Kim's Craft Crib: My Very First Craft Tutorial!- A Fancy Felt Pen Topper

Let's cut right to the chase I have no idea how this blog thing will pan out but Im givng it a go anyway. This is my first entry here on the Craft Crib, which I may refer to as KCC every now and then.

So every once in a while I get an "original" ideal. By original I mean a non-Pintrest related idea, which means, I haven't found it on Pinterest yet. Well, ok this is the first time that has happened in a really long time but I digress.

So I have this pen. My Mom bought it for me while were were checking out at Kirklands last year. It was during the holidays and I was inspecting it so I could make one for myself. It looks like a piece of candy, and since my Christmas motif in my home is all about sweet treats I was obsessing about every candy looking thing I saw. I think she bought it for me in one of those, "Wouldn't-it-just-be-easier-to buy-it" moments. I am an adult but I was tickled that my Mom would still fall for one of those "whiney- kid-at-the-check-out moments".

Enough about the moments. My daughter handed me this pen this morning to write a note for school an I thought. I can make a bunch of these, which was the reason I picked it up in the first place. So today about a year later I made this jack-o-lantern one. Before I knew it I was finished and thought I should have taken some photos an made a tutorial. Sooooo I did. This tutorial is for a pen with a little felt gift on top. Suitable for any occasion where you might give a gift (I'm a genius, I know). It's cute, it's quick, it's no sew and I did it with stuff I already have in my craft stash.

We will be making the gift pen on the left.

Here is what you will need:

Craft Felt
Pen (I use the cheap ball point ones)
Ribbon
Hot glue and gun
Scissors
Stuffing or batting
My Pattern or your own freestyle drawing

Pattern link:
https://www.box.com/s/47r2nv54qqdpmh0t6tpz

Start by wrapping the ribbon around your pen. This ribbon was super skinny and made my hand cramp up holding it in place. Place a few dots of glue on the pen as you wrap. This will hold the ribbon in place over the long haul. I start at the bottom and wrap up. Don't worry about making the top perfect. Its gonna be stuck inside the felt. I prefer satin ribbon for this over grograin cause it feels better when your writing but its really your choice. I just used what I had on hand.

Trim up your box to make sure both pieces match up.
you can also cut out your other pieces and get them ready.

Add hot glue to the top, one side and half of the bottom of your gift box shape. Place your pen in the middle in the glue.

Add your ribbon to the front center of the box. (included in the pattern)

Then lay the front piece of the box shape on top of the glue and press the edges together as best you can. Be careful since the glue is hot, and don't worry about getting any on the edges. You can trim that off later.

Now, add glue to the bottom, on the other side of the pen, making sure the pen is glued in place.

I didn't have any poly-fil stuffing so I cut up some batting

stuffed it inside...

(Careful not to overstuff.)

Then squished it together.

(I managed to get through this part without burning myself.)

See the cooled glue that oozed out the sides? Trim that off and make your gift neat.

Now cut out your bow if you haven't already.

Criss-cross the tails so it looks like this.

Then take the bottom tail, which will become the center of the bow, and wrap it up over the crossed part.

Craft felt will stretch a little so don't be afraid to wrap that baby snugly.

Add a dot of glue to the center back and glue down that piece that you just wrapped.

see this it what it looks like glued down.

Now you can trim off any extra end and voila, le bow.
I cut a "V" shape into the tails of the bow to make it all cutesy but in the pattern that shape is already there.

Note, I drew this out directly on the felt and made sure it worked before I made it into a pattern. If you are using pen to trace the pattern this would be a good time to trim off any pen marks.