How to Make a Witch's Cauldron Cat Bed

For this craft you will need a plastic witch's cauldron, fleece, old pillow, sticky velcro dots, and scissors.

 Remove any kittens from the cauldron.

Put the pillow in the cauldron.

Stuff the fleece around the pillow and have it spill out of the cauldron.

 Cut the fleece in scallops around the outside of the cauldron to make it looks as if the witch's brew is spilling over the cauldron.

Use the velco dots to secure the fleece to the outside of the cauldron.  Using velco allows you to remove the fleece to wash it.

Now you have a witch's cauldron cat bed!

Fleece Spider DIY Cat Toy

At our kitten shower, we had people make fleece spiders.  I thought I would share how to make them.

For this toy you need fleece, hair rubber band, and scissors. You could also use the rings from milk cartons.  I like this craft because I can use the leftover fleece squares from making a cat bed.

The first thing you do is cut the fleece into strips.  Ideally, the strips would be about 4 inches long and 1/2 inch wide.  It doesn't have to be exact though.  My example is a little longer than that.

Next you tie the strips around the hairband.  Make sure you do double knots so the fleece stays on.

Then tie the fleece strips all away around the hairband.

My fleece strips were a little long so I trimmed off some of it.

You end up with a fleece spider!

My cats like it when I make them with the hairbands so I can slingshot them across the room.  If your cat eats rubber bands, I would recommend using a different material for the ring.

January Name Plates for Shelter Cats

At Great Plains SPCA, we have eight cat colony rooms.  The cats' kennel cards are inside the rooms so that people can read about the cats while they are visiting with them.  On the outside of the rooms we put name plates so we know which cats are in which room.  To make the cattery a little more festive, we put up new name plates for each holiday.


For January, I am making snowflake name plates.  Of course, no craft project is complete without my handy "helper" Jaq.








I use foam shapes as the base for the name plates.  Foam is sturdier than paper and can be wiped off if needed.  Since I waited to buy the foam shapes until after Christmas, they were 70% off.  Bonus!







To make the name plates reusable, I use white board paper.  I used a circle punch to make the white board paper in the shape of the middle of the foam snowflake.

I use a scrapbooking tape runner to attach the circles to the foam snowflakes.  

Some of the snowflakes have glitter on one side.  The white board paper doesn't stay attached to the glitter side so attach it to the smooth side.







Now it's time to add a little bling to the snowflakes.  Normally, I add stickers to the name plates but I couldn't find any reasonably priced snowflake stickers.  Instead I bought some sparkle paper and used a snowflake punch.

I used foam dots to attach the snowflakes to the name plates and to add a little depth to the name plate.

This is the finished project.  We attach the name plates to the glass doors using Command strip hooks.  We write the names on the name plates using white board markers.  Then when a cat gets adopted, like Calisto did, we erase the name and write the new one.

WARNING!
Be careful in choosing the surface on which to use the punches!  I made a poor decision and was working on my glass coffee table.  The original glitter paper I used was too thick for the punch.  I applied to much pressure to the punch and it went right through the glass.  Luckily, no humans or cats were injured!

Kong Christmas Ornament

I'm still making ornaments for the shelter's dog-themed Christmas tree.  Tonight I made a decoration using a Kong.

Supplies Needed:
Kong
Ribbon
Scissors
Something to pull ribbon through the Kong.

I tied a knot to make a loop with the ribbon.  The bigger the Kong, the bigger the knot needs to be.

Then I used a skewer to push the loop through the small end of the Kong.

The cat may decided to help.  This is not a necessary step.

Then I tied a bow on top.  I think they turned out really cute!  Jaq is cute too!

And it will look great on a dog themed Christmas tree!

Jaq:  I think this tree needs a cat theme!

Tennis Ball Christmas Ornaments for Dog Themed Christmas Tree

On Saturday we are decorating the animal shelter for the holidays.  We are going to decorate the tree in the cattery with cat toys.  The dog tree is going to be in the lobby.  Since I'm not a dog person, I needed some feedback from others on how to decorate it.  We want to decorate the tree with items that can be used by the shelter once the tree comes down.  One of the Adoption Counselors suggested hanging tennis balls from the tree.  I decided to try it out myself before having the other volunteers do it on Saturday.

This craft is for adults only!


Supplies Needed:
Tennis Balls
Decorative Cord
Ribbon
Scissors
Knife

Cut an X into the top the tennis ball.  Be careful that the tennis ball doesn't roll while you are making the cuts.

Cut 12 inches of the cord.  I used elastic cord for decorating presents but you could probably use any ribbon or string.

Tie the two ends together to form a loop.  I double tied it so that the knot is fairly big and won't slip out.

Stuff the knot into the hole in the top of the tennis ball.  I used the scissors to help stuff it in the ball.

Then tie a bow on the top of the ball.

We should be able to pull out the cord after the Christmas so that the dogs can play with the balls.

I think they will look great on the dog-themed tree and the dogs will appreciate their new toys!

Holiday Cat Enrichment Toys

With the holidays coming up I wanted to come up with some holiday themed enrichment activities for the cats at the shelter where I volunteer.  

I came up with this toilet toilet paper roll craft.  It is just an empty toilet paper roll decorated with decorative tape.

Then after filling it with treats I folded in the ends.  Gus was the first one to check it out.

Both cats were interested in the treats but they weren't interested in working for them.

Pearl kept at it a little longer.  She loves her treats!

Hopefully, the shelter cats will be more excited about it.

And yes, Gus wasn't left out of the treats.  He got some too.