One of the best things about summer is the flowers, don’t you agree? A fun way to keep them around past the peak bloom point (and for those in cold climates to remember the lovely summer colors) is to press them. You can easily make your own flower press, and here’s how.

Start with 2 squares of wood (approximately 8″ across), 4 bolts (approximately 4″ long), 8 coordinating washers, 4 coordinating wingnuts, and several squares of cardboard and felt, with the corners trimmed. I have 7 cardboard pieces and about 10 pieces of felt – these are used to separate the layers of the flowers you press and to provide cushioning.

You simply drill 4 holes near each corner of each square and assemble: bolt, washer, one square of wood, cardboard, felt, paper, flowers, paper, felt, cardboard (etc), board, washer, wingnut. You add layers of plain white paper around the flowers to prevent them sticking to the felt, and it also allows for easy storage later on — I keep mine either in a folded piece of paper or inside envelopes. Screw the wingnuts on tight to press the layers together and compress your flowers. Then you wait for a week or so to allow the flowers/leaves to dry and flatten.

Pay attention to the layout of your flowers and leaves when you are pressing – you want to make sure that it will look how you want it to when it’s flat. Leaves are easy, but be careful with multiple petal layers – sometimes they bend oddly when you press them, and the result is not pretty.

Simple flowers work well though. Pansies are gorgeous:

I’ve also done marigolds, lilac, roses, several kinds of leaves, irises, even a butterfly. If your garden is large, you can have lots of fun playing around with the press and trying different layouts.

Once you have your array of pressed flowers, you can paste them into a frame:

I just used regular Elmer’s and glued the marigold and the butterfly onto thick white paper (I think mine is designed for painting). Tweezers can be helpful in arranging delicate pieces, such as the butterfly – sometimes your fingers are just too sticky. These flowers would be lovely on cards, too, if you enjoy making your own. Let me know of other fun ways to use them – I’m just beginning my foray into paper crafts

This guest post comes from Gina – thanks so much for your contribution, Gina!

Time to show off the completed lapghans that your fellow readers completed!

Ruth made this beautiful lapghan in shades of purple and green:

Theresa made a beautiful lapghan with blues, purples and beiges!

These were the only two pictures submitted for the prize, so they will each get a small package of crochet goodies!  Congratulations ladies, and thanks so much for following the lessons!

And thank you everyone for following the lessons and your comments along the way!  I really enjoyed doing them, and I look forward to more”schools” in the future!  Watch for a learn to knit school after the embroidery school!

We had so much success with the crochet school that we’re thinking of doing an embroidery school to begin next Tuesday, August 14. Before all the legwork is done, we just wanted to see who would be interested in something like this. It would follow the same format – general introduction, weekly lessons, and fun homework assignments with a giveaway at the end – except Candace will be leading this school. So if you would be interested in learning this type of craft, please let us know in the comments. Thanks so much!