We live right across from a beautiful rose garden in Golden Gate Park and sometimes Henry and I collect petals to press on our way home. This DIY rose petal tray is so simple to make, I promise! Plus it’s food safe and would be such a lovely gift.

You could do the same project with gorgeous fall leaves, which is one thing we are kind of lacking here in San Francisco.

Keep reading to see how we made it!

Photography and styling by Liz Stanley, assisted by Isabelle Ambler

Supplies:
Plain white tray (ours is from Ikea)
Collected rose petals and leaves
Craft glue
Paper cup and stirring stick
Epoxy resin

Step 1: Collect fallen petals and leaves. I especially love the detailed leaves. Clean and dry them off.

Step 2: Press them in a book for at least 4-5 days. I don’t have a flower press but we put weights on top of the book and that worked fine. When they’re pressed you can start experiment with arranging them on a tray.

Step 3: You’ll need to glue down each piece. Just anything to hold it down, we just used elmer’s glue. The epoxy will make the petals more transparent, so be sure to carefully glue just a bit around the edges so it won’t show through too much.

Step 4: Follow the instructions to mix the epoxy. It’s simple, just mix the two bottles together in a cup. Just be sure there are equal portions of each and that it’s mixed thoroughly.

Step 5: Pour carefully into the tray and smooth around with a stirring stick. You want there to be a very thin coat just covering the flowers and leaves. After 5 minutes you can blow on the little bubbles and they pop very easily (it’s pretty cool!). Let dry for at least a couple of days. If you find that any parts of the roses or leaves are sticking out, you may need to do another coat. We used about 3/4 cup of the epoxy for this tray.

When fully dry, the epoxy is food safe for breakfast in bed or a special afternoon tea!