Bring a little of spring’s delightful gems of early flowers into your home. You can enjoy them for the whole season.
Watch for snow drops, crocus, cherry blossoms – even tulips and baby daffodils, to start popping up and out.
I pick flowers on dry days and press them in magazines lined with white paper. When pressing, don’t overfill a magazine. Just 1-2 pages of flowers or leaves per magazine.
Make sure you weigh down the magazine with the flowers or leaves stashed inside with something heavy, books, magazines, a brick. And don’t forget to check them regularly. Every day or two, peek in. You may need to change the white paper for fresh paper. It anbsorbs the moisture and can tend to mold if left too long. And sometimes, they discolour. You just have to throw those away.
These first offerings of spring are delicate, and almost translucent as they are pressed and dried. Hanging them on the clear acetate gives them an ethereal feel.
In this banner I borrowed from summer fare with a blue hydrangea bloom. Its purpley hues are a perfect match with the pink bloom off a Japanese cherry tree from in front of our apartment.
For the banner pieces, source clear acetate sheets. I usually buy 12×12 sheets. I like Cricut brand or Recollections brand from Michaels. There are also available in 6×6 pieces by Recollections at Michaels as well.
These instructions are for a 12×12 pieces of acetate. I use a paper trimmer, you could ever make a template and use the pattern to cut with scissors.
Cut the sheet in half, at 6 inches. This will be the height of each banner piece. Then cut each half into 4 inch pieces. One 12 by 12 sheet yields 6 banner pieces. To give shape, cut small triangles from bottoms of banner piece. When finished, some acetate has a light protective film that needs to be removed before adhering the flowers to the banner.
Before adding the flowers, and to allow each piece to hang uniform, stack your banner pieces one on top of the other. Take 3-4 pieces at a time and punch one hole in the top of each corner. Take your length of ribbon or bakers twine – I use about 7 feet long, and ‘sew’ your banner pieces on.
Now the fun part. Choose dried, pressed flowers you would like to showcase. Since this one is a springtime banner. I used pressed snow drops, cherry blossoms, and hydrangea blossoms. You could also showcase summer flowers, or even autumn leaves. Winter greens could be lovely too.
I lay the flower on top of the acetate, position, and attach with small dabs of white glue that will dry clear. For the hydrangea ‘wreath’, I drew a circle on paper, used it as a template, placed under the acetate.
Apply glue with a toothpick to the back of the flower petals and stems. Allow the glue to dry thoroughly before hanging.
I have a flower banner that is already two years old.
To store, place 6 inch squares of paper between each acetate banner piece, to protect the flowers. ‘Fold’ the pieces on top of each other, wrap in additional paper. Store in a cellophane envelope. I source mine through Nile Corp. You can also find them on Amazon.
I would love if you’d share any comments or pictures of your spring time pressed flower banner.
Next post, I’ll cover the sweet dyed wooden bead garland hanging along side the pressed flower banner.
Thank you friend, for stopping by.
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