Homemade Notecards with Pressed Flowers

Let us never underestimate the power of a well-written letter.

Jane Austen

Homemade Notecards with Pressed Flowers, January 31, 2023.

Thank you notes were a must in my family growing up. Whenever I received a gift, my mother made sure I sat down and wrote a nice note in my best cursive. It was not a fun thing for a young child to do, but I am now very thankful to my parents for instilling this. I often regret letting the habit fall by the wayside while rearing my own children. Eventually, my own note writing skills petered out into oblivion and here I am now sending thank you texts with heart emojis- not my proudest moment. However, my recent 50th birthday party inspired me to take it up again.

No gifts I had insisted. That request was blatantly ignored by a number of good-hearted people. After the large birthday bash, my husband and I were discovering many gifts tucked away in secret corners and crannies. My heart filled with emotion at the sweet gestures. It was like Christmas morning the day after my birthday. Some gifts required a little detective work to find the mystery giver. Now that it is all sorted there was no better time to dust off my good pen and send some thank you notes. I was going to purchase them, but then why not make them? The pressed flowers in my office would look sweet on notecards. And handmade is always better.

The project inspired me to order pressed roses from Etsy which are lovely. Additionally, I purchased PPA glue. Notecards with torn edges from a local craft store were a nice touch. With all my supplies I sat down and got to work.

Materials used for Making Homemade Notecards with Pressed Flowers:

1. Notecards of choice (4 x 6 is a good size)
2. Pressed flowers
3. PPA glue or other comparable glue
4. Small paintbrush or q-tip

First thing was to create an arrangement on a card. This took a bit of time as I wanted something more complex than just sticking a single flower on a card. A bouquet was the desired look, so I played around with the arrangement and flower/leaf combinations until it looked just right.

Now to glue on the flowers. Since I didn’t have a small paintbrush I used a q-tip to apply glue. The pressed flowers need to be handled carefully with tweezers and glue gently applied. If petals fell off, then I glued them back on after affixing the flower to the card. I also ended up doing some trimming while going along if stems were too thick.

The final step was to apply a thin layer of the glue on the top of the card. But first wait for the flowers to dry on or the flower may move around and/or get ruined. I found a larger paintbrush to be best for this. The foam brush didn’t work well, and the q-tip was too small. Let the cards dry.

Tips for success:

1. Use the right glue. Some glues will bubble up the card and cause unsightly lumps and bumps. PPA was one of the popular mediums used for the craft, so I purchased this. The results were great!
2. Create your design first but allow for flexibility. I took pictures of my design but found it tending to change a bit while gluing. Work with it.
3. When done and flowers are dried onto card stock then gently brush on a light layer of the PPA glue on top of the design to seal and help hold things in place.
4. If you don’t press your own flowers (and I didn’t) then Etsy is a great place to get affordable pressed flowers for crafts like this.
5. Be mindful of your arrangement’s “layers” when gluing things. The underneath items should be glued first.
6. Patience is key with this craft for good results!

When done use your cards or tie them up with silk ribbon and give them as gifts. They are impressive and beautiful!

Have a beautiful day!