Flower Pot Pens

I have to tell you about the great Mother’s Day gifts that my daughter and I made this year! I actually got the idea when I was visiting some co-workers who had moved their offices to a new building. Scattered around on desks and tables were cute little pots of silk flowers, and on closer look, I saw that each flower was actually a pen! My co-workers told me that these cute crafts were actually made by the individuals who live at one of the homes that our agency operates (we provide services for individuals with developmental disabilities).

Anyway, I thought this was so adorable, that I decided to make these for Mother’s Day gifts this year. This was a pretty, yet functional gift -- easy to make, inexpensive, and everyone we gave them to seemed to really enjoy them!

All you need to make this craft is:

- Silk flowers (I used 10 per pot)
- Green florist tape
- Glass “stones”
- Small pots or buckets (I used 4” pots which worked well!)
- Ballpoint pens (I used 10 per pot)

I went to the dollar store and purchased the silk flowers ($1 per bunch), green florist tape ($1 per roll -- I bought 3 rolls, but 1 roll was more than I needed for 4 of these pots), and bags of glass stones ($1 per bag). I bought the pots at my local garden store for $ .99 a piece – you may be able to find them cheaper – and I bought a 2 boxes of 20 pens for $1.99 each (again, you may find these cheaper).

Now, my intention was for my daughter and I to do this project together, but I ran out of time, so she helped a little, but I did the majority. My girl took the pots and filled them with half a bag of the glass stones (pebbles, marbles, whatever!). I cut the flowers off of their stems – leaving about 2 inches of stem on each flower “head.” Then I put the flower at the bottom of the pen (end opposite the cap) and I used the florist tape and wrapped it around and around, adhering the flower stem to the pen, and completely covering the pen with the green tape (leaving the tip uncovered and the pen cap off). Then I just put about 10 of these “flower pens” into the pot with the glass pebbles and voila! Very cute gift!

Now, if your child is having a hard time wrapping the tape around the pens and you want another way to get them involved in the project, how about having them decorate the pot itself? If we had had more time, I would have loved to have my girl paint the pots -- I think that would have looked great!

I wasn’t really looking to spend such a small amount on gifts this year – I just thought this was such a cute idea, practical, useful, and it won’t die it a few days (like real flowers -- not that they aren't beautiful!)! But as a bonus, the whole thing probably cost me about $4 for each! And my girls just loved them – my little one watched and kept saying, “Fower, peas!” (She’s working on her words!) And my older daughter wants us to make some to send to both of their Godmothers.

This worked out great for us for Mother’s Day, but I also thought it would make a GREAT teacher’s gift!!