Pressing Matters – How I Use Pressed Flowers In My Bible Journaling

Almost a year ago, on February 21, 2017, I sat in the front row of Meadows Fellowship Church and watched a picture slideshow of my mother, along with everyone else who attended my ma’s memorial. The stage in the church’s sanctuary displayed many beautiful flower arrangements from family members and friends, sending sweet wishes and sincere sympathy for our loss.

State-Of-Mind

Now is a good time to tell you that I am beyond sentimental. I save anything and everything with even a tiny bit of memories attached to it. If I’m being completely honest, I should probably tell you that it’s so extreme, I still have a calendar from 1986 tucked away somewhere. Please don’t judge me. 😊

So when my ma passed, you can imagine how I wanted to save absolutely every single thing she had ever touched. Since that wasn’t possible, of course, I considered what I wanted to keep and how I could best utilize it.

I decided to save some of the flowers from the memorial. When I pressed flowers over the years, I kept them between the pages of my Bible. However, it wasn’t very practical. Every time I opened my Bible the dried pressed flowers would slide out.

This past weekend was the one-year anniversary of my ma’s home-going and I still hadn’t decided what I was going to do with the flowers I saved. I knew for sure I wanted to use them in my Bible journaling.

So I sat in front of my Bible and prayed. My Papa came through for me like He always does. This is what He placed on my heart.

The first thing I did was decide which of the saved flowers I would use. The big one was a no brainer, but the other one was falling apart, and I wasn’t sure I could put it back together. I reminded myself that this page wasn’t about being “pretty.” It was in honor of my ma and whatever those memories entailed.

Instructions

1. choose a dried flower or flowers (or even dried twigs and leaves)
2. practice the placement of your dried flowers
3. take a picture of the page with the dried pieces placed in their final positions, so you’ll have something to refer to when you start putting the arrangement back together
4. brush a layer of matte gel medium (I used Liquitex) onto your page
5. carefully place your flowers (tweezers are amazing for this) onto the gel covered page
   TIP: Remember, you’ll need to arrange them backwards. So anything you want placed in back, behind the other flowers, will need to be adhered to the page first.
6. once your dried flowers are in position, very carefully brush another layer of matte gel medium over the flowers, to seal the page

You might notice on the tribute page I did for my ma, the bottom flower includes two petals that are not touching the flower. If your flower falls apart, simply reassemble the flower on the page, which is what I did. I also positioned one petal as if it were rising, to represent my ma’s home going to heaven. The other petal, toward the bottom, was meant to represent me and my mourning.

Finishing Touch…

The verse I chose for this page happened to be on the last page of my Bible, which I thought was befitting, since my mother had lived her own “last page.”  In Revelation 4:21, it says, “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

I no longer have my ma’s memorial flowers in a box on the top shelf of my closet, worried something might damage them. Now, every time I open my Bible, I turn to the very last page and I’m reminded of my love (and loss). Plus, since it’s Valentine’s Day, it only makes sense that I spend time with my first love (the Father) and focus on my greatest Valentine of all, my ma.

HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY!