Stitch, I guess this will be a project for later this spring, although Pansies can be bought cheaply now and dry beautifully. I was thinking you could perhaps dry some flowers ahead of time to show the girls the finished product, then let them collect their own and start the drying/pressing process. Or are you planning a project with the girls making bookmarks, greeting cards, etc.? If so, of course you'll want the girls to have their own dried flowers to use. Trouble is, I can't think of a flower which will thoroughly dry in just 3 days by pressing, and haven't used the microwave enough myself to be able to advise. Hope others more experienced will give you better advice. Not much help...but I think it's great that you want to introduce this fun craft to young girls...josh

Hi! I have a number of flower pressing tutorials on my blog that might help you, including what flowers tend to press well with the microwave flower press that I use, called the Microfleur. I tend to primarily use the Microfleur because it's fast, and it preserves the brilliant colors of the flowers better than traditional methods. Also, there is a pressed flower group at yahoo you might consider joining - they have some good info in their archives for beginning flower pressers. As far as frames, I started out by purchasing frames on Ebay, however now I purchase my frames from americanframe.com. Hope this helps! Happy Pressing! Elizabeth Here is a link that might be useful: Elizabeth's Flowers Pressed Flower Tutorials

I have been making greeting cards for years! I was using Perfect Paper Adhesive but here in Hawaii, unbenounced to me, there are little tiny almost invisible to the eye, BUGS! And, they ”continue to eat the flowers once sealed with PPA!“ I have found my best bet and failure free ”Mod Podge” is the BEST sealant! I use the matte, not the glossy and I must say my cards turn out beautiful and best of all, they last a lifetime! I have done a lot of experimenting with varios glues, adhesives and I always return to Mod Podge! As far as pressing flowers, try to use those that have the same thickness. This allows for even drying. The larger flowers with big, bulky centers, i.e,. cosmos cosmos, I take the centers out, press the petals and save the seeds to grow more cosmo’s. I am also a huge fan of placing the flowers beteen 2 pieces of Bounty paper towel. This is the only paper towel I can find that doesn’t have a design with depth to it. I am also a die-hard put my flowers in a big heavy book followed by several other heavy books then and I wait 4-5 days to check on them. I think the biggest thrill for me to this day is peeking under the paper towel to see how they’ve dried! Seriously, my heart flutters with joy when I first set look at them! I get giggly just before opening the book! As an added note, I seem to always use too much Mod Podge which nearly always makes me press the finished card back into the large book and stacking several more heavy books on top of them! This pressed flower card making has saved my life!! I have been suffering from debilitating fibromyalgia for over 15 years now and this is one thing that gets my mind off of the pain I feel every day! And, if I might be so bold, I have gotten better and better as the years go by! I hope any of the information I have shared will help or inspire anyone to make flowers which are already beautiful into a life-lasting treasure by turning them into something someone you love can have as a memory for life! Aloha * Liz

Naturegirl13, There are several glues you can use for flowers but there are two in particular that are very good. I actually sell both on my website: http://www.orchidaepressedflowers.com. And I use them exclusively in my pressed flower art. The first is called Botanical Glue and it's great because it has a UV protectant in it and the consitencey is great to work with - a bit thicker than Elmers. It has a fiarly fast drying time. The second is called PPA or Perfect Paper Adhesive. I recommend the matte version as the glossy version makes the end product look fake. It has a consisency a little thinner than Elmers so it gives you a littel more drying time to play around and move your flowers. It also has the UV protectant quality. Hope that helps and just email me if you need any help. Denyse denyse@orchidaepressedflowers.com Here is a link that might be useful: Orchidae Pressed Flowers