Felted Cat Hair

Warning: Potentially creepy post ahead. ;)

I'm just gonna say it. I felted my cats. Well, I got this book for my birthday called Crafting With Cats and I immediately felt compelled to give one of the tutorials a try. I had no idea cat hair would felt! And it's a free endless resource at my house. Or so I thought. Now I brush my cats 2x daily and they just aren't giving it up. I'm not exactly sure what this felting idea will turn into. I've been thinking about making cat toys out of them but I'm not sure how well they will hold up. I'll give it a try. But for now, the moment you're all waiting for...photos.

This is her happy face. lol Brush, vacuum, repeat. Cut out a cardboard kitty template and cover it in packing tape so it keeps its shape when it gets wet.

Wrap your cardboard kitty many times in kitty fur and then put a little soap on the fur, soak in hot water and then wrap with saran wrap. Use your fingers to gently rub the materials. I'd say 5 minutes is good. Check every now and then to make sure your fur is in place. Be sure your ears are pointy! Unwrap and dry. I was dying to see what it looked like so I put the iron on it a few times to dry.

Now your kitty is flat and has stray hairs all over it. I trimmed those with the scissors. Next, cut the bottom almost all the way off and fold that little strip over to make a tail. You'll see what I mean in the next photo.

 I don't have beads handy for the eyes but I tied a cute little bow around her neck.

Kitty cat finger puppet is complete.


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Recycled Reindeer

I saw this Reindeer on BHG and fell in love...only I needed mine to be on drugs or something. I feel really bad when I buy new decorations because I have...so...much...stuff. But making them from items I already have is totally acceptable. The tutorial is on BHG.com so I won't reinvent the wheel. It's perfect. Cut, decorate, glue.

 

I cut too many of the U shaped pieces (only need one).

A little scrapbook paper and modge podge. 

The original:

Copper Garden Ball

Disclaimer: This isn't a tutorial, more like a what not to do entry.  I've wanted to make one of these for a long long time, and really how hard can gluing some pennies to a bowling ball be? I almost lost my mind! First of all, finding bowling balls isn't as easy as one would expect but I did hit the jackpot at Savers...for $9.99 each. This better be good! I got $5 worth of pennies at the bank and some gorilla glue...which doesn't dry clear. In fact, it goes on clear but then becomes 3x its size and turns white. I covered 1/5 of the ball with pennies glued in this before it dried and I realized what I had done. The other thing I should mention is, before the pennies dry they really want to slide off of this spherical surface. I don't have an answer to this. After the first pennies dried, I was able to start adding and the first pennies became a boundary so nothing could slide past them. I'm not sure if that makes sense, but if you make this ball, you'll quickly understand what I mean. Also, you will note from the photos below that at one point during this process I wore gloves. Am I the only person out there who can't use their hands at all when wearing gloves??! Needless to say, I might get cancer from carcinogenic adhesives. OH, the glue that I found and loved is 9001. I got it at Hobby Lobby and I can't tell you the price because my lazy (but kind) cashier just picked one out of her head when it didn't have a sticker on it. What did I do with the white glue catastrophe, you ask? I did what anyone else would do and I Sharpied it! I'm attaching a photo/link at the bottom of my inspiration ball. When the ball sits in the rain it will patina and look super cool. This ball is for my father in law's 70th birthday. What else to get a rich old Jewish man? Money!

 

* Inspiration ball from Beth Evans Ramos

Fall Yarn Letters

 

 I'm almost too embarrassed to post these on here because they were so simple (and free!). Everyone has those wooden letters from craft stores and you could spend a small fortune buying up the alphabet. It dawned on me one day that I can make my own. I have yarn out the wahzoo (Did I spell that right? Is it even a word?) I cut letters out of amazon boxes at 12" tall and covered one side with glue. Then I wrapped yarn back and forth until the entire letter was covered. To keep the yarn in place while drying, I attached a paper clip. And that's it! Next time I'll aim for cutting straighter lines. ;) I consider these to be very abstract or freeform.