If you are keen on vintage styling then consider growing roses. With so many varieties there is bound to be one to suit every taste and every size garden. This year I have appreciated the lovely roses growing in the garden of our rented house. I have enjoyed picking them and using them for my vintage styling projects and it’s nice to gaze out my window and catch a glimpse of the lovey blooms. I’m unsure if it’s the time of year, or the climate in Geelong but whenever I am out walking I keep seeing beautiful roses everywhere. When I think I have found the prettiest I find a new type and a new favorite. The problem with roses is that the flowers don’t last long. Wanting to do something useful with the spent blooms I recently collected them up and oven dried the petals. The method was simple, all I did was heat my fan forced oven to 100 degrees, line some baking trays and spread the petals out on them, I then placed the trays in the oven with a tea-towel in the door to let the moisture escape. Besides the rose petals I experimented with lavender, pansies, ornamental plum leaves, and even some little daisies (which were growing on a neighbours lawn). I also made some very cute orange peel curls. I left the trays in the oven for around 20-30 minutes, but basically I just hang around in the kitchen and shuffled the petals around every now and then and removed them when they were crispy. I may have gone a little over board with the rose petal production. There is a public rose garden a few streets away so went for a walk with some plastic bags and came home with even more petals. What I didn't realise util I got home was that the roses were full of bugs, so I had to spend quite a while outside separating the petals from the bugs. I think I released a few hundred ladybugs, earwigs and beetles along with a handful of little spiders. (If you are squeamish about bugs then maybe this isn't a hobby for you.) Rose petal craftsApart from using the petals for potpourri you can turn your dried petals into beauty products, which make great gifts or can be used for fundraising projects. I made several batches of rose petal and lavender sugar scrub and bath salts. Rose Petal Bath Salts
Rose Petal Sugar Scurb
I bought some little plastic bags on ebay and designed and printed labels using Vistaprint, then I packaged up some of the rose sugar scrub. I donated a box of these to my sons school fundraiser and saved some to give as Christmas gifts. The little packs are a great size for putting in a stockings or for sending in a Christmas card. (note I found that the coconut oil in the sugar scrub, made some marks on the labels.) I also bought some plastic jars on ebay. (I do recommend reusing jars that you have at home, but I didn't have any at the time.) Using Vistaprint once again, this time I made sticker labels. To finish off the jars I tied some bows and used a glue gun to attach them the lids. Dried flower Christmas baublesI ordered some clear plastic Christmas baubles on ebay, filled them with dried petals and attached ribbon for a very pretty result.
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