Capturing nature
'Oh isn't that pretty?'….'smell this beautiful flower'….'this leaf feels like velvet'…What a lovely garden'
Now, I am not one to brag, but these are some of the comments I receive when I show people my garden. Well O.K I guess I am bragging, but I love to show people my garden as it inspires people to take an interest in plants, gardening and nature.
We are surrounded by beautiful plants but because we are so busy doing other things it is easy to forget.
……Well I have a great idea. What if you find some beautiful flowers and leaves and use them to make a card or a bookmark for a friend or relative. This can be your way of capturing nature and giving it to someone as a reminder of things that are naturally beautiful.
Before you start, remember to ask an adult for help!
Here is what you will need:
Materials
- Flowers
- Interesting leaves or herbs
- Coloured paper or cardboard
- An old telephone book
- Kitchen paper towel
- Craft glue
- Optional Microwave oven (This speeds up the drying)
Suggested plants
Look for flowers and leaves that have interesting colour and are not very thick as these do not take as long to dry out.
Once you have collected your flowers, leaves and herbs just follow these easy steps,
- Place them neatly onto a piece of kitchen paper towel being careful to arrange them so that they sit flat and do not touch each other.
- Now place the towel with the plants arranged on it into the centre of the telephone book.
- Put another piece of kitchen towel over the top of the plants.
- Then close the telephone book and place in a cool dry and safe place
- Check every week to see if they have dried out).
Microwave method (ONLY with the help of an adult)
Place the telephone book (with the plants inside) into the microwave for a minute at a time, checking after each minute. Two or three minutes in total are enough. You do not want to have baked flowers, they do not look so attractive on a card! Allow the book to cool down before taking the plants out, overnight is best.
Once dry, think about how you want to arrange them onto the coloured paper. You can arrange them in a circle or heart shape or just wherever you like. When you have decided on your design then you will need to be extra careful and glue the plants on the cardboard, being careful not to damage the precious pieces of nature. Allow to dry.
Now you have a terrific gift to give to someone you love for their birthday, or as a 'Thank you" to someone who has done something nice for you.
Happy flower hunting!
Karen Smith
Feb 2005
