I did paint the tube white first. I had planned to only put the "Swan" stamp and the "We The People" stamp on the tube, but I decided it would look better to cover the tube with other stamps first.
If I do another one, I will cover the tube with the "Liberty Bell" stamps first then add the "Swan" and "We The People" stamps. The background stamps turned out to be more distracting than I had planned. (20 20 hindsight)
I gave her the pen last night and she was pleased with it.