Animal Party Gift

We have a birthday today and I thought that I would make up a couple sets of these little animals.  Kamille is completely obsessed with putting collars and leashes on her little pets.  So, I came up with the idea of using hair rubber bands to make the collars so I didn't have to constantly keep tying ribbon onto these little animals.  While I was at the Dollar Store picking up the hair bands, I also got those little plastic barretts shaped like bows for the animals ears, the clippy barretts to make earrings, and the ribbon for the leashes. 

 Last time I used some charms on the collars that I had in my stash, but I lucked out and found a pack of hair rubber bands that already had charms on there.

I just took a decent length of ribbon and hot glued it into the hair rubber band, covering the metal closure part.  Then, I looped around the other end and glued it into a handle like a leash would have. 

For the earrings, I took the little clippies and hot glued flowers and other doodads I had around the craft room onto them to make sets of earring.

I also made mini pet beds and outfits.  I will try to post the tutorial for the outfits with the pattern later this week. 

Fun Stuff to Make for Dogs

I thought that it could be fun to put up a post on projects to make for your dogs.  Some of these projects are so simple that kids could join in the making fun.  Up above are some great pics of dog treats.  I especially love the boxed treats, which would make a nice Christmas gift for all of your dog loving friends. 

www.Bullwrinkle.com is loaded with great dog treat recipes.  Here is their recipe for fun, flavorful everyday dog treats. 

2 teaspoons dry yeast
1/2 cup lukewarm water
2 tablespoons dry parsley
2 tablespoons minced garlic 1 1/2 cups chicken broth
3 tablespoons honey
1 egg
5-6 cups whole wheat flour

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 ° F (180 ° C).
In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Stir in the parsley, garlic, broth, honey, and egg. Gradually blend in flour, adding enough to form a stiff dough.
Transfer to a floured surface and knead until smooth (about 3-5 minutes). Shape the dough into a ball, and roll to 1/4-inch (6 mm) thick. Using small bone-shaped cookie cutters, make biscuits! Transfer to ungreased baking sheets, spacing them about 1/4 inch (6 mm) apart. Gather up the scraps, roll out again, and cut additional biscuits.
Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and turn over. Bake for an additional 15 minutes, or until lightly browned on both sides. Let cool overnight. (After we finish baking all batches of biscuits, we turn off the oven, then spread all the biscuits out on one baking sheet and set them in the oven to cool overnight. The extra time in the oven as it cools off helps make the treats crispier and crunchier.)
Makes several dozen small bones that keep and freeze well. We like these biscuits because they're quick and easy and we always have the ingredients on hand to make them. Our boys like them because they're good!

Dog treats really are easy to make.  Plus, you control the ingredients, so you know what is going in there.  They keep for a very long time.  Let your kids get in on the action.

Make Your Own Dog Bed



Veronica Peterson come up with this awesome idea for upcycling an old suitcase (this actually loves like an old hair dryer case to me - I know because I have one of the shelf right now).  She just crammed a pillow in there and then covered it with a blanket.  What a fun way to have a travel bed if you travel alot with your dog.  Plus, I love the fact that she has the toys stored in there too.  Click for the full free tutorial.

DIY Dog Toy

This great toy idea is compliments of woof nanny.  These toys are made from braided fleece.  I don't think that it takes a tutorial to figure out how to braid some long strips of fleece into a long pull toy.  She also suggested using hand towels for the same concept.  To me, this looks like a great way to use up some fleece scraps.  Also, you could use the parts of the remnants that have marker on them.  That usually makes me crazy, but now I know what I will be doing with something I would normally have thrown out.

Dog Carrier

    One of our customers send us an idea about our baby sling pattern.  She used it to make a dog carrier for her little doggie.  Who knew?

Pet trends even featured puppy slings last year as one of the hot new trends in the dog world.