How to Make Flower Placemats

If you have a bouquet of flowers that is beginning to wilt or an overabundance of garden flowers you are unsure what to do with, put them to good use by making flower placemats. Inexpensive items help to preserve the beauty of your flowers, turning them into works of art to decorate your dinner table instead of the compost pile. Get your kids involved, and let them proudly display their handiwork during your next family dinner.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Clear contact paper
• Flowers
• Scalloped edged scissors

1. Use two pieces of 12x18-inch clear contact paper. Peel the backing off of one sheet and lay on your work surface with the sticky side up. It may work better to have someone helping to hold two corners of the paper down since it is so sticky.

2. Choose the flowers you want to use, and if necessary, cut the stems to about three inches or clear back to under the base of the flowers. You can leave some leaves on the stems or remove them. Press the flowers gently between two pieces of cardboard before placing them on the contact paper.

3. Remove the flowers from between the cardboard pieces. Lay them on top of the contact paper, arranging them until you like how it looks. You can also add some greenery, such as leaves or ferns if desired.

4. Remove the backing from the second piece of contact paper. With sticky side down, carefully lay it over the flowers, and press to stick. Use a ruler to smooth out the paper so there are no creases; hold the ruler with the long side pressed against one short side of the paper, and gently press the ruler down on the paper as you sweep it across to the other short side.

5. If desired you can cut around the edges of your placemats with scalloped edge scissors to decorate them. Or you can cut your placemats into an oval shape with straightedge scissors.

References

• Flowered Placemats