It's September already. The summer flew by! The leaves are already starting to turn color here on the east coast and the flowers in my gardens are showing off their final signs of glory for the season.
Earlier this spring, I collected some flower heads from the gardens and pressed them in a book. I left them in the book for about 10 days to make sure they were well pressed and dried.
I collected Johnny Jump Ups, Jonquils, Geum, Bleeding Heart, and more. I scavenged the yard for wild flowers as well. Here they are, all flattened and dried. Now, what to do with them?
The Tim Holtz Specimen dies were just what I needed to create slides using the flowers I had collected and will next be made into cards. 
I stamped the slides randomly with field label stamps that I have collected from Tim Holtz, Spellbinders and other various companies.
It will bring me great joy sharing these collected earthen treasures with others when I give them a handmade card.
I will sit in my craft room when the weather is cold and snowy and be able to create love in a card with the flowers from my spring garden.
Even now, they bring me joy just flipping through them.
I added recycled acetate to the window portion of each slide to protect the flowers.
The long slides are from Elizabeth Craft Designs Planner Dies, Film Slides.
This is one of my favorites. The flowers pressed so perfectly.
....or maybe this one is my favorite.
I needed a place to store the slides, so I made this little box using Elizabeth Craft Designs Book Box.
It has a magnetic closure, to which I added a chunky vintage button.
I had so much fun making these specimen slides using natural resources from the garden. I hope you enjoyed seeing them as much as I enjoyed making them.
I'll be entering these into the following challenge:
Word Art Wednesday ~ Anything Goes
Simon Says Monday Challenge ~ Recycle It
Cut It Up ~ Anything Goes
Creative Artiste Challenge ~ Anything Goes Mixed Media
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge ~ Stamp It
Thanks for stopping by!
12 comments:
What an amazing project! Thanks for joining our Cut it Up "What's in your Garden" challenge.
Hugs,
Larelyn (CIU owner)
Oh I love all your botanical pieces - and so much more precious that they are from the garden. Thank you for sharing them with us at Creative Artiste Mixed Media
Oh my gosh Birgit...this whole post brought me so much joy too! Your garden flowers are so pretty and how perfectly you've preserved them! They will definitely bring you warmth and happiness this Winter when it's cold and snowy outside! I love the box you made to store all the slides in too...soooooo beautiful!! You should email a link to your post to Tim Holtz so he can see what you've done with his products...he's LOVE it! Lovely, lovely post my friend!! Hugs. :0)
AHmazing! So beautiful and creative and clever! I think we spoke about specimen cards earlier this year! I am so jealous of these lol FANTASTIC!
Your pressed flowers retained SO much color! I am so im-pressed [pun intended] with what you've done with them! Well done, my friend!
Birgit, when we made this move all my books were boxed up - I can't even imagine how many contain the leaves I have pressed! One day I hope to have wonderful bookshelves again.
=]
I agree with, Michele, the color is amazing. They usually lose so much of it. Did you do anything special? Beautiful makes, my friend, just beautiful!
A fantastic idea and a well written and photographed post. I am in Italy and saw it last night, but I am still thinking about it this morning and wanted to let you know that I am so impressed with your talent. These will be fantastic gifts to give along with your cards. You are a tremendous crafter. They are over the top beautiful.
Oh, how I love this entire project and post, Birgit! I'm just beside myself. Such lovely photos, and it's nice that you photographed the flowers when fresh from the garden, too. Love the slides and the book box and, oh, my goodness, words can't express. When my son was young we collected wildflowers and pressed them and made a journal. It was a school project, but we both enjoyed it so much. Thank you for sharing this so artfully! Just WOW!
I'm in awe! These are delicate beauties Birgit, just like you! We create what we love, and I see God's gift of loving beauty in each crafted photo. I feel like I've visited a favorite museum! Miss you!
wow they are just gorgeous, love all the different kinds you have. I too have done this same thing to put in my journals but I used acetate on front and back so my glue shows through, I like how you backed yours in white, I will have to try that next :) Like your idea to use them on cards, I was just keeping all mine to myself...
What an amazing and creative idea, Birgit! The dried flowers are gorgeous and the specimen die and stamps are perfect. These slides are just beautiful. What a great "plan ahead" project.
What a awesome project!! And what a great idea!! Love it!!
Thanks for joining us at Cut it Up challenge!
Have a great day.
Gerda
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