Plants Archives - Twitchetts

Best way to press flowers for framing

Kate — Thu, 27 Feb 2020 11:00:00 +0000

Check out this tutorial for the best way to press flowers with kids. They can collect the flowers, press them, and arrange a beautiful piece of artwork. It’s a fun spring activity for kids that has been around for ages.

Best way to press flowers

We are nearing our move and I’m finding myself looking for pieces of Florida to bring with us. I have tons of seashells, pictures of palm trees, and air plants, but I still wanted something more. While flipping through my vintage art books I saw a chapter on pressed flowers and I was hooked. So I started right away.

This craft is a great spring activity for kids. They can walk around and pick colorful spring flowers, press them, and then arrange them. It’s a great way to work on those fine motor skills.

Plus, any time I can make a flower craft I’m happy. Something about flowers always brings a smile to my face.

Disclosure: Some of the links in this post are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase an item, we may receive an affiliate commission.

No time to make this flower craft now? Pin it for later!

If you can’t make this flower craft now, pin it to your crafts ideas board on Pinterest and it’ll be here for when you’re ready.

How to dry and press flowers

Choose several different shapes, sizes, and colors of flowers to press.
Some flowers press better than others, check out the best flowers to use for pressing. But a general rule is to look for flowers that lay flat, have thinner petals, and thicker centers.
Make sure to let the flowers sit for a long time. Some people say a month, but we found a couple weeks to work.

How to press flowers for framing

Below is our step by step tutorial for how to press flowers for framing. Feel free to print it for easy reference.

Yield: Several frames of flowers

Pressed Flowers Tutorial

Pressed flowers make a fantastic spring craft. Display them or give them as gifts!

Prep Time 10 minutes

Active Time 10 minutes

Additional Time 14 days

Total Time 14 days 20 minutes

Difficulty Easy

Materials

Freshly picked flowers
Paper Towels
Picture Frames

Tools

Heavy Books
Scissors (optional)

Instructions

First, gather some flowers.
Layout your flowers on two layers of paper towels.
Gently press them into place.
Cover with 2 layers of paper towels. Then smash them in a large book.
Weigh them down with whatever you have around and put them out of the way for a few weeks. (These are those vintage art books)
After you have waited at least 2 weeks gently open the books and pull out the paper towels.
Next just play around with your layouts. I moved mine around quite a bit deciding which flowers I liked etc. When you have a good idea of what you like, open your frames and place them directly on the glass.
Then place paper and layer in extra padding (magazine pages) to make it nice and tight when you close it.

Notes

Display them around your home or give them as gifts!

More Spring projects you will love!

Fairy Garden Activity – Use an old water table to create a fairy wonderland.
Rainbow Paper Flowers – One of our most popular flower crafts.
Floating Flowers Activity – A simple flower sensory activity.

When to make Flower art inspiration

Sometimes you see a craft and think, oh that’s cute! But then you don’t know when you will make it. Here are some ideas for this fun art project!

These make a fantastic Mother’s Day gift.
Hang them in your home.
Decorate your classroom or playroom.
Make a bunch and send them to shut-ins or patients in a hospital.

If you loved this flower craft, share it by pinning or sharing on Facebook.

We are thankful for every share! Each time someone shares our posts, our site grows and we are so thankful that we can continue to create unique and simple projects for kids. Know a friend who’d like the best way to press flowers? Please share it on Facebook or save it to your favorite craft board on Pinterest.

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Trimming Your Organic Budget ~ Get Your Grow On

Kate — Fri, 08 May 2015 16:00:00 +0000

When trying to live on organic produce the price tags can get extreme. This time of year you have a few choices to really get that cost down. Go, well prepared, to your farmers market {tips here} or Grow your own!! If you are just catching up we started from seed, took care of our seedlings, & started some compost. Today we are sharing tips on transplanting seedlings to your garden.

If you have started anything from seed indoors, the most important step to take before moving them to your garden is hardening them off. This is the process of ‘tuffening up’ your plants. Bring them outside in a slightly protected place.

This way they get exposed to some wind. Let them sit out over night (unless it is supposed to freeze). You just want them to get used to the environment before moving them to your garden.

Once they are ready for the real thing, it’s time to get them planted! If you grew them at home, your plants might still have their first leaves. This is a good way to measure how deep to put your plant in the ground. Remove those starter leaves and put your plant in so the soil covers where those leaves were growing.

You always want to dig your hole in the ground wider and deeper than the plant. This way the soil that ends up around your plant is loose.

Add in some compost, fill in soil around your plant, and then water in well.

There are lots of fun things you can add around your garden to help your plants out.
If you want to add some flowers, Borage and Marigolds are great veggie companions.
Crushed eggshells can be used on the tomatoes for extra calcium.
Coffee grounds can be used around plants to detour bugs.

This year I am adding a couple praying mantis egg sacks!

They are supposed to eat all sorts of bugs that are bad for your plants!! They each hold around 200 little guys. I will update you with how that all goes. This is way out of my element so we will see…

Growing your own food is so exciting. Get the family involved, even if it is one strawberry plant in your back yard.

They will be so excited to get out there and pick one right off the vine.

I hope you have something in the works this year! It’s not too late to get something started!!

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Let the Compost Begin

Kate — Fri, 17 Apr 2015 16:00:00 +0000

So have you been planting? How are your seedlings doing? Have you started a compost yet?

Now I’m not going to pretend that I’m an expert on composting, but I have learned a few things over the past year. And the first thing you’re going to need is a place to compost.

I use this inexpensive plastic tote.

When you’re choosing your plastic tote, make sure to watch the plastic numbers.

You want to choose a plastic with the recycle codes 1, 2, 4, or 5.

Drill holes all along the sides, top, and bottom.

Composting doesn’t have to be overly complicated. You really just need to remember to add both brown and green items to your compost.

Start your new compost with a heavy dose of “brown” items then cover with some fresh dirt.

Then start adding some green items.

Keep your compost moist and stir it every couple of days.

It shouldn’t be smelly or overly wet. If either of these things happen add some more brown material.

When your compost is ready, go ahead and add it to your garden.

A great way to test whether or not your compost is ready is called the bag test. Put some compost in a bag and give it a sniff. Place the bag in a drawer for a day or so. Then give it another sniff. If the smell hasn’t changed, it’s good to go. If the compost started to stink, then give it some more time.

Compost is a great fertilizer for your veggies, lawn, or flower beds.

How do you compost? What do you compost in?

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Trimming Your Organic Budget ~ Keep Those Seedlings Alive!

Kate — Fri, 10 Apr 2015 16:00:00 +0000

Whether you have been following along or just getting started, we started some veggies from seed. Keeping seedlings alive has been a learning process. We are sharing all that we have learned!

Like we said before we are learning as we go. Between Mama K’s tips and our own trial and error we are sharing how we have been keeping our seedlings alive.

Tip #1

Keep them happy. Good sun and moist well drained soil. Mine are everywhere…

Behind the couch, in windows, in J’s room, you name it they might be there.

Luckily at this stage they are pretty small.

Tip #2

Don’t let them get too tall. They will fall over and die off quick.

I started these Roma Tomatoes in tall cups since they wont be planted in the garden until May.

To keep them happy I just carefully loosened the soil using a fork, lifted out the seedling, stuck my finger in to make a deep whole, and placed the seedling back in.

These plants will get quite a bit bigger by the time they are going to go into the garden.

Tip #3

Give their roots a place to grow.

I started quite a few of each seed that I wanted… I knew they wouldn’t all make it, in fact I wasn’t too certain any of them would. Some of my cabbage and broccoli were outgrowing their little pods behind the couch, so it was time for them to get a little more space.

Make sure you make plenty of holes in the bottom for water drainage.

Tip #4

Be patient! Once the true leaves (the second set) grow in they are well on their way to becoming your next dinner… Getting them past the first few weeks might be the hardest part. I have to admit mine didn’t all make it.

and sometimes even once you think your in the clear, one just gives out on you… Still think one of the kids got to this one…

3 out of 4 isn’t too bad. I have plenty more going and I don’t even like cabbage that much…

Seeds are super cheap, even for organic so if a few don’t make it you’re only loosing out on some change. These guys will be going into the garden soon enough. It has finally been plowed!!

Next we will be going over composting for your garden. We touched on this in our Use it Don’t Lose it post a few weeks ago. So start saving your scraps!

Don’t get discouraged if you lose a few plants to damping off (when the plant dies where the stem meets the soil), it happens to even seasoned gardeners.

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UpCycled Garden Labels

Kate — Wed, 01 Apr 2015 16:00:00 +0000

I have been itching to get out into the community garden. I decided a while back I wanted to create upcycled garden labels this year. I just love the idea of of giving things a second life. Saving money also is a perk. I looked through thrift stores, antique stores, and through my craft bins. Finally, as I was making pasta and rinsing off the lid, it hit me!!

Between pickles, marinara, salsa, and olives; we go through a lot of jars. You can easily ask your friends to set them aside for you too…

Before you know it you will have plenty! I had so many left over I saved for Christmas ornaments!

These garden labels are great for giving as gifts or creating during a garden-themed activity in your preschool classroom. These themes tend to show up in April.

What you need for your upcycled garden labels:

Jar Lids
Spray Paint
Paint Pens
Krylon Acrylic Coating
Hangers
Glue

Making your upcycled garden labels:

I sprayed the lids my base color. Then drew on my veggie names with paint pens.

My Man prepped the hangers for me. A quick cut with wire cutters and a few bends and they were good to go.

A quick mark on the inside of the lid helped me center the wire to glue into place.

I sprayed them with a few coats of Krylon Acrylic Coating. It protects against UVs, it is moisture-resistant, and non-yellowing.

They are going into a garden so a little wear and tear will only give them character 🙂

You can stick them straight into the ground. They will have plenty of wire below ground to hold up to the weather.

I can’t wait to get my upcycled garden labels up!! They were plowing today so it should be soon!!

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Trimming Your Organic Budget ~ Starting From Seeds!

Kate — Mon, 30 Mar 2015 16:00:00 +0000

Gardening can be intimidating, but with all of the tips and tricks all over the internet even Rookies can come up with a harvest well worth the time. We are both first time gardeners and we are starting from seeds this year! We have the advantage of having a great gardener for a mom, aka Mama K. She gives us tips and motivation along the way.

Growing your own food rewards more than just your wallet. Watching something start from a tiny seed into producing something that can feed your family gives you a sense of accomplishment too!

So grow along with us! Its not too late to get started for this season. Seeds are around every corner.

What we are starting from seeds:

Tomatoes

Peppers

Broccoli

Cabbage

Lettuces

Spinach

Cucumbers

Beans

Basil

Susie – Starting From Seeds Inside.

I looked for anything I could recycle to start some seedlings in. Here I used toilet paper tubes cut in half with a napkin on the bottom.

These are leftover cups from J’s MineCraft Party…

As long as there is proper drainage anything can be used to get your seeds started.

Make sure to cover your seedlings with a bag or a plastic egg carton top until you see green coming through. During this time make sure to keep your seedlings in a well lit place and keep the soil moist.

Kate – Starting From Seeds in Planters

If your itching to get outside and get into the dirt, lettuces don’t mind a little cold weather. I had to plant mine a few weeks ago…I couldn’t wait any longer!

I prefer planting in containers. My thumb is pretty brown, and I think they’re a bit easier to maintain than planting into the ground.

Plus it helps when you plant lettuce on a 70 degree day and then it drops below freezing a couple of weeks later…gotta love the Midwest!

Week 1

A few more weeks and we’ll be having home grown salads!

***

We love letting the kids help too.

Tip…don’t fill the whole watering can, if you’re letting toddlers help. This will help keep them from drowning your plants.

Mr Monster still needs a little work on his technique.

Or you can just use a spray bottle.

Have you started planting yet? Plant with us and we can grow our groceries together!

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Fun With Air Plants

Kate — Thu, 23 Oct 2014 11:00:00 +0000

Air Plants… These are probably one of the most versatile, easy to keep living, and unique looking plants that I have ever had. I bought one a year ago and split it to put in Baby V’s nursery. It wasn’t cheap so I didn’t return for more. I stumbled upon at tree that was full of little air plants, and it just so happened to be in my front yard!! So that’s why I had a lot of fun finding places to put all of my little air plant babies.

So here is the tree. I live in south Florida, I have no idea if this is normal!

Can you see them? I know their little but once you know what you’re looking for they’re all over the branches! I was so excited, I started popping them off here and there and filled a shoe box with big ones, little ones, all different shapes, sizes, and variations.

Once I had a bunch of them inside it hit me… what am I going to do with all of these air plants?

The best part about them, no dirt necessary.

I decided to get creative, finding all sorts of places for them to call home.

Around the house…

These were literally things I had lying around…

Cute Bathroom Decor…

We have Tons of seashells around the house.

I’m always looking for a way to use them.

In a kids room…

Something for the Kitchen…

I worked a pin nail down into this cork. The plant easily attached to the nail.

Here I bent a everyday spoon and added a dab of sticky tack.

Caring for an air plant is simple.

They need a little moisture on the roots from time to time to stay alive.

You can do this one of two ways, first of all you can take the plant itself and soak it in water for about 5 to 10 minutes, every 10 to 15 days.

The second way that you can maintain these plants is to simply spritz them with a water bottle every once in awhile.

Where would you put an Air Plant in your home?

You could give them as Christmas presents….cough cough, hint hint.

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