Flower Pens

Here's a really easy project to disguise simple looking pens to look like a pretty flower.  I made some for our wedding reception and put it next to the guest pages we had.

Here's what you need.

- a pen.  I use the papermate ball points.  It has to be one where you can remove the top cap.
- a flower (nylon or silk)
- ribbon
- floral tape
- regular tape
- craft glue

Okay, so here we go:

1.  Prepare your flower (nylon or silk).  Cut to about a half inch stem to the place you want resting on the top of the flower.  Sometimes this is the flower base, and sometimes it is about where the leaf is.  Your call.  Add a little floral tape to the half inch stem so it fits in the pen top cap area. (you may want to test the flower in the top cap before you start wrapping -- like after the next step).  Set aside while you set up the pen.

2.  Disassemble your pen by removing the cap, and top cap.

3.  Use a small piece of tape and tape the ribbon to the pen.  The tape should only be on a small part of the ribbon, that can be covered up easily when we wrap the rest of the pen.  Notice that I taped the ribbon about a half inch from where the ink part of the pen is.   This is because if you put the ribbon too close, you won't be able to put the cap back on.

4.  With the end of the ribbon affixed, carefully wrap a layer of floral tape around the pen.  This will cover up the slick area of the regular tape, and the rest of the pen to give a little grip when you wrap the ribbon on.

5.  Next, (you probably guessed), wrap the ribbon around the pen.  When you get to the end, wrap the ribbon perpendicular (so it follows the top edge of the pen).  Cut an extra inch, and fold up as shown on the last photo in the image above.  Hold this with one hand.

6.  With the other hand, take your flower, add a dab of glue to the bottom, and stick it into the hole of the pen (where the top cap once was).  Ta da!  :)

Pretty simple wasn't it.  For show, I took a terra cotta pot that my sister painted, added a small piece of paper in the bottom, and filled it with aquarium rocks.  Then, I stuck the pens in.  You can probably use colored sand too.

Spring Wreath

I found the idea for this wreath on pinterest.  This wreath is easy to make, tho a bit time consuming.  What I like about it is that you can make the base wreath (green grass), and redecorate it easily however you'd like year after year, or even day after day. 

So, here's how I made this wreath.

Materials:

- Lion Brand Yarn 320-194A Fun Fur Yarn, Lime

- foam wreath

- craft glue (optional)

- round head pins

- silk flowers (got these from the dollar tree store)

- ribbon to hang wreath

How to:


1.  Take the individual flowers off the silk flower stems, and set aside.
2.  Use a pin to attach one end of the fun fur yarn to the foam wreath.  You can also add a dab of glue.  (I put way too much glue in the picture.  A pin and a small dab will work great -- or even just the pin.)
3.  Wrap the yarn around the foam wreath until the wreath is completely covered. (This is the time consuming part.)  For a 12 inch wreath, I was able to cover everything with 2 skeins of fun fur (just barely.  I pinned the last end of the yarn to the beginning of the first skein of yarn, then slowly spread the yarn so it covered the foam wreath evenly.)
4.  Put a pin thru the center of the silk flower and stick the pin into the wreath in random places. Repeat for as many flowers as you'd like to use.
5.  Attach a ribbon.

Kissing Balls

Thought I'd share with you my first attempt to making silk flower kissing balls, also known as pomanders.   I plan on using these to decorate the aisle for the ceremony.

Materials:
- foam ball (whatever size you want to use.  The one pictured is 4 inches)
- silk flowers (lots)
- low temp glue gun and low temp glue sticks.
- ribbon to hang up the kissing ball.

Adding ribbon:
1.  Using an exacto knife cut a small slit (about the width of the ribbon) on the foam ball.
2.  Using a screwdriver, or something flat, wedge the two ends of the ribbon into the slit.  In this case, I used two ribbons together.
3.  Using glue gun, put glue around the slit and ribbon to help secure the ribbon into the slit.

Assembly:
1.  Prepare the silk flowers.  We'll only use the buds, so just remove the buds from the rest of the greenery.
2.  Heat up your glue gun.
3.  Put a little glue in the bottom tip (where the greenery was) of your silk flower bud, and stick it in the foam ball.
4.  Continue sticking buds in til you can't see the foam ball.

Tips:
1.  It may be helpful to draw lines that you can follow on the foam ball, particularly if you want to mix up flowers and be symmetric about it.
2.  Get more silk flowers than you think you'll need (like double the amount).  I'd check the dollar tree store, or online for the best deals.