4 Great Ways You Can Use Dead Flowers

If someone has given you a bouquet of flowers for your birthday, anniversary, or just because, you’ll probably want to hold on to them for as long as you can. And you might think that all you can do once the flowers are dead is throw them in the trash. 

But in this post, we’re going to show you some great ideas for dead flowers so that you can keep yours for longer and use them to decorate your whole house.

What to do with dead flowers

We give flowers to show affection, congratulate people, and use them to decorate. But unfortunately they don’t live forever, even if you put them in water and use homemade “preservatives” to keep them colorful.

The good news is that there are lots of DIY things you can do with dead flowers. You can use them for all kinds of things, from home decoration to gifts. Keep reading to see your options!

1. Dry flower potpourri

Potpourri is a mixture of a lot of different, nice smelling elements. Of course, flowers are perfect for that.

Our advice is to add some aromatic herbs like rosemary, sage, lavender, thyme, mint, etc, to the petals or flowers from your bouquet.

The basic idea is to put it all into a bowl and gently mix it all together. Then, you can put it into an organza bag, a pillow, or a transparent glass jar. Dry flower potpourri is perfect for putting in closets, drawers, or in the bathroom because it’ll freshen it up. 

2. Bookmarks

How does this sound as a Christmas present idea? You’ll have made them yourself and are a great gift for any readers in your family. The only thing you’ll need to make them is, funnily enough, a book.

Wrap your dead flowers in some newspaper and then put the book on top of them (its best to use a heavy one). Of course, you could also use a flowerpot or anything else that puts even pressure on the flowers.

After a few days, the dry flowers will be “pressed.” You can then stick them to colorful paper and laminate them or cover them with a transparent lacquer. This will give them more longevity. The best part is it’s super simple and has gorgeous results!

3. Framing pressed flowers

If there aren’t any big book lovers in your life, or you want to keep the flowers for yourself, you could frame your flowers and use them to decorate your living room, bedroom, or office. It’s the same process as with the bookmarks: wrap the dead flowers in newspaper and leave a book on them for a few days. 

Buy some nice paper and stick the flowers to it in whatever way you like. After that, you need to cover it in a layer or two of lacquer or acrylic paint to make sure they stay in place and don’t fall off.

If you already have a frame for it, then all you have to do is “hang up your artwork.” If you don’t, you can make one yourself with four pieces of wood and a couple of nails. Then hang it wherever you like!

4. A flower bouquet

If you want to keep the arrangement like it was when you first got it, you can make it into a bouquet again. It’s very simple. A few days before the flowers die completely, you take them out of the water and put them face down somewhere where they’ll be hanging in the air. Using a curtain rod is a good option for this.

The next step is to use some hairspray on them. Repeat the process every two days for about a week, until the petals and leaves don’t fall off when you touch the stem. After that, you just have to put them in a vase or jar, and you’re all done!

You can also use this method to decorate a space (like your bedroom). Carefully hang some roses up from your curtain rod (or anywhere else you like) with silk ties or multi-colored strings. It will give the space a romantic, feminine feel.

There are all kinds of options when it comes to using dead flowers, even just with the newspaper pressing process. You can make journal covers, paper lanterns, greeting cards, wedding invitations, and lots more. So, what are you waiting for? Let your artistic side out and start decorating with dead flowers!