diy: frilled pencils

There have been several crafting sessions this week up in the barn studio, with 3 generations of makers collaborating and having fun. One of our favorite projects was these festive pencils that are sure to add a bit of flare to any list making for the New Year.

 Inspired by these pencils my mother had seen at Anthropologie, we decided to make our own. We enhanced them a bit, by making the erasers accessible. Not sure why anyone would want to have a pencil without an eraser! We used bits from my mom's paper collection, but this would be a perfect way to use up scraps of wrapping paper you might have leftover from last weekend. Below my mom "frills" her pencil topper.

 Instead of using one piece of paper and twisting it over the eraser, like the originals, we cut frilled toppers and had fun mixing and matching patterns and colors. Young children can create these with only a little assistance, and the 8+ crowd can make them on their own. Great party favors... or a party activity in itself!

Frilled Pencils

Need:

• pencils
• colorful paper scraps (tissue paper is the most successful, but any thin paper will work)
• glue stick
• standard scissors
• hand paper shredding scissors (optional)
• ribbons (optional)

Make:

1. Cut a piece of paper to be the length of your pencil (but not over the eraser) and the width of a little bit more than it takes to wrap around once.
2. Apply glue stick to the length of one end of the paper and adhere it smoothly down the pencil.
3. Keep adding glue and wrapping around. 
4. Cut your topper: use a coordinating strip of paper that's approximately 2 inches wide. Cut fringe along one side or use shredding scissors like we did with these paper flowers.
5. Glue the frill around the top leaving the eraser hidden but available.Let dry before sharpening.

For my daughter's ribbon adorned birthday pencil, I just wrapped and glued... wrapped and glued from the top spiraling down. A twist of a wire pom pom garland was the final touch.  Isn't it fun to transform something so commonly used? Pencils are part of our everyday... but these are anything from ho hum.

Who knows what this upcoming year will hold? But I intend to greet each new day with a smile and the hope for its potential. Not always an easy task, but a stash of these happy little pencils are sure to keep my spirit bright when I write down my daily "to dos".

Wishing you all a joyful and creative start to 2011!