Pressed Flower Art

Pressed and dried flowers are definitely still big in home decorating.  People are still wanting to try their hand at making home decor as well as buying new things.  I think this is about the third year or so, which is quite a long time for new decorating items. 

So, I thought I would add some more tips and hints.  Read my last blog post before this one also if you are interested in trying your hand at some projects.  Now is the best time to get some heavy books and some kind of scissors or clippers and gather.  As I said, when they are gone for the season, they are gone until next year.  And to buy most of them, is expensive.  More than the flowers, the shipping is quite high.

I was out yesterday and saw three varieties of white flowers, some yellow, and a few Indian Paintbrushes were still out there.  A lot of them lose a bit of their color, but they are still beautiful and if you store them out of the sun and bright light, you can keep them ready to add to a project for several years. 

First, to look at some finished projects

A lot of what I use is just plain weeds.  The Japanese Maple leaves are from my favorite tree that my husband bought me for my birthday one year.  You don't see them too much in Texas, but my one little tree did live and I got some sweet little reddish leaves from it.  The pansies.......I don't usually grow them but I did go to the WalMart and pick up a tiny tray of them and press them.  The first picture has a weed that grows up along the cracks in the concrete and sometimes in your lawn.  I absolutely love them and you will see in future posts that I use them all the time.  They are kinda like a green spider web. 

THE FIRST SAMPLE....So, for the first piece I used a 6 x 6 inch wooden canvas for the base of the collage.  Then I cut some wallpaper scrap and covered the front.  I also glued decorative paper which had script on it onto a very very thin piece of cardboard (or sometimes if I have one, some very think wood).  Lastly, I tore a piece of handmade paper to mount the flowers. 

I do use a vera vera thin coat of spray glue to hold the flower and weeds onto the paper.  If you use too much you will have a sticky mess, so be sure to go easy.  Glue the flowers and weeds on and lay the whole thing aside and be sure all the glue has set and the tiny bit of overspray dries thoroughly on the paper.  When all is dry, I finished the piece with about three coats of Preserve It spray in matte.
Sometimes, it is hard to fine, but try online.  I use it for just about everything that needs some protection. 

THE SECOND SAMPLE.....This was one of my "hey, husband, don't throw that out" projects.  The metal frame is from a light that was in our bathroom shower ceiling and it was this really nice circular white metal.  You can get just the circular part of the light at Home Depot and I just loved it for the project.  Just cut a circle out of sturdy heavy cardboard, do your flower collage and insert it into the back of the metal.  Okay, I have run out of room, but you can see the third sample is on a canvas.