Pressed  Flowers  By  Preserved  Gardens

Ethereal Pressed Flower Cards

Materials:

• Wax paper
• Kleenex or tissue
• Diluted white glue, half water-half Elmer's
• Small paint brush
• Brown Kraft paper
• Tape
• Folded handmade, note paper, or cardstock
• Pressed flowers and leaves
• Tweezers

Instructions:

1. Cover the work area with brown paper.
2. Use a permanent marker to draw a shape the size of the open note card on Kraft paper; draw a line down the center to mark the fold line.
3. Place a larger piece of waxed paper over the outline and hold with tape, avoid covering the outline with tape.
4. Use the paint brush to coat the wax paper with thinned glue. The glue will bead but that's ok.
5. Arrange flowers on glue-coated wax paper, on the right half of the divided outline. This is the front of the card.
6. Don't forget the back of the card - add a tiny flower, etc. to the left side.
7. Using a single ply of tissue (pull apart sheets on two-ply tissues), cover the waxed paper and flowers.
8. Working from the center of each section, gently coat the tissue with diluted glue, carefully pressing out air bubbles with the brush.
9. Let the tissue covered wax paper dry several hours or overnight, then remove from the brown paper when dry.
10. Place the tissue covered wax paper between paper towels and press with iron set on wool. The wax melts into the plant material. This serves as the cover of your card.
11. Using the note card as a guide, trim the wax paper layer to size.
12. Fold the floral layer in half, place folded note card inside, and secure the two back sheets together with double stick tape or a glue stick.

Variations:

• Try different colors of tissue
• Use lace paper instead of tissue for a different effect.
• Tie a small ribbon, metallic cord, or decorative fiber around the fold.