You guys know all too well about our love for succulents. Sadly we can’t always keep them alive and thriving, but that doesn’t stop us from trying…. over and over and over again. Another thing we love around here is secret storage and today we are combining these two favorites into a super easy project we call DIY Succulent Pens.

Secret Storage? Succulents? Pens? You’re probably thinking we have officially lost our minds… but allow us to explain.

Making Your Pen Storage Pretty

We all need to store pens on the top of our desks and most of the time they’re cluttered in a cup with no real style. That’s totally fine but when we thought of this idea, we thought it was the perfect solution to help make that cup of disorganized pens actually double as pretty desktop decor. And not just any decor. Succulent decor! In that geometric vase of succulents on Casey’s desk hides 10 PENS and we can’t wait to show you how making this succulent pen planter took us less than 10 minutes — total!

How to DIY Succulent Pens

Like we mentioned, this project is SO easy that even the kids can get involved and DIY their own succulent pen garden for their own desks. Here’s what you need for the project:

• Pens
• Masking Tape
• Floral Tape
• Scissors
• Wire Cutters
• Fake Succulents (we bought ours at Michaels)
• Mini Rocks (also available at Michaels or big box hardware stores)

Step One: Cut Down the Succulent’s Stem

Most of the succulents we bought came with long, thick stems. These stems are unnecessary when eventually attaching them to the pens. Take the wire cutters and cut the stem down so you only have about an inch and a half or two inches left.

Step Two: Tape the Succulent to the Pen Using Masking Tape

The floral tape is not strong enough to keep the succulent stem attached to the pen and this is where the masking tape comes in. Line up the succulent as close to the top of the pen as possible and use a little piece of masking tape to secure it to the pen.

Step Three: Cover the Tape and Pen with Floral Tape

Starting at the very top of the pen, tightly roll the floral tape around the pen until the entire pen is covered in green floral tape. Be sure to slightly overlap the floral tape while wrapping so that there are no parts of the pen peeking through the green floral tape. At the end of the pen, simply rip the end of the floral tape and it will naturally stick when you continue to wrap it.

Step Four: Repeat Steps 1-3

Each pen took us about 2 minutes to complete and we repeated this process over and over again until all of our succulents were attached to pens.

Step Five: Add Rocks to the Vase

You can use any vase you want for this project, just make sure you choose something that is tall enough to hold the pens. Having a vase that is slightly too tall will not be an issue once you add the mini rocks to the bottom of the vase.

Step Six: Stick in DIY Succulent Pens

We’re pretty confident that anyone looking at this DIY Succulent Pen Planter would have NO idea what it is secretly storing. Plus we always love a succulent planter that doesn’t need to be watered.

To use a pen you simply pull it from the vase, use it as you normally would, and put it right back when you are done. Easy enough, right?!

Bridget is constantly lending out pens to her students in her classroom, so she says she is going to make one of these for her desk at school so that when she does lend them out, it is clear who she gave her pen to. She has a feeling that this little trick will convince her students to actually return these pens at the end of class. To our fellow teachers tuning in (or anyone with a work desk & pen thieves!), this simple project is worth considering!

Bridget&Casey