Pressed Flower Frame

This is a perfect gift, although because of prep time for the paper mache and drying time it’s not particularly quick. You will have to plan ahead, or better yet, make some up and put them aside to have on hand.  You will need:

• Paper mache
• Inexpensive wooden frame
• Pressed flowers
• Stems (plastic or dried)
• Glue

You can find the paper mache recipe  here.

I covered an inexpensive wooden frame with paper mache by pressing it onto the front and sides of the frame until I had a thin cover.  I wrapped it around the edges, and didn’t worry too much about being smooth in the back, because I trimmed it with an exacto knife after it dried.  It can be as thick or as thin as you like, but sort of like the porridge in the three bears, it needs to be “just right”.  That is, enough to cover the frame, but not so thick that it doesn’t adhere.  It’s not rocket science though, you will be able to tell.

Let it dry.  Mine took about 2 days to really dry thoroughly.  I didn’t get around to finishing it for about a week anyway, so it wasn’t a problem.  I it would be a good project to do a number of them at a time.  If you wanted to do them with kids, this would probably be a good step for the adult to do, and have them ready for the kids to just do the decorating, since waiting a couple of days is beyond many kids patience level.  It’s almost beyond mine!

After it’s completely dry (you can tell, it looks lighter in color when it’s dry), take your dried flowers and lay them out.  You can try different arrangements until you find what’s pleasing to you.  I wanted something fairly simple, but you can cover the whole thing if you have enough flowers and want to.  Whatever catches your fancy!  I managed to get my little dried flowers in Michaels on sale, so I bought quite a few packages.  This project took about half of one package.  If you dry your own (I do, but I haven’t in awhile–another blog project!) this would be a perfect place for them.

I had a little trouble finding stems, these are some sort of plastic or something, but they were the only thing I could find in the size I wanted and the color.  I wanted something natural looking.  I cut these from a plume, so I have lots and lots left, for more projects.

After I decided on an arrangement I liked, I took a photo, in case I knocked them off (yes, I do that!) and started gluing them into place using regular Elmer’s Glue.  Once they dry (quickly!) it’s ready for a photo.  I am going to give this one as a gift to someone who I think might come to my blog, so I’m not going to put the photo in it, since I want it to be a surprise.  🙂

But, there you have it.  It was a fun project, and fairly inexpensive to make.