Preserving flowers

Pressed flowers are preserved dry flowers which will last for about 5-7 years especially if handled with care and if it is not exposed to moisture. They are elegant and pleasant to see, it is nature placed indoors at the heart of your home.

I was in the garden picking flowers with my son and we placed them in a vase for mama Mary at home. Since they were getting a bit dry my mom had placed them by the kitchen window. I replaced the empty slot with new flowers which were also picked from our garden.

When I pass by the kitchen I see the old flowers looking beautiful with their hues of pink but drying and frail. I suddenly remembered pressed flowers! Why not?
It would be an artistic treasure to keep them. Since I don't really know how to make my own, I just took a few and placed them between the pages of a thick book I have. I have seen my sister or my mom do this but to do it myself is something new and I look forward to that.

Since they are dried they will surely fade by a bit and as time goes in they will dry up more. Still five to seven years is a lot of time for a beautiful piece to last and it is a lot of time to appreciate something. And you can always make more.

For this activity

We need some basic materials which can be found at home!
(1) Any flower you'd like preserved. With a bit of stem or leaf is good still.
(2) Scissors to snip it
(3) clean sheet of paper
(4) A big heavy book or a book
(5) A stack of books or somewhere the book can be pressed.
(6) A frame with a good border or background paper.
(7) Some ordinary white glue

Instructions

• Snip your flowers and place them inside your clean paper and fold it over.
• Place them inside the pages of your book, preferably in the middle or near the last pages. Close the book and...
• Place the book under a stack of books or in a tightly packed shelf.
• Leave to dry for a week.
• Put them inside the frame using glue.
• Display and enjoy the beauty.

I initially just thought of pressing flowers for scrapbooking but I watched a very nice YT video. Watch! IT IS GREAT!

My Version

📚📄🌺🌸🌹🌷🌻
Here are the pictures and a video of my preparation and after one week I will definitely consider gluing and framing them. But first I will show what I have done so far.

I HAVE THE OLD PETALS FROM THE FLOWER VASE

This is called Bougainvillea. At home we have four different colors, white, peach, purple and a reddish type of purple. I just automatically pressed them because I had not watched the video I shared above.

THEN LATER ON AFTER SOME MORE RESEARCH, I TRIED GETTING FRESHER FLOWERS WITH LEAVES

I took freshly picked Bougainvilleas of different colors and this time I use a clean paper to fold them in.

I HAD TO CHOOSE A DIFFERENT BOOK TO PRESS THESE WITH

Hopefully these would look good and not fade much after one week. But we will see!

Here's some footage of my activity! I hope you enjoy!

Thank you for viewing my post and hope you find it meaningful especially these odd and difficult times. Thank you so much!

Nobody regrets time well spent
Nobody regrets an opportunity taken
We cannot change the times but we can decide for what good things we can spend our time and effort on.

See you!

My next post regarding this will be framing it and the final look! Stay tuned 🌻