DIY | Feathered Cat Toys
First of all, let me apologise for the image overload in this post. And when I say ‘apologise’ I mean in one of those ‘sorry-not sorry’ ways, because just LOOK at that FACE! If it seems like I’ve been a little distracted lately, it’s because of that pretty little face! I can’t resist it!
For those of you who have been here since the early years of this blog, you may remember my devon rex, Loki, used to pop up a lot in my posts. He was, for a long time, our un-official mascot of the blog. Sadly,we lost Loki to a careless driver over Christmas. Ever since there has been a kitten shaped hole in our home and in our hearts. Devon’s have such strong personalities, his presence was sorely missed. But as you may have guessed, recently this little girl came into our lives…
Without further ado, let me introduce you to Navi! Our new baby is also a devon and she has the sweetest, loveliest temperament of any kitten you are likely to meet. She is SO friendly, loves cuddles, and she is teeny tiny! Like, I still cant get over exactly how small she really is!
As the newest member of the family, I thought it only fitting make a little welcome gift for the new baby! Being a kitten, she is super playful, so a toy was the obvious choice. (and you can make one too!) This DIY takes minutes to make and will set you back a quarter of what you would pay at a pet store. You save some pennies and your kitty gets spoilt! Everybody wins and your fur baby will love you ;)
| MATERIALS: Foam/felt sheets (3 colors) String Wooden beads 6mm wooden dowel rod (50cm length) Small single hole-punch |
1. With a pair of sharp scissors, cut a 3cm strip of foam (or felt) from the top of each color sheet. Then cut the strip into three 7cm pieces.
2. Take one foam strip and cut into a leaf shape (curved lines from top to bottom, along the long sides of the strip) One end will be pointed and one end will be blunt. 3. To turn the leaf shapes into feather shapes, snip small slits, at an angle, from each side. Make your snips random in size and location, the more random the better. 4. Punch a hole into the blunt end of the feather shape. Repeat with different color foam strips until you have at least 3 feathers. 5. Cut a length of string approximately 1m long. Thread three feathers onto the string and push down about 1cm down the string. Knot the string at the top of the feathers, leaving the excess string at the top of the knot. 6. Thread one or two wooden beads onto the string (both the main thread and the excess thread from the previous step. The bead is to give the toy some weight, but it’s up to you how many beads you use. Two beads will also give your toy some sound as they will click together as you play. Knot the string at the top of the bead/s and trim away the excess leaving just the long length of thread. 7. Attach the other end of the string to one end of the wooden dowel rod – wrap it around the rod until you have the desired length for your toy and knot securely. (If your kitty is particularly strong, you can always add a drop of strong hold glue under the string.) |
Of course, you can forgo the stick portion and let your kitten go crazy with the string and feathers, and get gloriously tangled as Navi did during our photo shoot! I found foam is a nice flexible material to make your ‘feathers’ from, but thick felt will also do the job (But may stretch with lots of playing!) You will have plenty of left over materials, so you can even make some spare feathered strings to tuck away for later, making it easy to replace the ends when they get all chewed and scraggly.
For more cute kitten pictures, follow me on Instagram! (I am kind of obsessed with taking photos of this kitten face!)
dee
February 8, 2015 at 1:15 pmI am in love with your new little miss… what a darling girl! And the toy is great… I’m sure my girl, although older, would get a real kick out of this too. Thanks!
Albert
March 28, 2015 at 12:02 amNice DIY ideas, now I can create a great looking cat toy :) Thanks
Mischelle
May 15, 2015 at 5:53 amThat’s so cute!
xoxo
Mischelle
http://www.nowthatschic.com/
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