So I recently made a bucket full of flower pens for part of my mother-in-laws birthday gift. She is a teacher and this is a great teacher gift, or for anyone who has a desk that they can put goofy things on. I have seen them at a Vet's office counter to keep people from taking the pens. I made one for our wedding with a gardenia and a rose to use at the guest sign in table. As you can see, there are many ways this could be a useful gift.
This is a super easy project (and inexpensive - I did the whole thing in 30 minutes and I had most of the supplies already. if I had nothing I still would of only spent a whopping $12)
You will need the following:
*various fake flowers of your choice (($6 for 12))
*ink pens (($2))
*floral tape (($1))
*bucket, vase or other container to hold the pens (($1))
*deco stones or beans - to hold the pens so they will stand & arrange easy (($2))
*hot glue/gun (optional)
I know you probably don't need the step by step, but in an effort to get in the routine of detailed tutorial instuctions, here goes...
ONE:
TWO:
THREE:
Now you have a cute place to put your flower pens!
In order to make the pens, you will clip the flowers from their stems leaving as much or little stem as you like that will be taped to the pen with floral tape. I prefer to leave an inch or two so that is is stable. If you want the flower to extend longer you will need more stem to tape to the pen. With some of the flowers, you can use strong scissors, but the better ones will require floral cutters or wire cutters.
Once the flowers are clipped, I prefer to use hot glue to make sure the flower will not fall off of the small piece of stem that will be taped to the pen. This is optional, but makes for a more sturdy gift.
If you have never used floral tape before it is super easy use. It has a bit of sticky that makes it stick to itself. I begin wrapping at the top of the pen and tightly work my way down to the tip of the pen. There is really no wrong way to do this. If you dont like the way it looks, unwrap it and start again. But consider no one will be inspecting your wrapping job.
All done... now all you have to do is arrange your masterpeice.
Get creative and make it your own, I even made some with pretty feathers.
Enjoy!
~Barbara
