I have a really crafty friend named Amy, who emailed me asking if I would create a template to make paper inserts for clear pens. I hadn’t ever thought of customizing pens like that before. She found the idea from Christy at The Idea Door.
When I saw Christy’s free CTR pen insert printable I started thinking of all of the fun possibilities that this project could be used for. Here are just a few of my ideas:
- Award Pens for students, scouts, church, etc.
- Customized Pen Gifts for friends, teachers, etc.
- Holiday gifts for Halloween, Christmas, Valentine’s day, Easter, etc.
I made a FREE PHOTOSHOP TEMPLATE for creating multiple pen inserts that will also work with Photoshop Elements. You can download the template below:
When you download this zip file you will be accepting my terms of use.
A copy of the terms of use is also located in the zip file.
The type of pen Christy used is a Pentel R.S.V.P. Ballpoint Pen. I created the template with that size pen in mind. I haven’t tried it out yet, but will be updating this post once I do.
Once you open the template in Photoshop you can create your customized pen inserts by placing digital scrapbooking paper and elements above the rectangle shapes. Each rectangle is the size of one insert. If you’d like to “cut” your digital papers to the shape of the rectangles use a clipping mask (PS: alt + ctrl + g or in PSE: ctrl + g).
When you’ve finished adding cute digital papers, text and embellishments to your inserts you’re ready to print and cut. Since the pens have some gold text on them Christy suggested using a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser to remove the writing on the clear tube. To place the customized inserts into your pen you have to roll the paper a bit. An easy way to do this is to use a pencil or pen smaller than the pen you’ll be using. Once the paper is rolled unscrew the bottom of the pen and slide it in. Then screw the bottom back on and you’ve got a customized pen to use or give.
Since the school year is just starting here I’m going to order some of these pens and make some teacher gifts for my children’s new teachers. I’ll be sure and post some pictures when I’m done.
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