craftgrrl | Dried Flower Cards Tutorial (Reply)

A few of you responded in the affirmative to my offer of a tutorial for the dried flower cards, so here you go! (I just didn't want to spend the time writing one if the response was going to be "pft, why would we want to make these?!" you know?)

Step 1: Gather your materials. Make a funny face.

Materials:
~Wax paper
~Elmer's glue (or other white school glue)
~Water
~Facial tissues (the ones that don't have lotion or aloe or anything in them)
~Pressed dried flowers, leaves, etc. (I put mine between paper towels inside heavy books for a few weeks, but I'm guessing you could find more in-depth flower pressing instructions online if you need them)
~Paper to make the card out of
~Paper bags (grocery bags or lunch bags)
~Glue Stick

Tools:
~Paint brushes (that you don't mind using with glue--it rinses out, but the brushes don't always go back to as soft as they were before)
~Iron
~Scissors

Step 2: Cut a piece of wax paper bigger than you need, and lay out your flowers on it.

I like to put a piece of paper the size of the card I'm making underneath, so I can see how much space I have to play with. (I use half of an 8 1/2" x 11" sheet)

Step 3: Mix a small bowl of one part white glue to one part water. (You don't need to measure it out, just eyeball it to get it close to half and half.)

Step 4: Take one of your tissues and gently separate the layers.

Step 5: Lay one layer of tissue over your flowers, and dab the glue-water mixture over it with your paint brush.

I find it easiest to begin with the flower part and work my way out, as it sort of "anchors" the flowers (or leaves, in this case) in place. Be careful not to tear the tissue. The tissue will bunch up as you're gluing it--that's what gives these cards their texture!

Step 6: After you've glued down the whole tissue (or at least a large enough area to cover the paper you're working with), leave cards to dry overnight.

Step 7: The next day, turn your iron on to medium heat and lay out your paper bags. (I find that thick paper grocery bag per layer is enough, but if you're using thin paper lunch bags you should do two in each layer.) Put down a paper bag, then one of your cards with the wax paper side up, then another paper bag. Iron. This removes some of the wax from the paper and makes the cards more translucent and more flexible (so you can actually fold them). Switch out your paper bags for new ones as they become too waxy to work.

That's it, really! I cut mine out to be slightly smaller than the paper I'm working with, using decorative scissors, then glue them to the paper with glue stick on the back of the card, but there's tons of things you could do with them.

Some flowers and leaves work really well for this, and others don't so much--I tried irises once and that was a moist disaster (they never really dry out when you press them whole. Their petals worked alright when separated and dried). Here are some of the things I've used:

Top Left: Maple leaf
Top Right: Fern
Bottom Left: Rose petals and leaf
Bottom Right: Rose petals and leaves

Top Left: Some random flower and some baby's breath
Top Right: I have no idea (sometimes my mom gives me random dried flowers!)
Bottom Left: Sweetpeas
Bottom Right: Poinsettia leaves

Leaf and vine from sweetpeas, petals from daisies

Top Left: Iris petals
Top Middle: Sweetpea leaf and vine
Top Right: I have no idea
Bottom Left: Aspen leaves
Bottom Right: Rose petals

Please please post pictures to share if you do this! I would love to see them!