Showing posts with label upcycle. Show all posts
Showing posts with label upcycle. Show all posts

Thursday, 10 October 2024

**Spooky Crafting With Cats** **RERUN ~ PART THREE** How We Made A Pumpkin Pouffe and Some Other Really Fun Pumpkin Inspired Stuff

Welcome to

The B Team's Halloween Crafting with Cats Banner  ©BionicBasil® October  23

Supurr Spooky Greetings Pawesome Pals

Thanks for joining us for Part Three 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!

If mew missed any of our previous CWC posts, stop by the Crafting with Cats Page and see all our previous projects. 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.

Previous Halloween Crafting Posts



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**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®

*     *     *

TODAY WE'RE MAKING:


Pumpkin Pouffe with Catnip Leaf Cushions and Catnip Stalk Kicker Toy ~ OH YEAH! 

Cute Mini Pumpkin Trimmed Halloween Bandanas

Easy Peasy Pumpkin Collar 

Halloween Pawty Divider ©BionicBasil®

First up is the 

Pumpkin Pouffe with Catnip Leaves and Catnip Stalk Kicker Toy


What Mew Will Need:

Pumpkin - Orange faux fur - our piece was 1m x 1.5m 

stuffing/wadding - we used the filling from 2 x 18" square cushions we had spare

Leaves - green fabric, wadding, catnip

Stalk - 2 x beige felt squares, wadding, catnip

threads - orange, brown and green

needle, scissors, chalk, tape measure

sewing machine or mew could hand sew if mew wanted

Optional Cat/s ~ Parsley, Smooch and Fudge were today's Craft Room Snoopervisors

TOP TIP

As we've never made a pumpkin before, instead of cutting into the faux fur straight away, we made a toile, aka mock-up of the pumpkin to a: see if the pattern worked and b: check that it was the right size - so if in doubt always make toile out of some old fabric or calico first, as then if it doesn't work mew've not wasted your expensive fabric.

The Pumpkin Pouffe with Catnip Leaves and Kicker Stalk Creepy Crafting with Cats ©BionicBasil®Halloween Special Toile

1.  Cut 6 x ellipse shape; ours were approx 12" wide by 27" long.

2. Pin edges together and sew each panel in turn.  On the last panels to be sewn, leave a 6" - 8" gap to turn right sides out before stuffing.

3. Check size suitability - Parsley was on paw for this step, and he said it was purrfect.

4. Stuff to check the overall shape and finished size.

So now that we're happy with the size, plumpness and dimensions, etc...  we took the faux fur to make our pumpkin - mew don't have to make a toile unless mew want a bigger or smaller version than ours and to test it with your pet.

The Pumpkin Pouffe with Catnip Leaves and Kicker Stalk Creepy Crafting with Cats ©BionicBasil®Halloween Special faux fur

1. to 4. Same steps as above on toile: cut, pin right sides together, sew and repeat with all panels, leaving a gap on the last seam.

The Pumpkin Pouffe with Catnip Leaves and Kicker Stalk Creepy Crafting with Cats ©BionicBasil®Halloween Special faux fur

5. Turn right-sides out.

6. Begin to stuff with the wadding.

7. Shape your pumpkin as you stuff until mew're happy with the desired amount of plumpness.  We didn't over-stuff ours as we wanted it to be nicely spongy without being too full.  Hand stitch the final part of the seam closed.

8. This is how your finished pumpkin should look.

Optional Catnip Leaf Cushions and Catnip Stalk Kicker Toy

We had a look online as to the shape of a pumpkin leaf and drew straight on the fabric freehand. Our leaves are approx 9" x 9"

The Pumpkin Pouffe with Catnip Leaves and Kicker Stalk Creepy Crafting with Cats ©BionicBasil®Halloween Special catnip leaves

1.  We cut 4 pieces of some old green curtain fabric we had in stock from about 1999, but mew could use felt squares or any cotton fabric.

2. & 3.  We used the same technique as we did with our Snuggle Mats to sew the wadding in place: Wadding on the top and the two green leaves underneath with right sides together, and stitched all the way around leaving about 4" - 5" gap to turn right-sides out.

4. Turn right sides out and stuff with as much catnip as mew want, and hand-sew the final part of the seam together.  We grow our own organic catnip, so we used loads, as we think more is better!

And mew should now have something that looks like this. Many apologies for the cat fur, crumpledness, drool and teeth marks; we got a little carried away before the P.A. could take a picture - OOPS! MOL!!

The Pumpkin Pouffe with Catnip Leaves and Kicker Stalk Creepy Crafting with Cats ©BionicBasil®Halloween Special catnip leaves c

Next, we made the stalk.

The Pumpkin Pouffe with Catnip Leaves and Kicker Stalk Creepy Crafting with Cats ©BionicBasil®Halloween Special catnip stalk

1. Take your first felt square as modelled by Smooch.

2.  Fold the edge over approx 1" and stitch the entire length - on the shorter side of the square - to create a ridge effect.

3. & 4.  Repeat until mew have something like this.

The Pumpkin Pouffe with Catnip Leaves and Kicker Stalk Creepy Crafting with Cats ©BionicBasil®Halloween Special catnip stalk

5. Fold felt in half ridge sides together, and draw stalk shape and sew.

6.  Cut excess felt away.

7. Turn ridge sides out.

8. Stuff with catnip and wadding to your desired plumpness.

The Pumpkin Pouffe with Catnip Leaves and Kicker Stalk Creepy Crafting with Cats ©BionicBasil®Halloween Special catnip stalk

9. Measure the diameter of the stalk and cut a right-sized circle from the remaining felt sheet, as modelled by Fudge.

10. & 11. Check it fits and hand-stitch all the way around.

12. Mew should now have something that looks like a pumpkin stalk.

After all of that, put it all together mew should now have something that looks like this! 

The Pumpkin Pouffe with Catnip Leaves and Kicker Stalk Creepy Crafting with Cats ©BionicBasil®Halloween Special

OMC, IT'S FLUFFING EPICALLY EPIC! MOL

Talk about an ALL-IN-ONE solution for snoozing, playing and recreational nip activities; this is beyond purrfection, and let's see who loved it the best! MOL

The Pumpkin Pouffe with Catnip Leaves and Kicker Stalk Creepy Crafting with Cats ©BionicBasil®Halloween Special catnip stalk WHO LOVES THE PUMPKIN

Well, we think the photo speaks for itself, everypawdy loved it!


Halloween Pawty Divider ©BionicBasil®

Cute Mini Pumpkin Trimmed Halloween Bandanas

The Mini Pumpkin Trimmed Bandanna on Creepy Crafting with Cats ©BionicBasil®Halloween Special Melvyn

What mew will need:

Fabric - we used cat-themed Halloween fat quarters

Mini pom pom trim in orange

Cotton thread; orange and colours to match your fabric

Quick-release collar safety collar

The Mini Pumpkin Trimmed Bandanna on Creepy Crafting with Cats ©BionicBasil®Halloween Special

1. This is our fabric; isn't it epic?

2. Cut a triangle-shaped pattern with a straight edge at the top on the sides - this is for the collar to go through. Our pattern dimensions are: 9.5" across the top edge and from the top to the point at the bottom it's 4.5" including a 0.5" seam allowance.

3. Cut 2 pieces of each fabric.

4.  Fold over and sew a small straight edge with a zigzag stitch. Repeat on all other pieces of fabric, so in our case we stitched 8 x edges.

The Mini Pumpkin Trimmed Bandanna on Creepy Crafting with Cats ©BionicBasil®Halloween Special

5. & 6.  Place the right sides together and stitch from the bottom of the zigzag seam along to the pointy bit and back up the other side, finishing at the zigzag stitching. Then sew across the straight top edge, leaving a small gap to turn right sides out, as it would be rather fiddly to try and turn it right side out where the collar holes are.

7. Turn right sides out and press.

8. Mew should now have something that looks like this.

The Mini Pumpkin Trimmed Bandanna on Creepy Crafting with Cats ©BionicBasil®Halloween Special

9. & 10. Take your pom pom trim and sew it around the bottom edge. 

11. Topstitch across the top straight edge to finish off the seam.

12.  Thread your collars through the holes and mew should now have at least one mega, funky bandana like this.

Don't Fudge and Melvyn look epically EPIC?

The Mini Pumpkin Trimmed Bandanna on Creepy Crafting with Cats ©BionicBasil®Halloween Special Fudge and Melvyn Modelling the Bandannas

**SAFETY NOTE**

Never leave your cat alone wearing a bandanna or clothes of any description.

Halloween Pawty Divider ©BionicBasil®

Easy Peasy Pumpkin Collar 

What mew will need:

1 x collar - quick-release safety type is our fav

Some orange pom poms approx 1" size
  
 Non-toxic glue and/or glue gun

Creepy Crafting with Cats Halloween Special ©BionicBasil® BBHQ Easy Peasy Pumpkin Collar
1.  Lay the collar out and see how many pom poms are required.

2.  Start gluing pom-poms onto the collar.

 3.  Continue gluing, leaving the clasp area free.

4. It should now look like an oversized orange caterpillar! MOL

Find a willing kitty model and voila; one pumpkin collar, looking epically epic on our very own Parsley who was the purrfect choice to wear this fun creation.

Doesn't Parsley look SPOOKTACULAR?

Creepy Crafting with Cats Halloween Special ©BionicBasil® BBHQ Easy Peasy Pumpkin Collar

**SAFETY NOTE**

Periodically check for loose pom poms, and don't leave your kitty unattended while wearing them.

Halloween Pawty Divider ©BionicBasil®

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


Amber will be back tomorrow with another furbulous book review, so we do hope mew can join us then.

Spooky purrs

MUWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAA

Wing Commander Basil & The B Team











Halloween Pawty Divider ©BionicBasil®

Follow Us @BionicBasil®  at InstacatTwitter and Facebook

Halloween Pawty Divider ©BionicBasil®
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.
Halloween Pawty Divider ©BionicBasil®
Graphics created with paid licence www.canva.com and www.pizap.com

Saturday, 5 October 2024

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

Welcome to

The B Team's Halloween Crafting with Cats Banner  ©BionicBasil® October  23

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® 

Halloween Pawty Divider ©BionicBasil®

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

Crafting With Cats  Part X ©BionicBasil® Catnip Pumpkin Toys and The Spooky Haunted House Photo Set

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.

Halloween Pawty Divider ©BionicBasil®

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

Halloween Pawty Divider ©BionicBasil®

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

Halloween Pawty Divider ©BionicBasil®

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

Halloween Pawty Divider ©BionicBasil®

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...

Crafting With Cats  Part X ©BionicBasil® Catnip Pumpkin Toys and The Spooky Haunted House Photo Set
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

Crafting With Cats  Part X ©BionicBasil® Catnip Pumpkin Toys and The Spooky Haunted House Photo Set
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

Crafting With Cats  Part X ©BionicBasil® Catnip Pumpkin Toys and The Spooky Haunted House Photo Set
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

Crafting With Cats  Part X ©BionicBasil® Catnip Pumpkin Toys and The Spooky Haunted House Photo Set
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!

Halloween Pawty Divider ©BionicBasil®

Now It's Catnip Pumpkin Time

Crafting With Cats  Part X ©BionicBasil® Catnip Pumpkin Toys and The Spooky Haunted House Photo Set
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

Crafting With Cats  Part X ©BionicBasil® Catnip Pumpkin Toys and The Spooky Haunted House Photo Set
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

Crafting With Cats  Part X ©BionicBasil® Catnip Pumpkin Toys and The Spooky Haunted House Photo Set
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

Crafting With Cats  Part X ©BionicBasil® Catnip Pumpkin Toys and The Spooky Haunted House Photo Set
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

Halloween Pawty Divider ©BionicBasil®

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.

Crafting With Cats  Part X ©BionicBasil® Catnip Pumpkin Toys and The Spooky Haunted House Photo Set
Crafting With Cats  Part X ©BionicBasil® Catnip Pumpkin Toys and The Spooky Haunted House Photo Set
Crafting With Cats  Part X ©BionicBasil® Catnip Pumpkin Toys and The Spooky Haunted House Photo Set

Smooch and Fudge even got dressed up! MOL

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

[we think he found some catnip!]

Halloween Pawty Divider ©BionicBasil®

Take a peek at the video:


Halloween Pawty Divider ©BionicBasil®

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:


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 








Halloween Pawty Divider ©BionicBasil®
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.

Halloween Pawty Divider ©BionicBasil®
Graphics created with paid licence www.canva.com and www.pizap.com 
mewsic used under paid licence www.audiojungle.net