Friday, May 16, 2014

Pressed four leaf clover key ring



It’s well into spring here in the southeast and flowers and greenery abounds.  I have a patch of clover in my front yard.  Look very closely and you are sure to find a few four-leaf clovers.  I’ve always pressed flowers and you can too.  You can purchase a flower press in a craft store, make your own, or just use a heavy book (although choose a book that you don’t mind the pages getting a bit stained) After you press your flower or small clover you can put it between glass in a pendant frame to make a unique key ring.  Easy peasy. 

To make a flower press you will need to cut two rectangular pieces of wood the same size.  Drill holes in all four corners of both boards matching them up.  Purchase long screws that fit in the holes leaving enough protruding to tighten the boards together with wing nuts.  Cut corrugated cardboard to fit in between the boards and newsprint paper to put between the cardboard.  That’s all there is to it!

You will need:

Small flower or four-leaf clover

Flower press or heavy book

Newsprint paper or parchment paper 

Cardboard

Pendant frame with glass

Key ring

Large jump ring

Needle nosed pliers

Flower press method:

1.     Choose your flower or clover to press.  Use the freshest flowers you can find.  When pressed they will become thinner and semi transparent but will retain most of the original color.

2.     Open the press and on the bottom board place the cardboard.  Put down a piece of paper and lay the flower or clover on the paper. Add another piece of paper on top and put the second piece of cardboard on top of that.

3.     Attach the top board and tighten with the wing nuts.  Set aside for at least a week depending upon the flower's thickness.

Book pressing method:

1.     Open a heavy book in the center. Sandwich your flower or clover in between two pieces of newsprint or parchment paper and close it in the center of the book. 

2.     Place several more books or a heavy weight on top of the closed book and set aside for at least a week or two.

To make the key ring:

1.     After your flower or clover has dried carefully remove from your pressing device. 


2.     Open your pendant frame and center your pressed flower or clover in between the glass.  Place back into the frame and close and lock the frame.






3.     Use a needle nosed pliers to open a large jump ring and attach to a key ring.



You can use pressed flowers to decorate scrapbooks, frames, etc. by gluing or decoupaging onto any surface.  Pressing flowers will retain its color.  The flowers in the photo below are several years old and I haven’t figured out what to use them on just yet!




7 comments:

  1. I'm so excited!!! I will cherish this forever!! Hugs ;o)

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  2. This is cute! I pinned it to share with my followers and save for my own future reference for next St. Patrick's Day. Would be a cute thing to make! (I found you from the Countdown in Style Linkup, by the way)

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  3. This is such a cool idea! I love how you make it look so easy to do. Thank you for sharing this with us at Countdown in Style!

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  4. This is such a cool idea! I love how you make it look so easy to do. Thank you for sharing this with us at Countdown in Style!

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  5. aww love this! what a cool idea! Now I need to find one! thanks so much for linking up to Handmade Tuesdays @ Ladybug Blessings!

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  6. This is a cute idea and I think something my teen could make for gifts. Thanks for sharing on Merry Monday. Pinned.

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  7. I used to have a roommate who used to press flowers all of the time. They were beautiful. I didn't really know how she did them, so thank you for taking us through the steps. This is a cool and easy craft! Thanks for sharing with Countdown in Style!

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Thanks for your lovely comments!