Basket Roundup & Flower Pen Tutorial: MSCE April Days 9 & 10

Yesterday I finished what will be my final Easter basket for this year. It was my first attempt using felt - and didn't turn out badly for a first go around. I modeled it off a $1 tulip felt basket I saw once at Target.

If I were to do this again, I'd use thicker felt, and bigger petals. I'd make the petals all the same color too so that it looks more obviously like a tulip. The only reason I used two colors of pink, actually, was because I didn't have enough of one color in my stash and didn't want to go buy any more! Ha!

Here's a little round up of the four baskets I've made over the past few weeks, with the new tulip basket taking center stage...

For today's project (MSCE April Day 10!) I'm happy to share the Flower Pen Tutorial with you. I used the supplies I had left over from the workshop I did last week to make a handful of pens for my office. It took me all of ten minutes, seriously!

(click on photos to view larger)

1. Supplies: Floral tape, faux flowers (cut them off from the "stem" leaving about 2 inches,) and ballpoint pens.

2. Hold the flower stem next to the pen so that the base of the flower is lined up with the top of the pen.

3. Begin wrapping tape about a 1/2 inch below the top of pen. BE SURE TO PULL THE TAPE TIGHT AS YOU WRAP! The tape will only stick if you pull it as you go, so wrap tightly!

4. Wrap all the way down. No worries if the tape rips, just stick back on where you left off and keep pulling and wrapping.

5. Tear off a small piece to cover the top 1/2 inch of pen. Get as close to the base of the flower as possible so that no pen is showing.

6. TA DA! Beautiful flower pens to brighten up the office, or give as gifts! ENJOY!

I finally have a weekend without much structure to it, so I'm taking advantage and heading down to my craft studio to do some more creating! Oh, and stay tuned for my adventures in egg-dying, with a special guest appearance by my hubby!

HAPPY EASTER WEEKEND!