One of the most amazing things about summer in Wisconsin is the bounty of beautiful fresh flowers available at the farmers’ market, in your garden and let’s be honest, at the supermarket too. The best and easiest way to preserve the gorgeous bounty of flowers is to press them. The process for making these DIY dried flowers is so simple with only three steps. After you’ve finished pressing your flowers and they are dry, there are so many beautiful things you can do with them, like placing them in beautiful frames or even making your own one-of-a-kind phone case. The possibilities are endless.

Step 1: Choose your flowers. Some flowers will be better than others for pressing. You can press the whole flower or just the petals. Once you’ve chosen your flowers, use a pair of scissors to remove the stems and any excess green that you don’t want. It is best to choose petals that are unblemished and that are dry (don’t use freshly watered or rained on flowers).

Step 2: Get a heavy book and cut a piece of parchment paper to fit inside (this is to protect the book and to help keep the flowers in place). Place your freshly cut flowers on the parchment paper, spacing them out a little bit. Then, close the book and place even more weight on top (bricks, weights, soup cans, more books).

Step 3: Let your flowers press for about 10 days to 2 weeks. Some flowers may take more or less time, depending on if they are whole or if they are petals. When your flowers are completely dry, get creative! They’d be gorgeous in matted white frame!