#TBCCrafters Craft Hop - Floss & Washi Tape Wrapped Pens

Check it Out!  This has been a rough week for me, but crafting always eases my stress.  Due to financial issues I haven't been to the craft store in quite a while, but I won 2 giveaways not to long ago and received some new products.  So I decided to put some of them to good use this week along with some ink pens.  I have a large stash of ink pens, because I picked some up for like $0.25 a pack during school supply sales.  Using some DMC floss and some Washi Tape I was able to dress these simple pens up!  They would be a great addition to a journal gift.

My supplies included:

• Ink Pens
• DMC Floss
• Washi Tape
• Double Sided Adhesive
• Glue Dots
• Various Embellishments - jewels, jingle bells, floral stems

Instructions for the floss wrapped pens:

1. Apply a strip of double sided adhesive to the ink pen shaft starting at the writing end.

2. To start the floss with no ends sticking out, apply the floss strand horizontal to the pen on the tape as seen.

3. Bring the floss around and wrap around the pen shaft, overlapping the horizontal piece. 

4. Continue wrapping the floss around the shaft, keeping the strands tight next to each other.  Continue wrapping until you reach your desired length.

5.  To start a new color, repeat step 2.

6.  Wrap strands around the shaft keeping them tight together until you reach the length you want.

7. Continue with multiple colors if desired until you reach the end of the pen shaft.

8. Apply a glue dot to the end of the pen and push the remaining floss down to seal the end.  Apply an embellishment if desired.

To make the flower wrapped pen: 

Using the same steps as above, wrap the pen shaft until the floss reaches the the area where the stem of the floral piece starts.  Holding the stem tight to the pen, continue wrapping the floss around the pen and the floral stem until you reach the top of the pen.  Apply a glue dot and finish off the top swirling the floss to cover.  

I added some jewels to this one using glue dots.  One to the top end and a few smaller ones going down the shaft.  I avoid adding embellishments to the area in which you would hold the pen, for 2 reasons.  Reason one is it's hard to hold the pen and reason 2 they would just fall off due to use.

To make the jingle bell wrapped pen:

I used a red pen for this one so it would match my red and white theme.  Using the same steps above, wrap the pen shaft and simply add the mini jingle bells to the desired areas by stringing them right onto the floss and then continue wrapping.  I switched colors a few times and added some snowflake embellishments to finish it off.

There are two ways you can use the Washi Tape to wrap pens.  One is to wrap the tape to the outside of the pen shaft.

I had this great glitter tape that I found clearanced so I combined it with some Washi Tape to create a beautiful pattern.  I measured the glitter tape to fit the shaft and cut 4 pieces.  Starting at the end of the pen shaft, I alternated the glitter tape and Washi Tape until I reached the pen point, wrapping the pieces around the shaft.

The second way to add Washi Tape to an ink pen is to remove the ink insert from the pen shaft, measure out a length of tape and wrap it around the insert.  Then just put the insert back into the pen.  Of course this only works with a clear shaft and it adds some pizzazz to an otherwise ordinary pen.