DIY Pen Wrap

I have done these for years! Every summer I make a new set for our incoming Summer Camp Staff. Pleasant Hill Outdoor Camp is our camp by the way. www.phoc.org Thus the initials 'PHOC'. We love our staff shamelessly. They become like family. I welcome them every year with a staff welcome box. Last year I wrapped a Pringles can with paper and filled it with goodies. Strapped around each was a matching notebook and pen. Here I will share with you how to make these.

First, gather your supplies. You will need pens, floss, mod podge, tape, permanent marker, scissors, and an alphabet chart. I got my alphabet chart from a friendship bracelet book. Fair warning however: this pen includes numbers which I have no chart for. They have been developed through trial and error.

Start by marking your pen where the cap sits on both ends with the permanent marker.

Choose your floss colors. You will need two. One for the wrap and one for the letters. Cut the color you will use for the letters (the under color). You will need 8 lengths of the pen.

Using tape, line the edge of the tape up with the line. Be sure your wrap color (blue here) sticks out the top, and the under color (white here) sticks out the bottom along the length of the pen. Your wrap color will not be cut until the end. Mine stays on a paper bobbin until I am ready to cut. This way I am assured I have plenty of wrap.

Start wrapping your pen. (I am left handed so this is relatively easy for me. If you are right handed I recommend flipping the letter chart upside down and working from the writing tip end towards the top.) Wrap until you cover the tape. I also recommend that as you wrap you try to untwist the floss along the way so it lies flat along the pen.

Start with your first letter, and lift the appropriate strands of your under color as you wrap with your wrap color. You wrap once for every vertical row on the chart.

I recommend spacing your letters by wrapping twice with your wrap color.

Spacing for the numbers was the same, but in between the letters and the numbers I wrapped five times.

After I finished with all my letters I made sure I had plenty of wraps around to hold down the under color before I cut the excess under color.

Careful to make sure that the under color does not show through as you finish your wrap, line it up with the ending line. This is where you cut the excess wrap color.

Using the mod podge with my fingers and twisting the pen in the direction of the wrap, I am able to tack down the ends. I prefer to mod podge the entire pen to prevent any unraveling. This is not fool proof against a ton of abuse. For example, once it is dry, regular mod podge becomes soft when wet again. If you can get your hands on some outdoor mod podge or stronger glue it may be smarter.

Be sure to set the pen down on something plastic the glue will not stick to while allowing it to dry.

Once it is dry, it is ready for use! I hope you enjoy this! I have so much fun making these. I hope you will too.