**Spooky Crafting With Cats** **RERUN ~ PART TWO** How We Made The Catnip Pumpkin Toys and The Spooky Haunted House Photo Set

Welcome to

Supurr Spooky Greetings Pawesome Pals

Thanks for joining us for Part Two of our Halloween Crafting with Cats Rerun. Mew know we have so much fun making all this stuff and we hope mew enjoy seeing it!

*    *    *

**Purrlease Note**

All Crafting with Cats ideas, and creations are our own designs.

Copyright ©BionicBasil® 

This time we made some spooktacular catnip pumpkins, and of course, we needed a pawesome Spooky Haunted House backdrop for them!

But before we dive in and show mew how we made it, we have to say

**This is a photo stage set** 

It is NOT an everyday playhouse for cats, and we wouldn't ever leave any kitties unattended with it, just in case they got a little too excited over all the fun things.

What We Used:

Catnip Pumpkins

Felt squares - we used orange, yellow, green and brown 

Embroidery Thread and Needle

Stuffing/Wadding

and lots of homegrown BBHQ catnip and catmint

For The House

A large cardboard box - we used an Amazon pantry box as they're supurr sturdy

Non-toxic paint

Non-toxic glue

Paint brushes

House Decor

Spooky accessories - this is what we used:

We got a wicked selection of spooky items from our local B&M store:

Mini Pumpkin Lights [battery opurrated] ~ A Packet of Glow in the Dark Skelebobs ~ A Packet of Spiders and Bats ~ The Net Fabric For The Roof

The other items we used were sourced from stock within our craft room

7 x 5 mm wooden dowels - painted white

Grey felt for the curtains

Paw print ribbon to tie the curtains open

Green fake fur fabric

Wadding to put inside the floor of the box

Pom poms for window/door surrounds and door furniture

Elastic thread

Trees

The trees were part of a castle set we made early last year

Fudge was today's Craft Room Snoopervisor

The Spooky Haunted House

Under construction...

Pics/text: upper left to upper right, lower left to lower right

1.  we used this box

2. then we carefully cut out large access in the side

3. and repeated for windows and front door

4. Fudge and his giant floof making a preliminary inspection

Pics/text: upper left to upper right, lower left to lower right

5. obtain Full Feline Paw Print of Approval before continuing

6. arrange the box lid into a purrleasing roof shape and glue - repeat the other side

7. our roof has a flat piece of cardboard glued on the top of the roof, but if mew like to look at the stars, leave it open 

8. find a cardboard strip and play with it for at least 27.342 seconds

Pics/text: upper left to upper right, lower left to lower right

9. it looked a little boring at this point, so we used a small cardboard box to make the chimneys

10. mega authentic wonky chimney's in situ

11 + 12. we painted the roof grey

Pics/text: upper left to upper right, lower left to lower right

The entire house got whitewashed, with the front and side doors getting a wood paint effect.

So there's your basic house, ready for anything!

Now It's Catnip Pumpkin Time

Pics/text: upper left to upper right, lower left to lower right

1. cut out a felt circle - this one is 8.5" in diameter

2.  take a length of embroidery thread and securely knot the end

3. thread the needle and use a simple running stitch all the way around the outer edge

4. begin to pull stitches

Pics/text: upper left to upper right, lower left to lower right

5. homegrown organic catnip and catmint

6. just because we thought mew'd like to see the product again

7. take a little wadding/stuffing and lightly line the pumpkin

8. add catnip

Pics/text: upper left to upper right, lower left to lower right

9. add catmint, then more catnip and then more catmint until full

10. place a small piece of wadding/stuffing in top of the pumpkin, pull the stitches tight and sew up

11. cut out leaf shapes

12. sew leaves to pumpkin

Pics/text: upper left to upper right, lower left to lower right

13. at this point, we decided that we needed more catnip pumpkins, so we made 3 more in different sizes using 2 different colours

14. finished catnip pumpkins ready fur action

And this is how our spooky house came out using the items above.

So our question to mew is this:

IS IT SPOOKY ENOUGH?

We think it turned out purretty neat, and the really good thing is we can take all the Halloween items off and use the basic house again for our Catmas Crafting with Cats post.

Smooch and Fudge even got dressed up! MOL

Smooch said, "Dude, the grass is definitely greener here!" 

[we think he found some catnip!]



Take a peek at the video:

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

Bionic Basil & The 'B' Team @Facebook 

We'll be back tomorrow with the first of our supurr spooky Halloween Selfies!

Until then...

Spooky purrs

MUWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAA

Wing Commander Basil & The B Team 

Disclaimer:

We at BionicBasil HQ are not responsible or liable for 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 its staff from and against any and all claims for personal injuries or damages of any kind arising from the 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 

Welcome to The BBHQ Midweek News Round-Up ~ Crystal Healing with Smooch, Parsley's Snoopervising in The Garden and Melvyn's Latest Shopping Haul - What Should He Wear First? **PLUS** Unboxing The Halloween Feline & Fiction Box

Supurr Wednesday Greetings Pawesome Furiends

Welcome to November and our weekly news round-up!

We can't believe that November has just popped up; where is the time going? It'll be Catmas in two shakes of a lamb's tail! MOL

And speaking of Catmas we've got to start designing this years festive card, do mew have any idea's for us?

First up in the news

Crystal Healing with Smooch

Smooch really enjoys being around the crystals. He also enjoys a bit of crystal healing too, although finding the right crystals to put on him can take a bit of time, though we did manage to get the purrfect selection the other evening and here are the ones we used: carnelian, apatite, orange calcite, and selenite tumble stones. We'll be sharing more info on these crystals in our upcoming Colouring with Cats posts.

Check out his supurr cute video on TikTok.

Doesn't he look so smoochy? MOL

Smooch also managed to find a tiny sun puddle the other day!

It was just a slither, but he loved it.

Next up in the news

Parsley's Snoopervising in The Garden

Parsley was the chief snoopervisor in the BBHQ garden on Tuesday.

We were planting some tulip bulbs, now do be careful as the actual bulbs are toxic to cats. We planted ours in some plant pots which The B Team aren't bothered with.

Also, don't let your kitties near daffodil bulbs either, just to err on the side of caution.

The B Team don't dig any bulbs up at BBHQ; in the 23 years we've lived here no one has ever had a bad experience with a tulip, daffodil or their corresponding bulbs. So we're pretty confident that we can have these flowers in our garden without issue but always do your own research.

Check out the selection that we planted in Parsley's TikTok video.

For those of mew who live in the UK, most of these bulbs were from B and M, on the 3 for £5 offer. They have some good bulbs at a reasonable price.

Finally this week

Melvyn's Latest Shopping Haul

Melvyn loves getting all dressed up, and mew know how much he loves his bandana shopping!

This is his latest haul. Aren't they really cute? 

Which one should he model furst?

The options from the top left in a clockwise direction:

1. Mystical Unicorns

2. Glow Bugs

3. Gingerbread Skelebobs

4. Evil Eye Protection

 Let us know in the comments, and he will model it on next week's post.

Also, if mew need your weekly Melvyn video fix, here's his latest TikTok where he is brutally assaulting the Giant Pumpkins catnip kicker toy. What a heathen!  MOL

 Unboxing The Halloween Feline & Fiction Box

Mew know we had a subscription with Feline and Fiction for ages, and then it lapsed and we forgot about it. Anyhoo last month we saw the Halloween box on Instagram and decided to sign up for 3 more months.

Here's their Halloween Black Cat Box unboxed with the invaluable help of Fudge and Melvyn.

It was filled with a really great selection of goodies; we especially liked the purple bats and the P.A. loved the little bag and oil burner!

We've had a bumper-packed Halloween week; here are the links in case mew missed anything! 

**TERRIFYING TALES FROM BBHQ**

**HALLOWEEN SELFIES**

**HALLOWEEN BRAIN TRAINING RERUN** 

**HALLOWEEN BOOK REVIEW WITH AMBER**

**HALLOWEEN CRAFTING WITH CATS EXTRAVAGANZA**

That's us done for today. Join us again on Friday when Amber will be here with this week's top book pick and the winner of her birthday giveaway. 

Until then

Epic purrs

Wing Commander Basil & The B Team 

Don't furget to subscribe and never miss another post! 

Graphics created with paid licence www.canva.com 

Music used with paid www.soundstripe.com license:  Artist: Rhythm Scott - Track: Curiously Funny

**RERUN** Creepy Crafting With Cats ~ Part X ~ Catnip Pumpkin Toys and The Spooky Haunted House Photo Set

Welcome to

Supurr Spooky Greetings Pawesome Pals

Today we're rerunning 2018's Halloween Crafting with Cats post, so mew can get a headstart on all the spooky stuff and ghostly goings-on.

*    *    *

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

If mew missed any of our previous CWC posts, stop by the Crafting with Cats Page and see all our previous projects, and mew don't have to be an expert in anything to make any of them. Plus we offer workarounds and no-sew projects for those who don't like to sew.

*    *    *

**A quick note before we begin**

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

Copyright ©BionicBasil® 

*     *     *

This time we made some spooktacular catnip pumpkins, and of course we needed a pawesome Spooky Haunted House backdrop for them!

But before we dive in and show mew how we made it, we have to say

**This is a photo stage set** 

It is NOT an effuryday playhouse for cats, and we wouldn't effur leave any kitties unattended with it, just in case they got a little too excited offur all the fun things.

What We Used:

Catnip Pumpkins

Felt squares - we used orange, yellow, green and brown 

Embroidery Thread and Needle

Stuffing/Wadding

and lots of homegrown BB HQ catnip and catmint

For The House

A large cardboard box - we used an amazon pantry box as they're supurr sturdy

Non-toxic paint

Non-toxic glue

Paint brushes

House Decor

Spooky accessories - this is what we used:

We got a wicked selection of spooky items from our local B & M Store:

Mini Pumpkin Lights [battery opurrated] ~ A Packet of Glow in the Dark Skelebobs ~ A Packet of Spiders and Bats ~ The Net Fabric Fur The Roof

The other items we used were sourced from stock within our craft room

7 x 5 mm wooden dowels - painted white

Grey felt fur the curtains

Paw print ribbon to tie the curtains open

Green fake fur fabric

Wadding to put inside the floor of the box

Pom poms for window/door surrounds and door furniture

Elastic thread

Trees

The trees were part of a castle set we made early last year

Fudge was today's Craft Room Snoopervisor

The Spooky Haunted House

Under construction...

Pics/text: upper left to upper right, lower left to lower right

1.  we used this box
2. then we carefully cut out large access in the side
3. and repeated for windows and front door on the front
4. Fudge making his preliminary inspection

5. obtain Full Feline Paw Print of Approval before continuing

6. arrange box lid into purrleasing roof shape and glue - repeat other side

7. our roof has a flat piece of cardboard glued on the top of the roof, but if mew like to look at the stars leave it open 

8. find cardboard strip and play with it for at least 27.342 seconds

9. it looked a little boring at this point, so we used a small cardboard box to make the chimneys

10. mega authentic wonky chimneys in situ

11 + 12 we painted the roof grey

The entire house got whitewashed with the front and side doors getting a wood paint effect.

So there's your basic house, ready for anything!

Now It's Catnip Pumpkin Time

1. cut out a felt circle - this one is 8.5" diameter
2.  take a length of embroidery thread and securely knot end
3. thread the needle and use a simple running stitch all the way around the outer edge
4. begin to pull stitches

5. homegrown organic catnip and catmint

6. just because we thought mew'd like to see the product again

7. take a little wadding/stuffing and lightly line the pumpkin

8. add catnip

9. add catmint, then more catnip and then more catmint until full

10. place a small piece of wadding/stuffing in top of the pumpkin, pull stitches tight and sew up

11. cut out leaf shapes

12. sew leaves to pumpkin

13. at this point, we decided that we needed more catnip pumpkins, so we made 3 more in different sizes using 2 different colours

14. finished catnip pumpkins ready for action

And this is how our spooky house came out using the items above.

So our question to mew is this:

IS IT SPOOKY ENOUGH?

We think it turned out purretty neat, and the excellent thing is; we can take all the Halloween items off and use the basic house again for our Catmas Crafting with Cats post.

Smooch and Fudge even got dressed up! MOL

Smooch said, "Dude the grass is definitely greener here!" 

[we think he found some catnip!]



Take a peek at the video:

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

Bionic Basil & The B Team @Facebook

And if mew're wondering where this year's Halloween post is don't panic, we'll be sharing our 2020 Spooktacular Crafting Post soon, so stay tuned for that, and we're so excited about the things we've got to show mew this time #EPIC

We'll see mew on Wednesday when we're back with The Pet Parade...

Until then

Bestest crafty purrs

MUWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAA

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 the use of any Crafting With Cats posts we may share.

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

mewsic used with paid licence www.audiojungle.net