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Time to Get Crafty
Family Crafts From Flowers to Portraits By Katherine Bontrager
There's nothing quite like a unique craft to foster quality family bonding, creativity and fun – not to mention the ability to kill a few odd hours on a rainy afternoon. Before choosing a family craft, take into account its difficulty level and required ingredients, the age ranges of your anxious participants and any time constraints or short attention spans. Once all your necessary supplies are gathered and attentions are focused (at least for the moment), dig into these imaginative and fun projects.
Pressing flowers is a two-step process with a gap of two to four weeks in between the gathering and the finished product. As such, it may be best to split this up into two distinct family projects: first exploring the outdoors and gathering colorful plants, and then making crafts of the dried collection.
Prior to assembling your pressed-flower art, have the family search your backyard or a nearby field. Look for flowers with thin petals and few petal layers, as these daisy-like flowers do the best when dried. And of course, beware of any poisonous plants! It's best to collect colorful flowers and textured leaves around mid-day, when it's dry and sunny, to avoid additional moisture or wilted petals. It's also important to begin the pressing process as soon as everyone has collected their discoveries, or the flowers may begin to wilt and lose their petals.
To help dry out the flowers and leaves, you'll need to cut some newspapers in 6-inch squares (don't use colored ads or photos – just black ink only). The paper will soak up the excess moisture. Squashing Flowers, Squeezing Leaves