How to Make A NON-Traditional Memory Book With Dried Flowers

Making a Non-Traditional Memory book is easy. Your memories will be restored of special days and others will recall them too as the years go by.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Several books that you do not plan to toss or give away
• Tissue or Parchament paper
• Old books that aren't handled often
• Flowers from a bouquet or family members garden or other occassion

1. Decide which books you would like to turn into random memory books. These will have to be left alone for several months to properly dry out the flowers. It would be good to separate them into an area of books that won't be used for some time.

2. Take the flowers as you recieve them and choose which one you would like to press. A wild flower from a pasture, or maybe just a dandelion picked while on a walk with a grandchild or child of your own. Flowers arrive in various ways into our life. Let a few of them become a visual memory of a day. Write a little note and place with the flowers so those who were not involved will know when and what the occassion was.

3. Place the paper in the book to protect the print. If you don't care about the book much just put it in the crease about the middle of the book. Close book and place in a stack with other heavier books. This will make the flower spread out and dry properly.

4. My mom and I started this when I was young on our farm. A flower from the garden or field. A funeral flower, a last of summer flower. The first flower of spring in the woods. The ones that meant something, and also would dry and not dissolve during pressing. Tender flowers with sheer petals are harder to press.

5. To make this memory book with expression, do not try to get real fussy with it. These floweres are not meant to be professionally preserved. It is the memory that is lasting, the flower the reminder of the day. Recent cleaning and book sorting brought those days close to me. A flower from a trip to D.C. when my girls were young. Flowers they gathered along the way. Memories filled the garage that day. A flower in another book from my dad's funeral bouquet. Another moment. This is what you are striving for. A fresh memory of an event and the warmth it reveals of the heart. And some wild pansies from my old Missouri farm. A day out with my mom.

Tips & Warnings

• If you want to later write these memories keep the book intact with the flower till your are ready to write, and then take the flower to the scrapbook history.
• Becareful they are fragile. It might be wise to lay as paper with the center cut out for the flower and sticky edges to hold the petals in place.
• If you loose a flower, or it breaks. Just write the memory or save what you can. It happens.
• Make sure if anyone wants to go through your stack you do it with them so the flowers are pressed till completely dry. And no one disturbes the process. You can talk of the flower as they run across them.

[jenng]

on 2/21/2009 Great article thanks 5*

[newmama]

on 2/8/2009 What a great idea. I always want to save flowers and never know how to properly dry or press them. This will definitely help! Thank you!

[Rachellewms]

on 1/26/2009 Very Creative! Thanks for sharing :)