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Hello to the most creative community in Steemit! I hope all of you are well and happy. This is my first time posting in this community and today I will share to you three easy ways to preserve flowers at home!

A normal and gloomy day turned out to be special because my boyfriend sent a bouquet of flowers to me via Maxim (a delivery booking app sending deliveries via motorcycles here in the Philippines). He always sends me flowers and random gifts during random days, no explanation just sending me things that he thinks can make me smile, which truly does.

Every time he sends me flowers, I always make sure to preserve them and make use of them wisely. So today I will share to you guys how I preserved them and make use of them.

Vase for the Altar

This is the easiest way to make use of you bouquet flowers if you have any. You can display them in your house as a decorative display to add beauty to the area but in my case I put mostly of the flowers in a vase (that is also a DIY), and put them in our little altar for offering.

Air Drying

Air drying flowers is one of the most traditional methods of drying your flower blooms. This method involves letting nature do most of the work to dry your flowers out over time, with you being able to sit back, relax and wait for the end result. This process will also help to preserve the shape of the flower pod, most commonly used to preserve big flowers like sunflowers.

Here are simple steps in doing this preservation:

First, you need to cut out all the leaves of each flower stem, this will help in containing moisture in the flower because leaves accelerate the evaporation of water and cutting them will prevent such. Next, you need to tie one to three stems together using a rubber band.

Finally, find a cool, dry and well-ventilated area to hang the flower stems. Choosing the right place to hang the flowers are the key step in this process because if you choose a humid area tendency is the flowers will rot and will not be preserved. Hang the flowers upside down just like in the picture, if you can hang them individually much better to preserve its shape ultimately. You need to wait 2-3 weeks in order for the flowers are completely dry, afterwards spray an unscented hairspray to the petals.

Pressing Flowers

Pressing flowers is a time-tested method of preservation. It's simple and quick, which is why simple people like me always does this to my flowers. This method is best for those flowers with small petals and leaves. The thing I like about this method is the result is always promising, you can use the result in your projects in school or for scrapbooking purposes.

Here are simple steps in doing this preservation:

First, I selected the small flowers that is included in my bouquet. Most bouquet sold in the market there are always small flowers just like in the picture above. Second, you can cut the stems making the flower even smaller, this is only based on your preference, for me I cut them smaller.

Next, find a big and bulky book in your shelves (in my case my favorite biology book) and put the flowers between the pages of the book. Be sure to arrange the flowers correctly in a way that they will not be crumpled by other flowers in order to have a good shape. Afterwards, slowly close the book.

Find a heavy thing in your house, in my case my rarely used piano keyboard, that you can put on top of the book. Make sure it is heavy so that it can literally press the flowers between the pages. You can eventually get the flowers after 2 weeks and be amazed of the result.

All of these preservation techniques are just basic and there are still a lot more advanced. But these are the easiest and more convenient way to do so at home.

My day went very interesting after making myself busy in preserving my bouquet of flowers to make use of them after receiving it from a special someone compared to just letting them rot and be thrown in the garbage. For me, it is how you make beautiful things even more beautiful.

Well, that's all for today. I think I have been productive for this day hehe thank you so much for reading my blog. 'Till next time!

Steem on!