Easy DIY Flower Pens

When I taught Flower Design I would always teach my students skills needed to work in the floral design industry.  One of the most basic skills I felt they needed to learn was to properly use floral tape and then be able to tape flowers so they could be used in corsages, boutonnieres, etc.  Using floral tape can prove to be a challenge, especially on real flowers, so I came up with the idea of teaching them to tape on pens and pencils.  Not only is taping pens and pencils great practice, but add a flower and it also comes out with a really cute end product!  Flower pens are easy to learn to make and then adorable to keep on your desk and use!

When making this tutorial I wanted to not only show you how to make the flower pens themselves, but also an adorable flower pot holder to keep them in!  This is a great gift you could make for teachers, administrative assistants, grandparents, etc.  It is even easy enough that you could do this with kids as well!

Below is a list of materials, directions, and a step by step picture tutorial for you to follow. All of the materials have a link to where you can purchase them on Amazon. They also could be found at most craft stores.

Materials:

• Ball point pens
• 1/2 inch floral tape
• Artificial flowers
• 5-6 inch terra cotta flower pot
• Small Styrofoam Ball
• Decorative Moss
• Hot Glue
• Raffia or Ribbon
• Wire cutters

First, how to make the flower pens...

Trim a flower leaving about 2-3 inches of stem...

I recommend using flowers with a single, thin stem to make it easy. Most artificial flowers have wire in the stem, so be sure to use your wire cutters to trim the flower from the stem.

Stretch some floral tape out...

If you have never used floral tape it is an interesting material to work with.  It gets sticky when stretched, so you want to stretch it out to as far as it will let you without breaking it.  It mainly sticks to itself as you wrap it, so do not expect it to be like normal tape.

Wrap a little bit of tape around top of pen then begin attaching flower...

• It helps to get the floral tape started on the pen before you add the flower.  Otherwise it is hard to hold onto everything and tightly wrap the stem.
• Just tightly wrap the tape around the top of the pen a few times, overlapping slightly as you go.
• Place flower base at top of pen and stem against side of pen.
• Make sure the bottom of the flower rests against the top of the pen.

Wrap tape very tightly around flower stem and pen to about 3/4 of the way down...

• You have to wrap the tape tightly and smoothly, overlapping as you work your way down the pen.
• If you do not do it tightly it will not hold together and will look messy.
• I like to leave some room above the pen point open to be able to hold the pen without having to hold on to the floral tape, because it makes your hands sticky.
• Leaving this space also allows for you to put the lid on the pen if you don't want to use the pen holder.

Now, directions to make the Flower Pot Pen Holder...

Put a line of hot glue inside top rim of flower pot...

This will hold the foam in place.

Place Styrofoam ball into the flower pot and trim top off...

• Be sure to press the foam in so that it adheres to the glue.
• Once glue dries use a knife to cut the top off smoothly and evenly with the top of the flower pot.

Hot glue a small amount of moss on top of Styrofoam...

• Drizzle some hot glue on top of the foam.
• Gently press a small handful of the moss onto the top of the foam.  Be careful to not be burned by the glue.

Stick pens (without lids) into foam...

• Once the hot glue is all dry and you are happy with the moss on top it is time to add the pens.
• Without lids, stick the pen points into the foam where you want them.  The holes you create will serve to hold the pens and act as the lids to the pens.

Tie raffia or ribbon around flower pot...

Raffia or ribbon makes it look cute and gives it a finished look.

Enjoy this adorable pen holder!