For many years I wrote a craft/activity column for our local newspaper and I had my own business in which I used materials from nature to create art. Here I use real flowers and herbs I pressed myself and glued onto glass bottles.

Materials Needed:

Glass jars or bottles — You can either buy new at craft stores and Cost Plus or recycle pickle or spaghetti sauce jars. Tip: Soak labels in hot water and when all else fails, use Goo Gone.

Pressed flowers, herbs or leaves– You can press these yourself, (very fun to gather with kids) or purchase in craft stores. Press in a heavy book or phone book between wax paper. Another great method is with a microwave press and you can have them in minutes. You can purchase one from Microfleur on-line at Amazon.

Paintbrushes– Any inexpensive kind will do.

White glue– Like Elmer’s watered down a bit and little cups to put it in.

Acrylic Varnish– Available at art supply stores. Do not use Modge Podge if you plan to wash your piece. It is not water resistant.

Select your flowers and decide what kind of arrangement you would like on the glass. Use your imagination. You can use a variety of colors and types of flowers or stay within a theme like groupings of pansies and Johnny Jumpups or go monochromatic with a series of blue flowers like delphinium, hydrangea and nigella. Only herbs or all ferns. Whatever you decide will be an original creation. Next, dip your paintbrush in the glue and just dab on the flowers and position onto the glass. You only need a little to get it to adhere. Once your arrangement is complete, let it dry a bit. Then coat the entire design with the varnish. Let dry overnight and do a second coat. If the varnish drips down the sides don’t worry. Let it dry and you can peel it off. Make sure all the edges of the flowers are sealed in case you want to wash the piece. Hand washable only. A dishwasher is too hot and will melt the varnish. If you are giving as a gift, you might want to sign your piece on the bottom with a Sharpie or glass marker or make a gift tag with some elastic yarn to drape around the mouth of the jar or bottle. Gift suggestions air olive oil bottles with a bottle of premium olive oil. A square jar with a cork can be filled with homemade bath salts.

TINY TREES

Click on the link below to learn how to make your own mini Christmas trees. I made these with Sophia and Eva when they were little and I submitted the idea to FamilyFun magazine and they published it in their December 2000 issue and later in their book  FamilyFun Home. I later created my own kits that I sold to local craft stores.

Tiny Christmas Trees