How to Make Gift Cards Using Dried Flowers

If you really wish to surprise your loved one with a unique and special gift, you will not find a better present than a greeting card you have done with your own hands. And if you decorate the card with pressed and dried flowers and leaves, it will look really personalized and one-of-a-kind. Personally, I adore making such greeting cards and I have an impressive collection of them at home. So, I wish to share the tutorial with you now! Let’s start!

Step 1: Supplies

To get your gift card ready, you will need the following items:

· Colorful flowers of different shapes and sizes

· Other plant material

· Glue

· Paint brushes

· Card stock paper

· Several heavy books

· Newspapers, magazines

· Scissors

· Wax paper

· Tweezers

Step 2: Getting the Plant Material Ready

To get your plant material ready, you first need to choose flowers for drying and pressing. Your greeting card will look colorful and bright if you use flowers of different colours and fresh green grass. The fact is that not all flowers can preserve their initial colour in the dried condition, so you have to make the research first to decide what flowers and plants are worth drying.

When selecting the plant, keep in mind that flowers that can dry quickly are more likely to preserve their original color, while thick plants that dry for a long time may get brown and moldy during the process of drying. My recommendation is the following: get the perennial plants, the flowers and the leaves of which are not that thick. You can also choose diverse ferns, herbs, deciduous tree leaves, which depends upon the composition you plan to make.

Step 3: Press and Dry Flowers

If a flower is too big, you can cut it into large pieces. You will hardly need the whole flower for the composition, but large leaves will look spectacular and eye-catching. Such flowers as roses, hyacinths, lavender, daisies, daffodils etc. will be easier to press and dry.

Having chosen the flowers and plants, place them between the pages of a thick book. To make sure, the pages of the book are not damaged by moisture from the plants and flowers, lay the sheets of wax paper or newspaper pages between them to protect the book. Close the book and press it with several other large books to ensure the maximum pressure. The approximate time for ultimate drying of plants and flowers is one or two weeks depending upon the kind of plant you use.

Step 4: Start Making the Greeting Card!

Having removed the dried plants and flowers from the book, take the card stock paper you have prepared in advance and cut it to the approximate size of 8.5 inches by 5.5 inches. Then fold the paper into two parts (that’s the way greeting cards usually look) and crease it well.

After that, you can draw the picture you are going to make with a pencil. Then glue those pieces of flowers and plans you need for your design to the surface of the greeting card with regard to the idea. Arrange them pretty well and make sure they will not fall apart when you start gluing them.

Now, it is high time to glue the flowers to the paper. To make them stick to the surface well enough, gently press them with your fingers. When the design dries out, cover the page with wax paper to protect it from damaging. Leave the card to dry for a day or so and enjoy the result!

I have tried to describe the process in details and now I wish to offer you a few works of mine I’ve made last month, when I was on a vacation! You can see several of them at the main page! Use your imagination and surprise your friends and family with extraordinary greeting cards they have never got before!

Do you have any questions associated with the process? I will eagerly answer all of them!