Flowers Worth Preserving–A Simple DIY Anyone Can Do!
“…that’s the last of the Queen Anne’s Lace for the summer.”
Anne of green gables
Summer is almost gone, and one of the things I will miss when winter comes is the chance to enjoy the flowers in my yard and the abundance of wildflowers in my area. While I enjoy every flower that God has blessed our planet with, wildflowers tend to be my favorite. Queen Anne’s lace grows along the roadside and though it’s not show-y like a rose or a hibiscus (one of my favorite perennials), it’s simple beauty stands out among even the weeds. It looks like a snowflake in the summertime with clusters of small white flowers.
I have to confess, though–I don’t love roses. They are beautiful, of course, and I do enjoy them, but they are not my favorite. For all their beauty, those thorns sure are an irritant.
Whatever flower you prefer over another, did you know you can press and dry flowers in your microwave?!
Queen Anne’s Lace
Seriously, how did I not know this before! A simple way to preserve those free and readily available wildflowers or other flowers that you may be blessed to have in your yard, even hydrangeas will flatten and turn out beautifully.
What makes these so special is that I have a memory attached to them. I took my granddaughter on a little adventure through the countryside where she helped to pick them and we came home to make this simple craft. All you need is a heavy stone or brick and paper towels or card stock. Place the flower in a position to be flattened and place it between two pieces of paper. Lay a brick or heavy stone on top to flatten it (I used baking stoneware). Microwave on half-power for 30 second intervals. Every flower is different in the timing because they will be different sizes and consistencies. The hydrangea tended to lose more color the longer you heated it. All the flower really needs to do is flatten well and it can continue to dry on it’s own if there’s still moisture in it.
Here’s her special creation:
Whether it is the hydrangea from your yard or a wildflower in a field, these little delights will last until spring returns or whenever you are ready to replace them with a new one. This one is framed with an embroidery hoop and toile.
If I could be a flower, I definitely wouldn’t want to be a prickly rose. Beauty on the outside but prickly underneath. I’d rather be the wildflower. Wildflowers reflect a subtle beauty. These under-estimated flowers are seen by some as weeds, while others (myself included) treasure them for their wild simplicity.
“Your beauty should not consist of outward things like elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold ornaments or fine clothes. Instead, it should consist of what is inside the heart with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very valuable in God’s eyes.”
1 Peter 3:3-4
Our Creator-God is amazing, isn’t He? He has designed our world–and us–to be unique; paying attention to every detail, He created some of us to be a rose among the thorns, and others to be simple wildflowers. Whether in a vase or on display along the highway or filling the countryside, flowers are a gift God gave us to enjoy. God is a master creator, sustainer of life, and provider of all things beautiful!
What a great reminder for us today in a world that is struggling to see the beauty. We only have to open our eyes.
If I were a flower, I think I would be Queen Anne’s Lace. What would you be?
“For we are His creation, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time so that we should walk in them.”
Ephesians 2:10
