Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Pressed Flowers For Hearts And Crafts

Every morning as I turn the pages of my Bible, years of sweet memories come flooding back. I see little hands that I love, filled with wildflowers from a nature walk. Roses, lilacs and daisies from the many special moments spent with my husband. You see, the pages of my Bible are sprinkled with beautiful, colorful pressed flowers and petals that have captured time and become treasures in my heart.

When I press flowers between the pages of my Bible they are precious reminders that will stay there forever, and it doesn't matter how long it takes them to dry. But pressed flowers have many uses in the craft world, and sometimes you need them in a jiffy! For this week's project, I will be using the Microfleur Flower Press and my microwave to press lovely flowers from our yard. I will be using these pressed flowers in future projects like paper making, card making, and maybe even framed, pressed flower art.
There are several ways to press flowers. Placing them between the pages of a heavy book is probably the simplest, most popular way, but it can take weeks. The Microfleur Flower Press takes seconds in your microwave - that can vary a bit based on the power of your microwave and the moisture and thickness of your flowers, but still, it's darn quick. This method also tends to retain the color of flower longer.

If a Microfleur Flower Press is not in your budget right now (available from http://arnoldgrummer.com they're about $24.95 to $42.00 depending on size), I have read you can use two microwave safe plates, paper towels and blotting paper with fairly good results, though I have not tried it myself.
So over the next few days look a little more closely at the flowers around you - they're beautiful, and begging to be pressed into forever!
Many Blessings,
Jana : )