Learn how to make lovely pressed flower frames! Create these beautiful works of art and invite Spring into your home! Whether you have flowers from your garden, a bouquet from a special occasion, or just bought pre-pressed flowers online, you can turn them into beautiful pieces of art for your home.
Watch the video here!
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We’ve been doing a unit on Botany for homeschool. The unit included everything from parts of a flower to how plant cells work. It’s been a lot of fun.
The ending project for our Botany unit was a kind of a let down. We were supposed to mix water and soil to make a dirt paint essentially. Then finger paint it into a tree or something. I wanted to do something that would engage the older kids. And to be totally honest, I wanted to have something to hang up that didn’t look like poop stains on paper.
What better way is there to end a Unit about nature than to make some beautiful art! This is a great family activity and you have beautiful Spring decorations when you’re done!
I’m Not a Patient Person
For many years, younger Jessica would answer “patience” whenever I was asked “What is one of your strengths?” in a job interview.
I have since learned that being willing to cut corners and not caring about “doing a great job” is not the same thing as being patient. You would be right in saying younger, single Jessica was not a great worker.
Patience is not one of my strengths. I’ve tried drying flowers the old-fashioned way before. It takes way too dang long. The same project one or two weeks down the road will not interest me. I know this about myself. But, I’ve been wanting to make pressed flower frames for a long time.
Fortunately, there are some shortcuts to drying flowers.
Here are three methods for obtaining dry flowers. We’ll talk about putting them into the frames afterwards.
Method One for Pressing Flowers
For pressing flowers in glass, you need the dried flowers first. This method takes some time, which is why I didn’t do it.
What do you need?
- flowers that aren’t too bulky
- a book that’s large enough to house your flowers. A hardback book works best.
- white constructions paper
- some heavy objects
Sandwich your flowers between two white pieces of construction paper and insert into the pages of the book. Make sure to give the flowers enough room that they don’t touch each other. Place a few heavy objects on top of the book. Leave it undisturbed for one week. The flowers should be dry and papery if they’re finished drying. If they’re flexible or rubbery feeling at all, leave them for another week.
Method 2 for Dried Flowers
This method for dried flower frames is much faster but it can be a little finicky. We bought several cheap bouquets and picked some flowers to experiment with. Plus we used them for our Botany lessons. Two birds with one stone!
What do you need?
- two pieces of cardboard
- two pieces of white paper
- flowers to press, not too bulky again
- heavy microwavable bowl
Sandwich your flowers by placing the cardboard, then paper, flowers, another paper, and another cardboard. Like this:
- cardboard
- paper
- flowers
- paper
- cardboard
Place the flower sandwich in the microwave with a heavy bowl on top. Microwave at half power for 30 seconds at a time until the flowers are dry and papery.
We couldn’t lower the power on our microwave so we over-cooked some of our flowers on accident. It mostly happened to the fatter, juicier flowers. This caused a brown line or splotch to appear.
We were able to get some really pretty results from some of the smaller flowers and individual petals.
Method 3 for Pressed Flower Frames
Ok, confession. This method for dried flower frames feels like cheating but it gives you the most consistent results. I mentioned it in the beginning. I’ll say it quickly:
Just buy some pre-pressed and dried flowers.
Ahh! Will I be struck down by all that is organic, natural, and essential-oily for paying someone else to do the work for me?
I love doing things myself but this is such a time saver. It’s fun to do the other methods but if you’ve really tried and you can’t seem to get really nice results, just buy some. You can find some pretty inexpensive, really pretty options online. Here are the packs I bought: here, here, here.
I tried to at least steer clear of the obviously dyed flowers but we ended up with some in our order and the kids loved them anyway. To be honest, they actually are really pretty. You can find them here.
Even though they aren’t as “natural” as the rest and we didn’t dry them ourselves, we were able to do this whole craft project in one afternoon! Coo coo ca choo, you’re done! We loved it!
Pressed Flower Frames
Let’s talk about glass frames for pressed flowers.
You can use any frame you like for the flowers. Pop over to the thrift store and pick some up. Arrange the flowers how you like and call it good. It’ll be beautiful.
What I’ve been salivating over is the hanging double glass frames. The flowers look like they’re just floating. You can find the frames here.
Putting the Frames Together
Clean the inside of the glass really well before you start placing flowers. Try not to touch the glass with your fingers so you don’t end up with fingerprints you can’t wipe off.
Use tweezers to pick up and place the dried flowers. They’re really delicate and brittle.
Attaching the Flowers
Take some time to arrange the flowers how you like before you glue anything.
Make sure to check that your frame can close before gluing. Sometimes the flowers are a little too thick.
Check to make sure your flowers are going in the right direction before you glue them. My son spent a couple of hours creating a tree scene only to discover he had glued it all down sideways to the chain. I accidently glued mine upside down. But I still liked mine so I kept it.
It can be a little tricky to attach the flowers in a double glass frame. You can use hot glue or school glue. Just make sure it dries clear and wait for the glue to dry before closing the frame. Use a small amount of hot glue and press it really flat or you won’t be able to close the frame.
We used double sided tape. But it was a little difficult to cut the pieces small enough to hide behind the flowers. And it probably isn’t as strong of a using glue. But I wanted something that wasn’t going to be very messy. It worked like a charm!
However you decide to procure dried flowers and display them, they’re always gonna be a win. Just have fun 🙂
Products for Pressed Flower Frames
Here’s a few links for some of the things I mentioned.
Dried flowers- I bought 3 packs here, here, here
St, Patrick’s Day Treasure Hunt
Blue dried flowers– I accidently bought these dyed flowers but the kids loved them
Don’t forget to pin it!
Check out some of my other family activities!
Wow! DIY Giant Frisbee!
Thanks for Stopping by!
