Several years ago, like 8 years ago I had just moved back in with my parents after living on my own for the previous three. I was sad to put all my stuff that I had curated for my home/apartment into storage and I was truly, “living the dream” since I moved into their basement. But on a more positive note their basement had a pretty great setup even if it was a temporary-not-my-first-solution. I had my own shower, a washtub (laundry area haha) I had my own living room, a bedroom, and then there was also what we always called, the bar room.
It’s exactly what you picture probably, a room where there is a bar. Funny thing though, my parents don’t drink. However, their home is the home my mother grew up in and her father, my grandfather, built this bar himself! He enjoyed the occasional Burger Beer, or Hudy Delight. He was also in what is now the Air Force and decorated his bar with all kinds of airplanes and airplane/air force memorabilia. This bar is also affectionally known as, “The Hangar” Adorable, right?
About 2 years before moving into my parents house though I was still working at a Chiropractic Clinic and a few times a year we’d have to go to these seminars for more training. Everyone always moaned and groaned about going but I honestly made the best of it! My boss always paid for everyone’s road trip snacks and bought us lunch. We’d pair up and go to different classes in which I was never in there with my boss so I just doodled all the time. But maybe my favorite thing of all was that these events were held in hotels. These hotels had LIMITLESS pens floating around. On one of the last seminars I went too I dare say I pocketed near 100 pens. They floated around my house and moved with me – three times. One day while I was cleaning in my parents basement I almost started to throw them away and a genus idea came to mind.
I’ll decorate them! I’ll take them from drab to fab! Haha, dumb expression but for real I was going to make them glittery and cool. And then I’d have more pens available for my desk at work! And they’d be unique and no one could steal them! And the perfect place to do this was in The Hangar because there was a big table and bench that wouldn’t be in anyone’s way!
Decorating those pens was an all day event for me. It was my first foray into mod podge and glitter-izing any and everything. It honestly helped inspire this week of summer camp crafts! So I will show you what I did this time around but there is complete creative freedom on this one. I say the more left field you get the more fun of an office accessory you’re going to have!
Supplies – I went to the Dollar Store and purchased most if not all my supplies. I got a hand held mirror, a hair brush, several kinds of pens, pom poms, rhinestones, decorative tape, ribbon, foam brushes for mod podge. At the craft store I purchased the mod podge. You’ll also need a glue gun and glue sticks. I’ve provided a link below if you need any of these items! I am an Amazon Affiliate and any qualifying purchase you make from clicking one of these links, I will receive a small commission. I chose this Glue Gun because it’s very similar to mine and over 5k people have reviewed it and it has a 4.7 out of 5 stars!
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Variety pack of craft supplies – Arts & Crafts Supplies for Kids Crafts – Kids Craft Supplies & Materials – Kids Art Supplies for Kids – Arts and Crafts Kit for Kids Craft Kits – Toddler Crafts for Kids Craft Set – Carl & Kay
Variety pack of glitter – Teenitor Glitter, Fine Glitters and Holographic Chunky Glitters,Glitter for Nails, Glitter Slime, Assorted Glitter, Festival Glitter for Nail Face Hair Body , Glitter for Resin Tumblers, 16+16pcs
Mod Podge in Gloss – Mod Podge CS11201 Waterbase Sealer, Glue & Decoupage Finish, 8 oz, Gloss, 8 Fl Oz
Like I mentioned, lots of creative freedom to happen in this one. It’s a fun craft because you can let loose and there aren’t any rules! I mean, maybe don’t glue your fingers together, but that’s more life advice than a rule. Also I like using Mod Podge Gloss for these because if you do glitter and seal it with a nice thick layer of mod podge it makes it feel like it should have always been like that! Like you BOUGHT it that way! Haha, but seriously everyone will want to know where you got your cool pens, I guarantee it! (Unless you work with grumps who hate fun, and for that I am sorry)
Let’s start with the non-pen things I worked on! For the hair brush I just brushed on some mod podge and then dumped a bunch of glitter onto it and then waited about 30 seconds and then carefully put a thick layer of mod podge on so it could dry smooth and I wouldn’t feel the glitter! It worked! For the mirror I would lay down one row at a time of hot glue and place random poms down. Once I got a few layers in on the mirror I was make sure that I didn’t repeat too many colors in the same area)
thick layer of mod podge after glitter hot glue a line at a time
Next up: Pens! For the ribbon pens I used hot glue to get the ribbon to stay in place. I would put a dab on and then wait 10-20 seconds and then press the ribbon into place. I was trying to avoid burning my fingers since I was using zero protection. For the decorative tape I would use a piece of clear scotch tape to hold it down and then wrap all the way down. Once at the end I’d use another piece of scotch tape to keep it all in place!
The glitter pens were slightly more involved. I would have to mod podge the pen, then attempt to evenly distribute glitter onto the pen and then mod podge a generous amount onto the pen without moving too much glitter AND THEN I had to figure out how to get the pen to dry without it getting stuck to something. I decided to poke holes into a paper towel roll and used random things to keep it in place. It worked great and cost me nothing! For the flower pen I hot glued that onto the pen!
Genius right? I ripped one of these off to make that one pen!
Lastly I wanted to make a solid pom pom pen. Then I got tired and wanted to keep going and did two very low effort pens lol. All the poms were hot glued on!
For this craft’s drink pairing I wanted something with orange juice since I think of writing in the morning, or going to work in the morning, and I could have chose a mimosa, but I wanted more visual flair than bubbly flair so I went with the classic: Tequila Sunrise! It’s a simple enough drink – tequila, orange juice and grenadine served in a Collins glass.
Ingredients
- 2 oz of Tequila
- 2 oz of grenadine
- Orange Juice
- Ice
- Orange to garnish
- (Cherry to garnish if you have it!)
Directions
- In a tall glass, or collins glass add your ice
- Pour in Tequila
- Fill with Orange Juice leaving room for grenadine
- Add in your grenadine by pouring it over the back of the spoon so it’s running down the inside-side of the glass
- Garnish with your orange! And Cherry if you bought them!
- Enjoy!
I could decorate pens and drink tequila sunrises for hours. HOURS. What other ways will you decorate your pens? Let me know in the comments below and be sure to tag me so I can see your creations! @creativeunicorncrafts
XOXO
-Robin
