Petal Power- Rose crafts

​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 crafts

Apart  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

• 1 cup dried rose petals  (or  dried  lavender )
• 3-5 drops of essential oil 
• 1 cup Epsom salts
• 1/3 cup baking soda
• 2/3 cup powdered milk

 (If  you  a  making  a  large  batch  you  can  add some  sugar to  your  mix  to  make  it  go  further )

​Rose Petal Sugar Scurb

• 1 cup of dried rose petals   (or  dried  lavender )
• 2 cups of sugar
•  1 cup of  coconut oil   (note  the  coconut  oil  can  have  a strong  fragrance,  if  you  want  to  avoid  this  you    might  want  to  use  a  filtered    oil)
•  6-8 drops of essential oil for fragrance    (you  might   need to  add  more oil  to  balance  the  coconut  fragrance if you  use  an  unfilterd  oil) 

 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 baubles 

I  ordered  some  clear plastic   Christmas   baubles  on  ebay, filled them  with  dried  petals  and  attached    ribbon  for  a  very  pretty  result.