Studies have shown that American's buy around 2 million roses, just on Valentine's Day. It's a traditional, thoughtful gesture that leaves many people smiling. I love the romantic thought of welcoming your loved one home with flowers in arm, or getting a floral surprise delivered to your work. However after a few days, those pretty little fragrant rays of sunshine start to wilt. To me, throwing away a flower arrangement is almost as sad as not receiving one at all. This year, in anticipation of that sad day, I decided to figure out how to make those thoughtful blooms last a little bit longer. I've come up with three ways to preserve them.
The first, and most simple, take a picture! Odds are, you already took one and posted it to Instagram or shared it with a girl friend as soon as you got it (as you should). Hold onto that! Just simply scrolling back through your feed or photos will probably make you smile just like the day you got them. You can even take one more step and print that picture out. I use a Fujifilm Instax printer for mine so I can easily print these cute little photos straight from my iPhone at anytime. I like to stick a magnet on the back of these pictures to hang on the fridge or tuck them in whatever book I'm reading as a marker.
The second idea, and how I'm saving this year's Valentines' Day flowers, a Rose Petal Bath Salt and a Rose Petal Sugar Scrub. It's a simple way to put those flowers to USE. It's also an easy way to re-gift those flowers, who knew? With Mother's Day just around the corner, this is a perfect gift idea you can make.
Ingredients for Bath Salt:
3-4 Roses
2 c Epson Salt
1/2 c Baking Soda
1.5 c Pink Himalayan Salt (or more Epsom salt)
15 drops Essential oil of choice (optional)
Instructions:
Remove petals from rose, place on a newspaper or paper towel, and let dry 1-2 days (or in the oven at 100* for 1-2 hours if you don't want to wait).
Place petals in a food processor and pulse until chopped.
Combine remaining ingredients, mix well.
Store in a jar.
Soak and enjoy!
Ingredients for Sugar Scrub:
2-3 Roses
1-1/4 c Sugar
1/2 c Coconut Oil, melted
15 drops Essential oil of choice (optional)
Instructions:
Place petals in a food processor and pulse until chopped.
Melt coconut oil
Once the oil has cooled, mix with sugar and oils
Stir in petals and transfer to jar.
Scrub and enjoy!
The third, dry them (or press them). These two ideas are similar as both keep the flowers preserved. To dry your blooms, simply hand them upside down for a day or two. Once they're dried, you can stack them in a jar or a shadowbox to use as decor. For pressed flowers, simply line the pages of a book with a paper towel or newspaper, place the stem in the center, close the book and apply weight on top. Leave to flatten and dry for a couple days.
images: hanging flowers, jar, shadow box, pressed
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