Looking for a simple but beautiful gift using nature’s beauty? This microwave pressed flower tutorial will help you out!
Microwave Pressed Flower Tutorial
If you’re looking for something easy, inexpensive, and beautiful to make with the kids for Mom, Grandma, or another special person, I have an idea for you: pressed flowers! If you’re on a tight timeline, no worries – you can actually press flowers in the microwave!
Here’s what you’ll need:
- Fresh cut flowers and foliage of your choice
- Two stiff pieces of cardboard
- Blotting paper (I used parchment and it seemed to work fine)
- A piece or two of tile, or a plate
- A laminator, such as this Scotch Thermal Laminating Machine (or contact paper)
Start by collecting your flowers. You might think you don’t have anything that will work, but take a good look.
Brightly colored shrubs or blossoms are lovely.
Rhododendrons may be in bloom near you!
These yellow flower buds haven’t opened yet, but the striking silver foliage would make a nice addition!
Here are some flowers and leaves my daughter and I snipped a few weeks back. Even common weeds like dandelion and clover look pretty when pressed. If you’re really stumped for flowers, try taking a nature walk to a nearby greenbelt.
Here’s what I picked for today’s craft:
Start by arranging the flowers on a piece of blotting paper. Again, I didn’t have blotting paper, but parchment seemed to work just fine, and it’s what I had on hand.
Cover your flowers with another piece of blotting paper and then press both sides with pieces of cardboard. Lay in your microwave and top with the tile or microwave-safe plate.
From here, you are going to microwave on reduced power (I did 50%) for one minute at a time. After each minute, check the done-ness of your flowers. I found that some of the smaller leaves were done at about 3-4 minutes, but the bigger flowers took over 6 minutes.
While you are microwaving your flowers, you might want to fire up the laminator. I’m using a Scotch Thermal Laminator I got on Amazon a couple years back. It’s a great little machine for crafting projects like this and I highly recommend it. All you do is plug it in, hit power and wait until the green light comes on. If you do not have a laminator, you could just use some contact paper.
Once the flowers are done, arrange in a laminating sheet and slide it through. Voila! Pressed flower bookmark in about 30 minutes!
To personalize these, I cut out some paper hearts and had my daughter color them. Then I attached to the bookmark by adding some ribbon and hole punching.
This craft is quick, easy, and I think it’s really pretty! You could personalize the bookmarks further by including a small photo or card in the bookmark when you laminate it.
I hope this gives you a good idea for a simple and beautiful gift if you were looking for one!
