Pressing flowers, is a great way to preserve nature.

If you live in an area of changing seasons, you can really get creative with colors and displays.

Do you remember, sticking flower petals and leaves in a book to press when you were a kid?

Well, this has become a popular hobby, and also a lucrative business. Everyone loves flowers and you can create some great pressed arrangements to adorn gift certificates, cards, photo albums, or put them into shadow boxes, for a 3D effect.

The best flowers to press, are the small flat leaf types, this doesn't mean you can't experiment with the bigger flowers, but in my experience, the smaller leaves and flowers, tend to retain their color and are easier to put into a delicate picture after.

Roses, as beautiful as they are, are the hardest to press, since their leaves have more moisture. You can save roses for drying, if you wish to retain their shape, or you can take a few petals off of the rose, and press them separately and the create a flower in your display or picture using these rose petals.

Flower pressing, is a great way to preserve a nice bouquet of flowers you received, and you can forever treasure them in your display or picture you make.

You can buy flower presses, but you don't have to spend that kind of money, to try it out first. You can use heavy books, after pressing your flowers between pages, just remember what page your particular flower is at.

Phone books are not recommended, because of their flimsy nature, and you could damage other flowers while trying to find or press another.

Pressing leaves, is another great addition to your displays or pictures, but only use a few little ones, so as not to overpower your display. Just a little spray of fern leaves, or small green leaves behind your colorful flowers makes a great addition.

The beauty of flower pressing, is that there really are no rules.. you can experiment with all kinds of little flowers and leaves, and you can learn different effects and how to arrange pressed flowers for a beautiful piece of art that you can keep or sell for profit.