Have you ever been interested in drying flowers? Special occasions, anniversaries, birthdays and other events can be preserved for many years to come for us to continue to enjoy. Drying flowers is a easy and affordable way to preserve your cherished memories and at the same time, have alot of fun. There are many ways to preserve your flowers for crafts, projects, and other decorations. Just using some simple methods will allow you to enjoy the memories of your flowers for many years to come.

Hanging Flowers

One of the best ways to preserve your flowers or use them in crafts is by simply hanging them to dry. If you want to preserve your flowers by drying, it is best to decide this before they fully bloom. If your flowers have fully bloomed, the petals and leaves will often fall off easily. One good rule of thumb is that the brighter a flower is when it is live, the brighter it will be when it is dried. If you are planning on wiring the stems together, it is best to do this while the flowers are still fresh. When the flowers are dried they are much more brittle. Also, wiring the flowers while they are still fresh tends to embed the wires into the stems somewhat and provides a much more stable bunch. Once you have trimmed the stems the way you like, wire them, then hang them upside down, to a wire hanger or a nail and leave in a dark place for about 2 weeks in a dark and dry place.

My parents used to have high beamed ceilings that had nails evenly spaced every few feet throughout. When the flowers were just starting to bloom, we would trim down the stems a bit and remove any excess or dried leaves and petals. We would wire up the stems into a tight bunch and hang them from one of the nails. After a few years we had all sorts of flowers and herbs hanging from the ceiling and it gave a very nice look to the entire room.

Flowers preserved by dried hanging can be used in all sorts of ways. For special events or just an out of the blue gesture, flowers that are dried will remind you of that happy moment. After flowers are dried, you can continue to hang them, or you can take them down and use them in dried bouquets, shadow boxes, scented boxes, or whatever else you can think of. You can take the flowers down after they are dried and place them back into a vase as well for a unique look. A single flower or small arrangment can be layed on a mantle or in front of a framed picture. Consider trying to use the individual flowers in wreaths. Whether the basis of a wreath, or as an additional embellishment, dried flowers can be used in wreaths alongside berries, ribbons and ornaments.

Pressing Flowers

Another common way to preserve flowers. This is probably the most popular method for drying flowers and is great for a variety of uses. You can either buy flower drying kits or just use your own. Pressing flowers in layers of cardboard or wax paper, and then pressing them down with a heavy weight, such as books or bricks, works just as well.

One of the best uses of pressed flowers is for cards. Whether they have a theme to them, such as small yellow flowers that are pressed into wedding invitations, or small pink or blue flowers that are pressed into baby announcements, or just thrown into an everyday letter, pressed flowers take your cards to the next level. Another great idea for pressed flowers is to use them inside picture frames. They can be either the main focus of the picture, or they really look nice when they are placed around the edges of another picture, such as a wedding photo or something like a nature picture that goes in the bathroom.

This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to drying flowers. Hopefully I have given you some good ideas, but if you think about the crafts you do, i'm sure you can find all sorts of great uses for dried flowers. Don't just throw those flowers away, they can be used again and enjoyed for many years to come!

-Sofa Girl