I just love jazzing up everyday objects. Grabbing one of these paper-covered pens from my pen cup is like pulling out a little surprise - it always makes me smile. These are a little fiddly, but once you get the basic technique, it shouldn't take more than a few minutes to make one.
Materials: clear pens, scissors and a ruler (or a paper trimmer), pliers, double-sided tape, and scraps of *thin* paper. Sadly, this project won't work with your lovely thick scrapbook papers - you need something thinner and more flexible. Wrapping paper or magazine pages (yay recycling!) work well.
Step 1: using your pliers, gently grab the tip of your pen and pull out the ink shaft.
Step 2: Cut your paper into a 4.5 x .5" strip.
Step 3: Wrap strips of double-sided tape along the ENTIRE length of the ink shaft (trust me, you do need to cover the entire thing - you'll end up with a messy seam if you cheat it!). Wrap the tape tightly, pressing out any bubbles.
Step 4: Wrap your paper over the tape, carefully pinching the seams together and overlapping one edge over the other.
Step 5: Slide the ink shaft back into the plastic sleeve.
Ta-da! That's all there is to it! I think these would be great for quick little stocking stuffers.
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23 comments:
These are amazingly cute! Fabulous idea (and a good way to use up all those wrapping paper scraps I can't bear to throw out)
Found your blog through Craft's website... what a simple yet awesome idea! So creative.
thanks for this great tutorial!
What a fun idea, I'll be linking!
What a fun little tutorial! These are cute gifts for coworkers and the such!
~Amy Rose~
OMG! So simple and cute. Found you via one pretty thing. Very cool project.
Angie Pederson tipped me off to this...very cool! Thanks for sharing!
Love this idea! Alas, I use fineliner instead of biro but... if I did!
teacher gifts, here we come!
Wonderful idea!!!!Nice way to color your day.
I'm so excited to find this. I saw it posted on another blog linking to here. I do crafts with people with disabilities and am always looking for easy projects to do, this is a great one.
Thank you for all the feedback, everyone! I'm so happy that you like the tutorial. I would love to see pictures, if anyone tries it out!
I made the pens for some gifts after I saw your other post, but before you posted the tutorial. I like your way better, but in the event someone doesn't have double sided tape, I used a bamboo skewer and wrapped the piece of paper around that to get the shape and then put it in the pen around the ink holding part. Thanks for sharing your great ideas with all of us!
Hello! I attempted these and blogged about it :)
That is a great idea, Happy Together! Thanks!
Natalie, your version looks fantastic!
Oh, what a great idea! I will keep this idea in my mind for further use! :D
That is absolute genius! A black bic is my all time favourite ever thing to write with and this would be wonderful.
thats so cool... no more boring pens :) thank you
So nice tip - thank you:)
Got my creativity cogs all excited! I started with gift wrappings, then tried plastic ribbon bits...
Also found out that aluminum chocolate wrappings (like Lindor's) work really well for an interesting effect!
Thank you!
I used my scrapbook adhesive that you roll onto items (in a dispenser) and used thin scrapbooking paper and just rolled it against my desk tight and it turned out GREAT! This is so much fun, especially for a pen addict like me.
Thanks
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