Pressed Flowers

When I was young, I loved to walk around our house clipping my mom's beautiful flowers for my flower press. I would lay the flowers out between pieces of paper and cardboard and screw my press together tight...and then impatiently wait for 2 weeks to see the magical creations. Sometimes they turned out great, other times they were a little moldy or brown. Now, my press is packed in some random box at my parent's house. I hadn't used or even thought of my press in years until my parents sent me a birthday package this summer. There were a few art/crafting books and a microwavable flower press!! No more waiting! I went slow this first time, so it took a little longer than it should, but I didn't burn any flowers and I could press them and make a card in the same day!

I spritzed the cloth with a little bit of water, put the flowers and leaves in the press, and microwaved them for not more than 30 seconds at a time (so you don't burn them).

Between each heating, I opened the press to let the hot air out, which aids in the drying process. I repeated this process (in shorter episodes as the flowers were closer to being pressed) until they petals and leaves felt like paper and could not be bent without breaking off.

I decided to make a birthday card with one of the flowers. I used tweezers to handle it because of it's delicate nature now. The flower is stiff and does not droop when picked up.

I used Elemer's glue to secure it to the paper and then added a little note!...