Silk Flower Pen

Send your loved one a flower that lasts, and costs a fraction of the price of real flowers.  Learn how to make a potted silk flower pen.  They make great gifts for your loved one for Valentine's Day, or Mother's Day.  One Christmas my daughters and I mass produced these potted silk flower pens for all of our relatives and friends.  They can be made for any occasion.

No more searching the house for a pen!  It's also very noticeable if someone were to "borrow" your pen off your desk.

1. Silk Flower - ($1.50 & up)
2. Floral Tape - ($1.17/roll)
3. Clay Pot - (4" for $.99/ea & 3" for $.89/ea)
4. Styrofoam - ($1.00 & up)
5. Spanish Moss - ($2.27/bag)
6. Bic Pens - ($1.44/pack of 10)
7. Wire Cutters
8. Pliers
9. Sharp Knife
10. Glue Gun with Glue Sticks

**Items may be purchased at Walmart or craft stores like Michael's.**

Trim styrofoam to fit inside the clay pot.  May need to cut more than one piece of foam.  Push the styrofoam into the clay pot leaving about 1/2 " below the rim. 

Remove plastic end piece of pen with pliers and discard.  May need to wiggle this around a bit to loosen.

Cut the stem of the silk flower with wire cutters leaving a few inches of the stem with the flower.  Remember you can always cut more later. Leaves attached to the upper stem may be left on, if they aren't in the way of holding the pen.

Turn on the glue gun to heat up.  Push pen cap into the center of styrofoam.  Pull out pen cap.  Squeeze a little hot glue into the hole left in styrofoam and place the pen cap back into the hole.

Pull some Spanish Moss from package and arrange evenly around the top of the foam.  Make sure you leave the opening of the pen cap free of moss.  Remove the moss, add some hot glue to top of foam, and replace the moss.  Be careful not to burn your fingers on the hot glue when you press down on the moss. 

Push the stem of flower into the end of pen.  Do not push it into the ink straw.  Add a little hot glue to keep the flower attached to the pen. 

Leaves can be hot glued around the cap in the soil for added decoration.

**Turn off the glue gun**

Use floral tape to diagonally wrap the stem starting at the base of the plastic casing.  Avoid the pen tip.  Pull the tape tight as you wrap.  At the top of the stem wrap a few times around the bottom of the silk flower.

Some suggestions:
1.  Decorate clay pot with paint.
2.  Write "Happy Valentine's Day" around the pot. 
3.  Add ribbon or other decorations. 
4.  Sign and date the bottom of the flower pot for personalization.

Note:  When there is no longer ink in your silk flower pen, simply take a pair of pliers remove the old ink straw and replace it with new ink from another pen of the same brand.

When complete, place the pen into the cap on the top of the clay pot.

Happy Valentine's Day!