Super Craft Idea: Flowery Pen Bouquets

Why are students bored in class? Surely, the teachers' lectures are fascinating and engrossing. So why would kids be dozing at their desks, even if they seem to pep up at recess? Perhaps they are trying to take notes with basic flavorless pens and pencils.

Look at the teachers! Are they tired of signing detention slips with dingy pens? How can the dreaded red pens be made more friendly?

How can we make seminars and classes more interesting for students and teachers? What might make writing more fun at school and at home?

Here's a solution. After all, shouldn't we do everything we can to help students and teachers bloom where they are planted, right in the classroom?

This simple craft idea is fun for children and adults. Actually, it makes a wonderful teacher gift for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentine's Day, Easter or any holiday. You need not be a super-crafter to accomplish this project.

Here's what you need:

Buy a multi-pack of basic ball-point stick pens. Grab a roll of green gardener's tape. Pick up a posy of silk flowers or fancy feathers. You might select seasonal colors, or you could try to match the recipient's interior decorating hues.

Don't forget to grab a pretty flowerpot, basket or vase and a small piece of floral foam to fit inside it. Assemble these items on a table or counter, along with your scissors, wire cutters, and hot-melt glue gun.

Easy instructions:

Remove the caps from all of your pens. Using wire cutters, separate each flower from the bunch. Be sure to retain at least two or three inches of stem. Push the leaves up under the blossom on each flower.

Lay a flower alongside a single pen. Try to line the floral stem up with the barrel of the pen, having the blossom sit just above the top of the pen.

With adult supervision, place a small blob of hot-melt glue near the top of the pen. Add a few more drips along the pen's barrel. Place the flower stem into the glue dots, and let it sit until the glue sets. This may take a moment or two. You can certainly work on additional flower pens, while you are waiting.

Next, beginning at the top, wind the floral tape around both the pen and the floral stem. Cover both all the way to the edge of the nub of the pen. By the time you reach that point, the entire stem should be covered in tape. Repeat the process in reverse, winding the tape around the pen and stem until you reach the base of the bloom.

Arranging your flowers:

Once you have completed these steps with all of your pens and flowers, you can make a lovely bouquet. Stick the points of the pens into the floral foam, so the flowers stand up in a pleasing arrangement in your flowerpot, basket or vase. Try to alternate colors and heights for added visual appeal.

If you wish, you might decorate the flowerpot with paints, ribbons, buttons, or other embellishments.

What a lovely gift!

Actually, my children and I made these cute bouquets one year for Mother's Day for grandmothers, aunts and other special ladies in our family. Floral pens are not just for faculty and students!