Recycle Old Phonebooks and Press Flowers Too

Why not make your own pressed flower embellishments for scrapbooks, papermaking, candles, greeting card confetti and a lot more. For the price of a stamp and a card a confetti bouquet can bring joy to someone across the country or even overseas.

Almost any flower or leaf has the potential to become a beautiful pressed specimen with only a few basic requirements. First, pick only vibrant and fresh blooms or leaves that are dry (no dew or mist drops). If the flower has a long stem it can be placed in a jar of water to be hydrated for a few hours before pressing. It's as simple as that.

An old phone book works great and can be re-used for generations to press flowers.

We use tissue paper or facial tissues to "sandwich" our pressed flowers. Lay down one sheet of tissue paper, arrange pressed flowers evenly spaced, lay another tissue sheet on top, then carefully slide the "sandwich" between the pages of a phone book (the tissue paper cover prevents newsprint dyes from smudging the petals). Then, we cut a strip of paper to slide between the pages of each "sandwich" to identify the flower or leaf, for example: white daffodil/gold center, May 2009. Never lay the flower or leaf on a tissue crease or use embossed paper toweling. This can leave imprints on the finished flower.

Place a heavy book or other weight on top of the phone book. Most small flowers like violas dry within a week. The faster a flower dries the more color is retained.

Winter is the time to make plans for seeds to order and grow your own favorites or to research the best flowers to buy at spring garden centers.

The first sorbet violas and Johnny-Jump-Ups are a best choice for us. Intensly colorful, they appear for sale even before the vibrant pansies. These are no-fuss flowers for they lay flat with little or no help. Cranesbill geranium is near to perfect as a flower that holds its color and lies flat. Wild white single rose is great as it keeps each tiny freckled center perfectly. Some other easy, yet color-keeping flowers are: yellow honeysuckle, verbena, and daffodil. Try different blooms and colors that you like!

Experiment with rare finds like the spidery plumes of a "gone to seed" wild garlic. Try pressing some single petals from a dahlia, then put the flower back together again after it is dried.

Since no two flowers or leaves are alike, every day in flower pressing is a new adventure, so have fun!