight, but be sure to have your letter weighed at the post office, before putting a stamp on it.