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Tuesday, 31 January 2023

**CRAFTING RERUN** Crafting With Cats ~ Part XI ~ Valentines Special ~ Catnip Hearts and Kicker Toy

Welcome to

Crafting with Cats ©BionicBasil®

Supurr Greetings Pawesome Pals

Thanks for joining for us for a rerun of Part XI of our Crafting with Cats segment. Mew know we have so much fun making all this stuff, and we hope mew enjoy seeing it and/or making it too! 

If mew missed any of our previous CWC posts, here's how to make:


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**Purrlease Note**

All Crafting with Cats ideas and creations are of our own design.

Copyright ©BionicBasil 

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This time we're making 

Catnip Hearts and Kicker Toy - Crafting with Cats ©BionicBasil® Valentine's Special 2019

What Mew Will Need:

Felt squares

Cotton fabric of your choice

Ribbon

Tailors chalk or similar fabric marker

Scissors

Thread and Needle or Sewing machine

Stuffing/Wadding

and we used lots of homegrown BBHQ catnip and catmint

Optional Cat ~ Parsley was today's Craft Room Snoopervisor

Here's our selection of fabric

Catnip Hearts and Kicker Toy - Crafting with Cats ©BionicBasil® Valentine's Special 2019

Ooooh what purretty colours!

Making The Catnip Hearts


Catnip Hearts and Kicker Toy - Crafting with Cats ©BionicBasil® Valentine's Special 2019

1. Parsley was snoopervising today's session and making sure all Health & Safety protocols were carried out.

2. Cut out a cardboard template of your chosen heart

3.  Pick which colour felt square and trace 2 x heart outlines 

4. Repeat No. 3 then cut out hearts and place right sides together.


Catnip Hearts and Kicker Toy - Crafting with Cats ©BionicBasil® Valentine's Special 2019

5. & 6. If mew don't have a sewing machine, that's ok.  Mew can hand stitch the hearts together.  We used the sewing machine and left a good inch so we could turn the right sides out.

7. Turn right sides out, and your heart should look something like this.

8.  Get your catnip and stuff to the brim, then hand stitch the last part of the seams together.

Making The Catnip Heart Kicker Toy

Catnip Hearts and Kicker Toy - Crafting with Cats ©BionicBasil® Valentine's Special 2019

1.  Take your chosen fabric, we used this lovely cotton print.  Cut a rectangle, mew can make it to a size of your choice, though ours is approx 8 x 4 inches.

2.  Fold the rectangle along the long edge [in half] and sew along the bottom and long edge, either by hand or with a sewing machine. 

3. Turn right side out and get your wadding ready.

4.  Stuff kicker toy, alternating with wadding and then catnip until full.

Catnip Hearts and Kicker Toy - Crafting with Cats ©BionicBasil® Valentine's Special 2019

5.  Cut your ribbon into approx 4 inch lengths and add to the top edge, tack in place if mew need to.  Stitch securely along the top edge to fully secure ribbons. 

And mew should now have something like this - some epically epic toys and a crazy cat or two, or maybe even three! MOL

Catnip Hearts and Kicker Toy - Crafting with Cats ©BionicBasil® Valentine's Special 2019

Smooch was loving it.

This was Melvyn's very first day on the blog back in 2019! 

Catnip Hearts and Kicker Toy - Crafting with Cats ©BionicBasil® Valentine's Special 2019

Even crotchety Amber got stuck in too.

Catnip Hearts and Kicker Toy - Crafting with Cats ©BionicBasil® Valentine's Special 2019

In total from start to finish, these 3 toys took about 25 mins to make. It would have been quicker, but the P.A. couldn't see to thread the needle - PFFFFTTTT  - OLD TIMERS!



As mew can see the Valentines toys were a total hit, the P.A. said she'd neffur seen so much cat drool and made a note on a post-it to use less potent nip next time, though we promptly ate said post-it note as we really like the extra potent nip! MOL 


And that furiends furry sadly brings us to the end of today's fun Crafting with Cats post, we do hope mew liked it, and if mew decide to make your furry own Valentines toys, we hope mew enjoy them as much as we are still enjoying ours! 

We'll be back tomorrow with The Midweek News Round-up and do hope mew can join us then.

Epic crafty purrs

Wing Commander Basil & The B Team 






Disclaimer:

We at BionicBasil HQ are not responsible or liable fur any injuries to person/s and/or cat/s, crafting addictions, glue on cats, paper cuts, misplaced pins and needles, cats stealing your supplies, broken scissors, cat fur stuck on your projects, or your project not turning out as planned.  By using this information you hereby agree to indemnify and hold harmless BionicBasil and staff from and against any and all claims for personal injuries or damages of any kind arising from use of any Crafting With Cats posts we may share.

Graphics created with paid licence www.canva.com and www.pizap.com

mewsic used under paid licence www.audiojungle.net 

Monday, 30 January 2023

**CRAFTING RERUN** Crafting With Cats ~ Part XI ~ Valentines Special ~ How We Made A Valentines Heart Crinkle Mat

Welcome to
Crafting with Cats Valentine's Special Banner ©BionicBasil®

Supurr Greetings Pawesome Pals

Thanks for joining for us for a rerun of Part VII of our Crafting with Cats segment. Mew know we have so much fun making all this stuff, and we hope mew enjoy seeing it and/or making it too! 

If mew missed any of our previous CWC posts, here's how we made:







*    *    *

**Purrlease Note**

All Crafting with Cats ideas and creations are of our own design, and we share them for purrrsonal/home use only.

Copyright ©BionicBasil 

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This week we're making a pawesome 

Crafting with Cats Valentine's Special ©BionicBasil® Valentine Heart Crinkle Mat

What We Used:

Fabric of your choosing, ours is red
Wadding/padding
Lining fabric
Plastic shopping bags ~ yes we're doing our bit and recycling

Sewing machine

scissors - cotton - pins - needle - tailors chalk or similar - ruler

Optional Cat ~ Smooch was today's Snoopervisor

Furst we suggest measuring one of your kitties to see how big your fabric needs to be, as not all kitty's are the same size.

Crafting with Cats Valentine's Special ©BionicBasil® Valentine Heart Crinkle Mat

Take your fabric and give it a quick iron.

Fold it in half and draw half a heart shape directly on the fabric with your tailors chalk, so your heart is symmetrical when mew open the cut fabric out. It's so much easier than trying to draw a complete heart on the fabric.

Crafting with Cats Valentine's Special ©BionicBasil® Valentine Heart Crinkle Mat
Cut out your heart.

Cut out two pieces of lining fabric and one piece of your padding using your furst heart as a template.

Crafting with Cats Valentine's Special ©BionicBasil® Valentine Heart Crinkle Mat
Take your plastic bags and see how many mew need to fill the size of your heart.
We used 5.
Crafting with Cats Valentine's Special ©BionicBasil® Valentine Heart Crinkle Mat
Optional kitty for testing if there's enough rustle! MOL

Crafting with Cats Valentine's Special ©BionicBasil® Valentine Heart Crinkle Mat
Pin your padding between your main fabric and one piece of lining fabric, pin them together and sew around the edge.  We used a zigzag stitch.


Crafting with Cats Valentine's Special ©BionicBasil® Valentine Heart Crinkle Mat

Your heart should now look like this.

Crafting with Cats Valentine's Special ©BionicBasil® Valentine Heart Crinkle Mat
Take your ruler and tailors chalk and mark your quilting lines.

Mew don't have to do this but we think it looks really nice.


Crafting with Cats Valentine's Special ©BionicBasil® Valentine Heart Crinkle Mat

Sew along your quilting lines, we sewed larger squares as it looked better, and your heart should look something like this.  Use a piece of fabric off-cut to rub any tailors chalk off the heart - it should come off furry easily.

Crafting with Cats Valentine's Special ©BionicBasil® Valentine Heart Crinkle Mat
Next, take your quilted heart and place it and your second piece of lining fabric 'right-sides together' pin and sew all the way around the edge with a straight stitch leaving about half an inch / 1cm seam width.  Leave about 5" or 13cm gap so mew can turn it the right way out and stuff the bags inside.

Position the bags inside the heart so they aren't lumpy or bunched up together, then hand stitch the remaining seam closed.

And mew should have something that looks like this:

Crafting with Cats Valentine's Special ©BionicBasil® Valentine Heart Crinkle Mat

It took approximately 90 minutes to make from start to finish, as we always make it up as we go along.  We have an idea of what we want to make, and then we just dive right in.  So we think it shouldn't take more than an hour to make with destructions!


And here's Smoochie testing it, watch for Pandora's total eclipse! MOL



All in all, each of The B Team have had a try and give it all paws up!

Crafting with Cats Valentine's Special ©BionicBasil® Valentine Heart Crinkle Mat
In fact Fudge, much to Smoochie's chagrin got himself on it and refused to move!

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And that furiends furry sadly brings us to the end of this Crafting With Cats post, we do hope mew liked it and feel free to post your pawesome crafty pics and ideas on our Facebook page at:


And if there's anything mew'd like us to make, leave a comment and we'll do our best.  

We'll be back on the morrow with another crafty Valentine's post, so do stop by, as mew know how much we love your company.

Epic crafty purrs

Basil & The B Team 











Disclaimer:
We at BionicBasil HQ are not responsible or liable fur any injuries to person/s and/or cat/s, crafting addictions, glue on cats, paper cuts, misplaced pins and needles, cats stealing your supplies, broken scissors, cat fur stuck on your projects, or your project not turning out as planned.  By using this information you hereby agree to indemnify and hold harmless BionicBasil and staff from and against any and all claims for personal injuries or damages of any kind arising from use of any Crafting With Cats posts we may share.

Graphics created with paid licence www.canva.com and www.pizap.com 

Sunday, 29 January 2023

Three for One Selfie with Fudge, Melvyn and Parsley on The Sunday Selfies & Caturday Art Blog Hops

The B Team Sunday Selfies ©BionicBasil ®Winter 2022

Pawesome Sunday greetings furiends

Welcome to another BBHQ selfie selection, and today we've got not one, but three B Team memfurs in their:

Three for One Selfie with Fudge, Melvyn and Parsley


Three for One Selfie with Fudge, Melvyn and Parsley ©BionicBasil® Sunday Selfies

Parsley had gone outside, and the next thing he popped up at the window. There is a large pot outside that window, and he decided to jump up onto the rim and was peeking in the window. Then Fudge saw him and not long after Melvyn wondered what the fluff was happening, and thought he'd better get in on anything that may be happening.

And voila, a three-for-one selfie opportunity arose! MOL

Sunday Selfies Winter Divider ©BionicBasil®

We're also joining in Athena's Fabulous Art Hop so do stop by and show off your pawesome arty-farty skills.

https://www.athenacatgoddess.com/

Three for One Selfie with Fudge, Melvyn and Parsley ©BionicBasil® Caturday Art

The effect was created with the ios Prisma App, and we used the effect:- Surf with changes to shadows, fill light and saturation.

We also turned this fab arty-farty picture into a puzzle, so do stop by the puzzle page and take the Puzzle Challenge, see if mew can beat our time of 11 mins 40 secs. 

Sunday Selfies Winter Divider ©BionicBasil®

We're off to snuggle, and if the weather is ok do a little snoopervising in the garden after lunch.

We do hope mew have an epic day and don't forget to check out yesterday's post, sharing the best Cat Blogs of 2023 and Amber's latest book review on Friday.



Wing Commander Basil & The B Team








Sunday Selfies Winter Divider ©BionicBasil®

Don't forget to join in the pawesome Sunday Selfies Blog Hop with

 Angel Lily Olivia, Mauricio, Misty May, Giulietta, Angel Fiona, Astrid, Lisbeth, Calista Jo, Cooper Murphy and Sawyer ~ visit them at their pawesome blog:







Sunday Selfies Winter Divider ©BionicBasil®










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Graphics created with paid licence @www.canva.com & ios Prisma App or www.befunky.com