As the big day for our fathers’ approaches, there is still time to create a meaningful gift. Grab this opportunity to craft a perfect DIY pen holder; interestingly this will be serving as a constant reminder of your love, no matter how busy he is on his desk.

Yes, this pen holder not only serves as a practical desk accessory, but also holds a special sentiment. By adding a personal touch and customising it with colours and a message, this DIY project will showcase your love and appreciation.

Let’s create something special for the extraordinary dad in your life!

Things you need:

1. Three foam sheets, (White, black and a colour of your choice, mine was blue)

2. Pieces of red foam sheet

3. White or hot glue

4. Scissors

5. A box or an empty tetra pack of any juice or milk

6. Piece of cardboard

Directions:

1. Cut a white foam sheet in landscape orientation, splitting it in half, according to the size of your tetra pack. Wrap the foam sheet around the tetra pack and secure it using either white glue or a hot glue gun, as in pictures, 2 and 3.

2. Take the remaining piece of white foam sheet and insert it into the tetra pack. Press the upper side of sheet down, but on the outside gently, and you will notice it forming the shape of shirt collars, pictures 4, 5 and 6.

3. Cut the blue foam sheet in landscape orientation, similar to how we cut the white one earlier. This will be used as the jacket or coat for the shirt, picture 7.

4. Wrap it around the tetra pack in the same manner, aligning the edges in front of the white collars. Notice that the white foam should be on the inside, and the blue foam should cover it, picture 8.

5. Gently press the blue foam downward, and you will be amazed to see how it beautifully forms larger collars of the jacket, bigger than the size of the white ones underneath, picture 9.

6. Cut a small tie, according to the size of the jacket, from both a white foam piece and a black foam piece. Ensure the white tie is slightly larger than the black tie to highlight the contrasting colours, picture 10.

7. Paste the tie in the middle of the collars, picture 11.

8. Cut a circle from the cardboard and black foam, considering the size of your pen holder. The diameter of the circle should be at least 8 inches, then paste the pen holder on any one side of it, pictures 12 and 13.

9. You can write a heartfelt message or cut out your dad’s name from the cardboard. Alternatively, simply write ‘dad’ or ‘papa’ based on what you call him (as I did), and glue it onto the empty space beside the pen holder, picture 14.

10. I vertically aligned and pasted each letter on top of one another, but you can keep it simple if you prefer, picture 15.

Voila! Isn’t it amazing?

[The writer can be contacted at ithecraftman@gmail.com

Published in Dawn, Young World, June 10th, 2023