**CATMAS CRAFTING RERUN** Crafting With Cats ~ Catmas Special Part 4 ~ How We Made Our Furry Own Epically Epic Catmas Tree Scratcher with Velcro Catnip Ornaments

 Supurr Festive Greetings Pawesome Pals

Thanks for joining us for a rerun of our Catmas Special Crafting with Cats segment. 

If mew missed Part One of our Catmas Crafting Extravaganza; How to Make a Purrsonalised Catmas Stocking and How to Make the Bahumbug Burlap Cat ~ click here, and Part II How to Make the Epically Epic Catmas Pudding which every kitty on the planet will want. And click here for Part III, the supurr cute catnip toys.

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, and we share them for purrsonal/home use only.

  So purrlease do not copy for commercial/resale purrposes.

Copyright ©BionicBasil®

*     *     *

In today's Crafting with Cats, we're making the only Catmas tree mew'll ever need: 

Catmas Tree Scratcher with Velcro Catnip Ornaments

What We Used:

One x Road Cone 750mm or  29.5" high

Sisal rope ~ we used 60 m x 6mm or 196ft in black

Faux fur for the bottom ~ we used dark green

Felt squares ~ we used red, white and green

Velcro tape ~ we used black

Ribbons for trim

stuffing/wadding

Optional sparkly pom poms

Catnip ~ organic homegrown extra-strong primo quality

scissors, non-toxic glue/glue gun, cotton thread, sewing machine, or needle

>^.^<

Optional Cat ~ Smooch was today's Craft Room Snoopervisor

Let's Get Started on The Tree

1. - 4. Get a road cone, we purchased ours from Amazon, and it cost £14.99. We placed it on a lazy-susan turntable which made it much easier to glue the sisal rope in place. Just glue a few centimetres/inches at a time until the entire cone is covered as above. This cone is 750 mm or 29.5" high and took approx 60 metres or 196 ft of rope. It did take a while to glue as mew can imagine, but it looks purretty nifty when done. Leave the last couple of metres/6ft or so until mew've finished steps 5 to 11.

5. Take your faux fur and cut to size, leaving enough to finish underneath.

6. Measure the circumference at the base of the cone; ours is approx 90 cm or 35.4".

7.  Draw the same size circle in the middle of the faux fur.

8. Cut out the hole, and mew should have something that looks like this.

9. Check that it fits properly, tucking it under the rope.

10. We used regular non-toxic PVA glue for this stage and coated the entire base in a thick layer.

11. Place the faux fur in situ and gently press onto the glue. Leave to dry and then glue the edges to the underside to finish. Finally, glue the last part of the sisal rope to finish off, we stuck ours to the faux fur and the rope above to make sure it was secure.

12. Mew should now have a finished Catmas Tree Scratcher, that looks something like this.

Let's Decorate The Tree

The Catnip Star Tree Topper

1. We created a simple 4-point design with a longer point at the bottom, so it can be stuffed into the top of the tree, but still easily pulled out.

2. Cut 2 pieces in your chosen fabric and stitch around the edge, leaving a small gap for stuffing and catnip.

3. BBHQ epically epic catnip.

4. Sew up the gap, and mew should have something that looks like this.

Pandora came to snoopervise at this point and to also do a bit of quality control! MOL

*    *    *

 The Velcro Catnip Ornaments 

1. We chose a basic square for a pressie, a shaped bauble and a bell for our catnip ornaments, but mew could make anything mew like. In fact, check out last year's Catmas toy selection for inspiration.

2. Hot glue the soft side of the velcro to the back of each toy 

3.  Decorate with ribbon. Stitch together and follow the steps for the Catmas Star.

4. Hot glue the rough/scratchy side of the velcro to the tree, attach the toy and repeat until mew have made all your catnip decorations. 

And mew should have something that looks like this...

Isn't it epically epic?

We added a few red and green sparkly pom-poms, glued velcro onto those too and attached them to the tree.

It's supurr sturdy too, so don't worry about it toppling over, as it has a nice weight to it.

So what did we think of our special Catmas Tree? 

Fudge went straight for the star, Parsley and Melvyn also really enjoyed it.

Stop by our Instagram account as we'll be posting the videos there and mew can see just how much we love our tree and what fun we're having with it.

In all honesty, this project turned out so much better than we could have ever imagined and for all those kitties being yelled at for climbing real Catmas trees, get your staff to make mew one of these, and mew can pull the ornaments off to your heart's content, climb it, scratch it, steal the star and generally be as naughty as mew like and it doesn't matter a hoot!

We think it's one of the best things we've ever made, what do mew guys think?

Health and Safety

Here at BBHQ, toys with pom poms on are only available to The B Team when the P.A. is snoopervising the play session.

Use pom pom toys under supervision only.  

Or mew can just make the Catmas Tree Scratcher without the pom poms.  If your kitty is a total heathen toy destroyer, definitely make it without the pom poms! 

Mew should regularly check shop-bought toys too, and throw away anything that is damaged, broken or defective.

And that furiends, furry sadly brings us to the end of our fourth crafting rerun post, we do hope mew liked it, and if mew decide to make your furry own Catmas Tree Scratcher, we'd love to see it, so feel free to post your pawesome crafty pics on our Facebook page at:

Bionic Basil & The B Team @Facebook

So we'll sign off on this bright and breezy Purrsday, and Amber will be here tomorrow with another cat-tastic book review!

In the meantime

Keep calm and craft on!

Festive purrs

Wing Commander Basil & The B Team

Follow Us @BionicBasil®  at TikTok, Instacat, Twitter and Facebook

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 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 

**CATMAS CRAFTING RERUN** Crafting With Cats ~ Catmas Special Part II~ Make Your Furry Own Catmas Pudding Pouffe with Catnip Holly Leaves & Pom Pom Berries ~ Difficulty Level Fair to Middling

Supurr Greetings Pawesome Pals

Thanks for joining us for a rerun of our Catmas Special Crafting with Cats segment. If mew missed Part One of our Catmas Crafting Extravaganza; How to Make a Purrsonalised Catmas Stocking and making The Burlap Cat tree decoration ~ click here.  

All of our previous CWC posts are on the Crafting with Cats Page, 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, and we share them for purrsonal/home use only.

  So purrlease do not copy for commercial/resale purrposes.

Copyright ©BionicBasil®

*    *    *

This time, we're making a pawesome

What Mew Will Need:

Pudding: Brown Faux Fur 

White Faux Fur

Wadding/Stuffing

Lining/backing fabric

Leaves: Green fabric 

Wadding/Stuffing

Catnip - we use our homegrown organic catnip

Berries: Red Wool + pom pom maker, or use 2 x cardboard circles - the old school way

plus

Scissors/Needle/Thread/Chalk/Tape Measure/Sewing Machine

>^.^<

Optional Cat ~ Parsley was today's Craft Room Snoopervisor

Let's Get Started On The Pudding

1.  Gather supplies.

2.  Lay out the fabric and place pattern. 

3. Cut out.

4.  Mew should now have 6 x segments.

Those of mew who are regulars to our blog, will know that we made a pumpkin pouffe on our Creepy Crafting with Cats Halloween Special; so rather than go through all the steps again, just click here to see the entire step-by-step construction.

5.  Once sewn together, check size; Parsley says it's good to go!

6.  Stuff to your desired plumpness, and mew should now have something that looks like this.

Let's make the Catnip Holly Leaves 

 1. & 2. Use A4 paper, fold it in half, draw a holly leaf template and cut it out.

3. & 4.  Iron fabric, and cut out 4 x leaves.

5.  Take wadding and pin 2 x leaves on top.

6. & 7.  Sew around the edge and leave a gap to turn right-sides out, and then stuff with catnip - as much as mew think is necessary! MOL

8.  Sew up the gap by hand, and mew should now have a couple of holly leaves that looks like this.

>^.^<

It's Pom Pom Time

1. & 2.  Take your pom pom maker and begin wrapping the wool around tightly.

Or use two donut shaped pieces of card, and wrap the wool around. 

3. After a few minutes it should look like this.

4. Close and secure the pom pom maker with clips.

5.  Take small sharp scissors and cut the wool - do be careful when cutting.

6.  Take a longer strand of wool and secure the pom pom together.

7.  Mew should now have something that looks like this. Most pom pommeee! MOL

>^.^<

Now For The Topping... MMMMMMMM...

1. Cut a circle, or slightly oval in our case - The P.A. only ordered a small amount of the white faux fur - OOPS! 

2.  Cut and pin backing/lining to faux fur - we used an old sheet that had shrunk in the tumble dryer - note to self: never dry bamboo bedding in the tumble dryer! MOL

3.  Sew the right sides together, leaving a gap.

4.  Turn right-sides out and sew up the small gap by hand, mew should now have something that looks like this. Which could also be used as a plush snuggle mat on its own.

Put it all together and mew should now have this...

EPIC OR WHAT?

Good enough to eat... almost! MOL

We love it! Plus it's calorie-free! MOL 

Amber is still trying snort one of the holly leaves... nuff said! [But we can see an intervention on the horizon!]

The Catmas Pudding Pouffe is purrfect for

Snoozing, Snorting and Playing

Now we know mew want one!

And that furiends, furry sadly brings us to the end of our second crafting rerun post. We do hope mew liked it, and feel inspired to make some fun things too. We've got another crafting post to share with mew on Monday, but in the meantime, we'll be back tomorrow with our usual Sunday Selfies and Smooch's Historic Travel Guide, and do hope mew can join us then.

Epic crafty purrs

Wing Commander Basil & The B Team 

Follow Us @BionicBasil®  at TikTok, Instacat, Twitter and Facebook

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 

**CATMAS CRAFTING RERUN** Crafting With Cats ~ Catmas Special Part 1~ Make Your Furry Own Purrsonalised Catmas Stocking **AND** How To Make A Bahumbug Burlap Cat Tree Decoration ~ Level Easy Peasy

Supurr Greetings Pawesome Pals

Thanks for joining us for a rerun of our Catmas Special Crafting with Cats segment. Mew know we have so much fun making all these fabulous things for feline enrichment and also just for fun, and we do hope mew enjoy seeing it and/or making it too!

We really like the idea of a handmade Catmas [Christmas to the normal folk out there!], and we've been making lots of things over the last few months as our old decorations are getting a bit tired after 20+ years, and in all honesty, we don't like what's available in the stores; plastic, plastic and more plastic, so this year we decided to go another route, and so here we are with a more natural approach.

All of our previous CWC posts are on the Crafting with Cats Page, 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, and we share them for purrsonal/home use only.

  So purrlease do not copy for commercial/resale purrposes.

Copyright ©BionicBasil®

*    *    *

This time we're making a pawesome easy peasy 

Ready fur Santa Paws to stuff full of goodies just fur mew!

What Mew Will Need:

Mini pom poms

Faux fur 

Burlap/hessian or a fabric of your choice

Ribbon

Red and white twine or a colour of your choice

needles/thread/scissors/glue gun, or regular fabric glue

optional sewing machine

>^.^<

Optional Cat ~ Smooch was today's Craft Room Snoopervisor

Let's Get Started

1.  Choose your fabrics and trims - get your supplies together

2. Make a simple boot/stocking shape template, ours is A4 sized

3.  Cut out 2 pieces

4.  Take your pom poms and make initial of your choice - glue in place onto one piece - use a piece of card so mew don't accidentally glue it to your table top

5.  Once dry - stitch both pieces together - right sides out - a basic zigzag stitch will be fine or hand-stitching will also be ok

6.  Take your faux fur trim and cut to size - ours was approx 5" or 13 cm deep and just over 2 times the width of the top of the stocking

7.  Make sure the nap [direction of the pile] on the fabric is correct - in this case, facing downwards - test this before you sew in place

8. Sew faux fur approx 1.5" or  4 cm from the top of the stocking

9.  Fold faux fur into the top of the stocking, so it looks like this and hand-stitch in place; a simple running stitch will suffice

10.  & 11. Next, take your twine and a large needle, and sew in a stitch of your choice around the stocking edge, ours is just a basic stitch

12. Finally, take a loop of ribbon and attach it to the inside of the stocking, and mew should now have something that looks like this

Isn't it furbulous, and we made a few more so no-pawdy feels left out! MOL

Next, we're making 

What Mew Will Need:

Burlap/Hessian or a fabric of your choice

stuffing/wadding

wool or embroidery thread

mini pom poms

black felt

large needle or darning needle

Let's Get Started!

1.  We love burlap! MOL

2.  Fold A4 paper in half and draw your template ours is approx 3.5" wide x 2.5" high or 9 cm x 6 cm

[if mew have a tub of Whiskas cat treats - mew could use the lid as your template].

3. & 4.  Cut out and place on fabric.

5. & 6.  Pin to the fabric while mew cut; as tailors chalk doesn't show up very well, so it's easier to pin the template and cut around it. Cut 2 pieces.

7.   Place both pieces together, take your wool and a large needle. Sew around the edges in a stitch of your choosing.

8.  Leave a gap and stuff to your desired level with wadding.

9.  Finish sewing and leave a loop of wool to hang your Burlap Cat.

10.  Glue on pom pom for the nose and stitch whiskers in place.

11. Cut out small triangles of black felt for the pupils and glue them to the white pom poms. Glue eyes onto cat, and mew should now have something that looks like this; a really cute but rather grumpy little face looking back at mew! MOL

Here's ours in the tree at BBHQ, and we've affectionately called it Amber! MOL MOL MOL

A very Bahumbug Catmas indeed! 

*    *    *

And that furiends, furry sadly brings us to the end of our first crafting reruns post, we do hope mew liked it and if we decide to make your furry own Catmas Stockings or Bahumbug Burlap Cat we'd love to see, so feel free to post your pawesome crafty pics on our Facebook page at:

Bionic Basil & The 'B' Team @Facebook

Amber will be here tomorrow with a brand new book review, and we do hope we can join us then, and on Caturday we'll be sharing the Catmas Pudding Pouffe with Catnip accessories - OH MY COD!!!!

Until then

Keep calm and craft on...

Wing Commander Basil & The B Team

Follow Us @BionicBasil®  at TikTok, Instacat, Twitter and Facebook

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