Slow Down with Snail Mail:

Create a card using colors pounded from flowers.

Letter writing is a bit of a lost art form today with text messages, email, and various online chats. I tend to have a swirl of insecurity around the idea of writing a letter, especially in my own handwriting. Where is spell check? How do I backspace?

I shall look to Edward Bok for encouragement. Since he was a boy, Edward Bok wrote letters to famous people asking questions in the hope of a reply. Of course he is also known for Bok Tower Gardens, and spreading the message his grandmother taught him,  to "Make the world a bit better or more beautiful."  It is in this very spirit I decided to make Grandpa Bob a card.  Edward Bok was an immigrant from the Netherlands with English as a second language and he wrote letters to Mark Twain and Theodore Roosevelt, I can make a joyful card for Grandpa Bob.

These are my sisters, Suzanne and Lisa, with my mom, "Mimi" and stepdad, "Grandpa Bob."

Mimi has passed on, and sometimes I still feel sad and miss her. I am sure Grandpa Bob misses her so so much. Whenever I see a Black Swallowtail butterfly, I think of my mother and the butterfly that emerged from its chrysalis in my kindergarten classroom on the day of her passing, and I feel happy.

My mother was a wonderful person who had a beautiful yard and planted so many flowers. I hope Grandpa Bob enjoys his card and time outside with the flowers and butterflies.

To make a card with pounded flower color :

1. Gather flowers and leaves and set up a workspace. You will need a hammer or stone that is easy to hold as well as cardboard to protect the floor. I set up my workspace inside because of the rain but it would be nice to do this outside on a sidewalk or patio.

2. Choose the paper you want to use. I often bring home pictures from Hammock Hollow Children's Garden to reuse and share with my worms. I found some lovely butterfly drawings and a cute picture of a man in a garden that made me think of Grandpa Bob.

3. Be sure you are working on a stack of cardboard. Place flowers on your paper, cover with another piece of scrap paper and pound lightly with a hammer or stone.

4. Keep working it. Move the flower mash around. Try rubbing it on the paper or pressing a ball of smashed flowers on to your paper like a stamp. 

Here are the pictures I may use for my card so far.

5. Save your scrap paper along with the pictures you are adding colors to so you can create a collage. A glue stick works well for this, or liquid glue thinned with a little water and applied with a brush. 

6. You can also cut out letters and other details to add to your card. It is a good idea to lay things out before you glue.  Be sure, if pieces overlap, to glue the ones closest to the card surface first, and then the next layer up and so one.

I saved my flower stained papers to make more cards for family and friends.

How about a butterfly bonus!?

Chicken Moe wants to know, where did these strange butterflies come from?

A fun flower pounding TP core butterfly project!

Just fold your paper in half to create a more symmetrical wing design. Use torn flower stained paper to decorate the TP core, cut out wings and glue to TP core. I used grapevine tendrils for the antenna, but you can make them from paper, or something else. Use your imagination and have fun. 

Thank you for making the world a bit better or more beautiful for a special person in your life. 

Keep spreading the love.

Check out these links to find out more about Edward Bok, his love of letter writing, and letters shared with Mr. Bok and his wife, Mary Louise Curtis.

Bok Tower Gardens Digital Archives

Excerpt from "The Americanization of Edward Bok," Personality Letters.