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 often use the same white typing paper but my grandmother has always used paper towels. She usually buys a really cheap kind (because it is flat and has no patterns stamped into it) and puts the flowers between two layers of that and then in a big book. All pressed flowers are going to fade a little bit!

Simply go to the forum post entitled "FAQ for the Dried & Pressed Flowers Forum" to make suggestions and participate in the discussion. We need the questions first and then we'll need answers. Your input will be valued!