Creating Herbal Fun Via Recycling - How Tuesday

We recently did a Green Gifts with Herbs program for which I created a whole new selection of gift ideas.  I wanted to be creative and I wanted to use up a number of items that I was collecting in a stash.  

We are going to be adding this program to our Workshop Programs this year and have presented it as part of the Garden and Green Living Expo in Madison, Wisconsin for 2026 (Feb 13 to 15).  This allowed me to have fun with pressed flowers and also try a new technique for flower pounding.  Here is what I mean:

Previously I used grass and flowers to make napkins and table cloths, as well as a few cards.

Now I am making more cards and using a clear cover so I can be more accurate with my designs.

The clear material is salvaged from plastic berry boxes, spinach containers and other thin plastics.  Type 2 recyclable plastic is not accepted in my municipality, so this is a great way  to reuse those items, so less goes into the landfill.

Flower Pounding

• Recycled item: card stock, plastic fruit containers

• How to create: trim card stock to the size of a note card envelope or post card size.  Trim the fruit container plastic to give you small or large flat areas to use for pounding. Take fresh flowers, herbs and plant leaves. Lay the plant materials out on the card stock, cover with a  clear piece of plastic and lightly pound with a hammer.  Remove the plastic and peel off the now pounded plant material. Allow the card to dry.

• How to Use: Send a note to friends or family. Or use as a gift tag on another hand created gift.

I love to press flowers.  I especially love to press pansies.  This year I obtained a lovely pansy locally that is purple and yellow with the purple an  outline around the petals and the yellow on the face.  They are stunning in the containers on the porch. And to my great surprise, when pounded all the color transfers giving great images.

I also created bookmarks, pressed flower cards, and these great pressed flower stickers with these and other flowers.

Leaf Stickers

• Recycled item: dry pressed leaves or herbs, clear tape, wax paper

• How to create: Gather pressed flowers, herbs and leaves.  Place a sheet or wax paper shiny side up on a flat surface.  Cover the wax paper with clear packing tape, sticky side down.  Add pressed items to the packing tape, holding them in place with a dot of glue. Cover the items with more strips of packing tape and press down well to fuse the layers and work out wrinkles or air bubbles with a smooth-edged tool or finger tips.  Trim the individuals leaves / items from the sheet. 

• How to use: When ready to use, peel the wax paper from the tape revealing a clear sticker with the leaf, flower or herb that can be used in planners or scrapbooks. 

Keep your eye out for more of these as a How to, as I sort through the videos and photos from my Expo presentation.

Special Mother's Day Gifts at Home - How Tuesday Herb Pounding

Mother's Day is right around the corner, so I thought I would start sharing a few make at home gifts you could do yourself.  And to combine with it, we are so excited to be giving away $350 in gift cards for Mother's Day to four lucky readers. The giveaway will run from April 23 – May 8.  

For the next couple weeks we are going to give you instructions for some personalized herb theme gifts  to make for your Mom. and if you visit the other bloggers in the links at the bottom you will get entries in the drawing.  Have fun explore and creating!

Herb Pounded Gifts

Tools Needed

parchment paper/wax paper

rubber mallet

fresh herbs, leaves or flowers

card stock, note cards, plain gift bags or plain white napkins

Steps

You need a sturdy table or the floor to do this craft, as you will be pounding things and don't want to take out a table in the process.

Line the table with newspaper or torn brown paper bags to protect the surface.

Gather some fresh herbs, leaves or flowers from the yard.  The brighter the color the better the transfer in pounding.  You can even gather some grass fronds.

Do a test run to see how this works and get a feel for how hard or soft you need to pound.

I use a few pieces of card stock to test my flowers.

You place the flower/leaf face down on a sheet of white paper. Place parchment or wax paper over the greenery. Pound with a rubber mallet, being careful not to allow the flower/leaf  to reposition itself.  

Don't pulverize it, just pound it hard enough to break open the cells of the plant so they release the color onto the paper.

Once you get the hang of how hard or not hard to strike, then you can move to your real items.

Again lay your item flat on the surface.  Place the flower, leaves or grass on the surface 

Cover with parchment. Pound with the rubber mallet to transfer the color.

Remove the parchment and remnants of greenery and compost them.  Then add different layers of color with other leaves and plants.

You can add some drawn art to fill in the colors or just go with the natural pounded flower look.

If you use card stock, trim the card stock to fit in an envelop and you have stationary for Mom.

or if you use a gift bag, you can put other gifts inside your homemade bag. And maybe that gift are these great grass decorated napkins.

Like a grass stain these are hard to wash out, so the napkins are totally washable, the grass patterns will fade over time, but it will take a while.  Have fun and get outside!