DIY Pressed Flower Ornaments Preserve Your Garden

A garden changes constantly, but a small handmade ornament can hold onto a particular season. A sprig of lavender, a colorful viola, or a favorite leaf becomes more than decoration when it represents something you grew or a moment you want to remember.

The video demonstrates a simple approach: make pale ornament bases from baking soda and cornstarch, then attach pressed botanicals with a decoupage medium. What makes the project appealing is the contrast between ordinary kitchen ingredients and highly personal results.

There is one important distinction for beginners: this is an ornament-making project that uses already-pressed flowers - not a demonstrated shortcut for pressing fresh blooms. Below, we examine the method, the decisions that affect the results, and ways to make each ornament feel like a meaningful keepsake.

Key Takeaways

Start with pressed flowers or leaves. The video uses botanicals prepared beforehand; its pressing method and timing are not specified in the video.
Use a simple homemade base: 1 cup baking soda, ½ cup cornstarch, and ¾ cup warm water.
Aim for consistent thickness. Approximately ¼ inch is the demonstrated starting point, with drying time adjusted for thinner or thicker pieces.
Make the hanging hole before drying. This small step is easy to overlook and essential for a hanging ornament.
Decorate only after the bases are dry and cool. The demonstrated options are low-temperature oven drying or several days of air drying.
Choose botanicals for both appearance and meaning. Garden flowers, houseplant material, and purchased flowers can all supply the project.
Treat the cost estimate as historical context. The video’s inexpensive ingredient estimate is not a verified October 2026 price.

Why This Project Works as Memory Keeping

Many craft projects begin with matching supplies. This one starts with variation: different flower shapes, leaf colors, and plant textures.

That makes the ornament base a backdrop rather than the main attraction. A pale surface lets the botanical material establish the mood, whether the arrangement is bright and playful or restrained and delicate.

The deeper value is the connection between the material and its origin. A flower from a garden bed can serve as a reminder of that growing season. A purchased bouquet can represent an occasion. Even a houseplant leaf can give the ornament a connection to home.

The keepsake does not need an elaborate arrangement to carry meaning. Choosing one recognizable plant may tell a clearer story than filling the entire surface.

What You Need - and What the Video Leaves Open

For the ornament bases

1 cup baking soda
½ cup cornstarch
¾ cup warm water
Saucepan
Measuring cups
Whisk and sturdy stirring spoon
Rolling pin
Cookie cutters, a drinking glass, or a knife
Spatula
Baking sheet and parchment paper
Toothpick or another tool for making a hanging hole

For decorating

Previously pressed flowers or leaves
Decoupage medium - the demonstration uses Mod Podge
Soft paintbrush
Twine or ribbon

The video does not specify the decoupage finish, the number of ornaments produced per batch, or the long-term durability of the finished pieces.

These omissions matter when planning. Cutter size and dough thickness will affect how many bases you can make, so a single batch is a more useful starting point than assuming a fixed yield.

Understanding the Base-Making Process

The demonstration’s process has three main stages: cooking the mixture into dough, forming the ornaments, and drying them. The most useful lesson is to watch the material rather than rely exclusively on a timer.

1. Turn the ingredients into workable dough

Combine the baking soda, cornstarch, and warm water in a saucepan. Whisk until blended, then heat over medium heat while stirring with a spoon.

In the demonstration, the mixture thickens after approximately four to five minutes. It becomes soft and dough-like and begins separating from the pan’s sides.

That texture is the practical checkpoint. The elapsed time provides a guide, but the change in consistency tells you when the mixture is ready to leave the heat.

Allow it to cool briefly before handling. The creator waits roughly three to four minutes, then kneads the warm dough until pliable. Do not treat that cooling interval as a guarantee that the dough is comfortable to touch.

2. Shape with the final design in mind

Roll the dough to approximately ¼ inch thick, then cut out the bases and transfer them to a parchment-lined baking sheet.

Uniform thickness makes the batch easier to monitor. The video notes that thinner ornaments dry more quickly, while thicker ones require longer.

Before drying, make a hole near the top for the hanger. At this stage, consider how the ornament will hang: an elongated shape can suit a narrow botanical arrangement, while a round base offers room for a broader composition.

This is where the project moves beyond following a recipe. The shape of the base can support the shape of the plant, rather than forcing every flower into the same layout.

3. Dry the bases before adding flowers

The video uses an oven set to 200°F, with drying taking about an hour. The creator begins checking around 45 minutes and continues at roughly 10-minute intervals.

Air drying is presented as an alternative that takes several days.

Neither option makes this an instant project. Oven drying shortens the base-making stage, but the botanicals must already be pressed, and the adhesive must dry afterward. The full start-to-finish timeline is not specified in the video.

Once the bases are dry, let them cool before decorating. The demonstration allows approximately 10 minutes.

Choosing Botanicals: Appearance Versus Sentimental Value

The examples include lavender, violas, calendula, a zinnia, and colorful foliage. Together, they illustrate two useful design directions.

A simple, stem-led arrangement

A narrow sprig gives the eye a clear path to follow. This approach works especially well when the plant itself is recognizable or meaningful.

The surrounding blank space becomes part of the design. It keeps the ornament from feeling crowded and lets the botanical silhouette stand out.

A mixed arrangement of flowers and leaves

Combining different colors and forms produces a more abundant look. The challenge is deciding what should draw attention first.

A helpful design approach is to select one focal element, then use smaller pieces to support it. This is an interpretation of the demonstrated examples, not a specific instruction given in the video.

You also do not need a flower-filled yard. The creator suggests houseplant material and inexpensive purchased bouquets as alternatives. That broadens the project from "preserve your garden" to "preserve a plant-related memory."

Not every pressed specimen needs to be perfect. The video acknowledges that one flower pressed reasonably well rather than flawlessly. For a personal keepsake, the connection to the plant may matter more than an immaculate appearance.

Attaching the Flowers Without Losing the Design

The demonstration uses a thin coat of decoupage medium on the underside of each botanical piece. The flower or leaf is then positioned on the base, followed by another thin coat over it and slightly onto the surrounding surface.

The important idea is restraint: thin layers secure the material without making the coating the visual focus.

Before applying adhesive, arranging the pieces loosely on the ornament can help you evaluate spacing and orientation. This is an added planning suggestion rather than a step explicitly demonstrated in the video.

Once the coating has dried, thread twine or ribbon through the hole and tie the hanger. The adhesive’s exact drying time is not specified in the video.

Cost, Convenience, and Realistic Expectations

The creator describes the ingredients as inexpensive and estimates that large boxes could supply several batches for about $5, excluding twine.

That estimate supports the project’s appeal, but it should not be treated as a current budget. October 2026 pricing is not specified in the video. Your total also depends on which tools and decorating supplies you already own.

The project offers flexibility: homemade bases, interchangeable shapes, and botanical material from several sources. Its limitations are less clearly addressed. The video does not establish:

How well flower colors hold over time
Whether the ornaments resist moisture
How fragile the finished bases are
Which storage conditions work best
Whether alternative coloring materials change the dough’s behavior

For meaningful flowers, those unanswered questions make a small trial batch sensible before committing every specimen to the project.

Turning a Seasonal Craft Into a Personal Archive

The creator proposes making ornaments in successive years and changing the base color. The broader idea is compelling: a collection can document a garden over time instead of simply decorating a tree.

A year, plant name, or short memory could help preserve that context. Labeling is an additional memory-keeping idea; a labeling method is not specified in the video.

Colored dough remains an experimental option here. Although the video mentions it as a future possibility, it does not demonstrate a coloring ingredient or quantity.

The strongest starting point is therefore the simplest one: a pale base, a carefully chosen botanical, and a clear connection to a season or occasion.

A Small Ornament With a Lasting Story

The value of this project is not merely that it turns flowers into decorations. It gives gardeners and crafters a way to select a small piece of a changing landscape and make it tangible.

Start with a manageable batch, use botanicals that are already pressed, and let the shape and meaning of each plant guide the design. The result need not be elaborate to be personal - a single bloom can be enough to remember an entire season.

Source: "Pressed Flower Ornaments! 🌸🎄🥰// Garden Answer" - Garden Answer, YouTube, Nov 7, 2019 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAk1YCjqH74