Rose Covered Book

Have you ever been given roses, only to throw them in the trash after they've wilted? Why not save some of the petals for your sketch book, journal, or even a postcard? This post on Craftbits demonstrates how it would look if you used dried rose petals but I opted for fresh ones, just to see how it would turn out!

Start by gathering your supplies. You'll need:

1. Rose petals 

2. Mod Podge or craft glue

3. A foam brush (or you can use your fingers)

4. A notebook/journal/book/etc. to cover

Start by removing the petals from your rose. I found 1 rose = a 6"x8" book.

Place glue on your notebook where you want the petal to sit.

Place your petal and push out any bubbles that might be underneath it. Then apply the same glue to the top of the petal, securing it in place.

Now place more glue and more petals. Do this over the entire book cover. 

Yes, you'll have a lot of white glue but don't worry, if it's not applied in thick globs, it'll dry completely invisible. Here's what it looks like when I was done covering it...

...and here's what it looked like after just an hour!

I let mine dry overnight (about 12 hours) and here's how it turned out. You can see that some of the glue, where it was the thickest, was still visible so I just glued some more petals over it.



Now it was interesting to see how the petals changed over the next few days... the color faded but the texture stayed the same.

 The last picture was taken 5 days after the petals were first glued on. If you want your book to be covered with bright red petals forever, you're better off getting some fake petals from the craft store!

TOTAL COSTS: $3.50
$3.49 for 4oz. of Mod Podge at Michael's
Rose petals and journal prices vary per person

TOTAL AMOUNT OF TIME: 20 minutes + overnight
20 minutes to add petals to 6"x8" cover
Overnight to dry

EASY-PEASY SCALE (1 super easy - 5 very difficult): 1 out of 5
If you know someone who loves to write or paint, this would be a nice handmade gift for them - it's something they could use daily for their personal work but would think of you every time they saw it! It's quite easy so if kids wanted to make these for their parents, they definitely could, however I would recommend adult supervision because it can get quite messy!