Pressed Herbs and Flowers

I have been known to press plants for keeping. Some of the plants and leaves I have pressed over the years are pictured here. I love the romance and nostalgia of pressing a certain flower and keeping it as a memento.
 

In keeping with my goal of finishing a project each month from The Herbal Yearbook, for March I am pressing an herb and flowers.

The book suggests pressing the gathered herbs and flowers and pressing them for notecards, but I will just frame mine.

I have for years pressed leaves and flowers in a book, and it works just fine, but today I have a homemade flower press. My husband made it. 

These were the specimens I pressed: pansies and yarrow. The flower press does a really great job at getting the plants very flat, better than I was expecting.

Here I am layering the yarrow leaves on the paper I am mounting them to. 

Next, I mount the pansy. I decided it didn't look quite finished, so I foraged in the yard for a few more plants.

I added a wild violet from the yard that had started blooming. I also remade the tag with some scrapbooking papers. The yarrow is really delicate and beautiful when pressed. It makes a lacy compliment to the flowers. 

Do you press any flowers or herbs? It would be great to make a journal of the pressed specimens to note when they bloom and what they are used for. 

In Victory,

Sherry