Quick Spring Office Project

This morning, I had to run my son to Michael's to find mirrors.  He needs to make a periscope for science class by Tuesday.  (Not sure if he has known this for awhile and neglected to tell me till now or if the teacher just assigned this on Friday... in either case, someone is not taking into account the fact that we live 30 minutes out from any sort of craft store!!  So... impromptu trip to Michael's!  Remember, it wasn't my choice... someone HAD to go to the craft store.)

Anyway... I gave my husband the option to pick this particular Saturday morning errand... but he chose another one instead (taking daughter to Girl Scout Cookie booth...oh wait a minute, crafts vs. cookies... NOW I get it!)  

So, I can't be responsible for the fact that I had to walk into a craft store with no real budget for crafting.    Spending money at craft stores is an addiction of mine... it wasn't my fault!  I was forced in there!

I HAD to walk out of there with SOME kind of a project, right?  I mean, seriously... we're talking about ME now.

I was good... there were many, many things to buy, but I chose a simple little $4.20 vase.  

Isn't this owl just the cutest?  At 40% off, he was not a bad price, and I just love a deep orange.  Isn't it funny how tastes change as you grow up.  Thirty years ago, orange was #3 on my least-liked colors.... behind brown and black.  #4 was green.

Nowadays, my house is almost entirely browns, blacks,... and some orange (and some green).  LOL

Back to the owl vase... I needed to make it "useful" to justify the cost.  So, I decided to do what everyone knows about... making flower-pens.  I bought a bunch of yellow daisies, too ($2.40) and a roll of floral tape ($1.99).  I already had the pens.

I feel like everyone knows how to make these, but in case... here's how I do it.  I cut the flowers apart and trimmed the stems to be shorter than the pens (and with no little plastic pieces sticking off of them).

Then I begin using floral tape (about 15-18" pre-stretched). to wrap the flower onto the pen.  Just be sure to allow for space for the cap to go back onto the pen.

There you are... a little splash of color in my office nook.  Nice springy color... and that cute little floral bouquet is USEFUL... it offers a quick pen (and in this family, we are ALWAYS looking for pens!  Is that you too?)

I used a few other light green flowers I found at home to vary the bouquet a bit.  The total cost was under $10 since I already owned the pens and a few flowers.  Wouldn't this make the most adorable little gift for teachers or an Easter gift for family?  At least it's something no one will toss after the holiday and it can be used daily!  And the price is right while these vases are 40% off.

Michael's did have other colors of owl vases... green and maybe white?  I can't really remember... the orange one stood out to me.  This particular style worked well because of the price and because the vase is less than 5" tall.

So... maybe you'll have a son/daughter who needs some crazy piece for a science project that forces you to go to a craft store.  Here's one project you won't feel guilty about later.  :)