There are days when you just need something to make you smile at the office. Everyone has those rough patches where you don’t really want to be sitting at your desk, and I think summers are especially tough. It’s hard not to think about all the fun things you could be doing: hanging out at the beach or pool, going to a baseball game, or just enjoying the air conditioning in a movie theater while watching one of the summer blockbusters.
These fabric-wrapped pens with tassels came from that place of needing a smile. Keep a few of these at your desk and I PROMISE they’ll brighten up your day. Polka dots and tassels? In bright colors? No-brainer. There’s also a certain amount of satisfaction that comes from using something that you made yourself that’s sure to make you happy.
You could give these as gifts with a great coordinating notepad or journal; what a great back to school present that would make for teachers or students! Or they would be perfect “welcome to the new job” gifts for new coworkers or “congratulations on the new job” gifts for a friend as well. Too bad I didn’t think of that sooner, when Carla started her new job. Fail!
One Year Ago: Fresh Corn Salsa is a healthy, delicious no-cook snack for these hot summer days.
What you’ll need:
Pens without side clips
Fabric tape or ribbon tape (if you can find tape wide enough to wrap around the pen completely, get that!)
Embroidery floss in colors that coordinate with your fabric tape
Scissors
What to do:
1. Make a tassel from the embroidery floss. (1.) Start by wrapping the floss around 2 fingers about 12 times. (2.) Use a small piece of floss to tie the loops into a circle. Leave the about 1/2 inch of thread on the ends of the ties. (3./4.) Remove from your fingers and tie another piece of floss about 1/2 inch down from the first tie, to hold all of the thread into a bundle. (5.) Trim that second tie close to the knot. Cut the loops at the bottom of the tassel and trim them all to the same length.
2. Cut 1 or 2 pieces of fabric tape the same length as your pen. Adhere the tape to the pen, being carful to line up the seams. I needed to use 2 pieces of tape because mine wasn’t wide enough to cover the whole pen, so I had to line up the edge of the second piece of tape with the first one that I adhered to the pen. There was still some fabric overlap on one side, but I don’t mind it.
3. (1.) Cut 2 pieces of tape long enough to wrap around the pen. (2.) Wrap one around the tip of the pen. (3.) Start to wrap the other piece around the end of the pen. Tack the loose ends of the tie at the top of the tassel onto the tape. (4.) Finish wrapping the piece around the pen so that the tassel is trapped between the tape and the pen, holding it in place.
yeah. if these pencils don’t make you smile. i dont know what will. adorable.