Things You Can Make For Your Pets

Pet Crafts and Activities

Cat and Dog Place mats

What you will need:

1. Large pieces of fun foam for the mat - You can buy 24 pieces 11 1/2" x 17" of foam sheets for $7.95 from Oriental Trading Company. That's about 33 cents a piece. I have seen them at Michael's Craft Store for .99 cents each if you buy them separately. Type in 57/2103 in the search box at the top of the page to find this item.

2. Foamie animal shapes - We bought the shapes shown in the picture from Michael's Craft Store although they are not shown on their web site. They do have a Tub O' Foamies Sticky Shapes - Leaping Animals on the web site. Craft Supplies for Less has Foamie Cat and Dog Stickers for sale on their web site.

3. Foam letter Stickers or Permanent Markers - Oriental Trading Company has adhesive foam letters. Type in 57/2006 in the search box at the top of the page to find these letters.

What to do:

1. Decide on your design and place all the items on the mat where you would like them to be before sticking them to the mat.

2. Peel off the back of the sticker and place the stickers on the mat. You can also use permanent markers to decorate the mat, but be careful to let the ink dry before touching it.

Dog Tags - Set of four dog tags to make for your dog - "Bad to the Bone", "Party Animal", "Pure Mutt!" and "No Fleas Allowed".

What you will need: Shrinky Dink Ruff N' Ready Plastic sheets colored pencils, and scissors,

What to do:

1. Print out the dog tag patterns (Large file or small file)
2. Tape the patterns onto the back of a Shrinky Dink sheet, the shiny side.
3. Color the pictures starting with your lightest colors, then outline the pictures with a black color pencil.
4. Cut the dog tags out and punch a hole in the tag. You will have to punch more than once to make the hole big enough if you have a regular sized hole punch.
5. Place the dog tags on the shiny side of parchment paper or waxed paper and place them on a cookie sheet. Bake them for 3 minutes in a 250 degree oven or until they have shrunk to about two inches long. The directions on the Shrinky Dink web site say to use a 325 degree oven but 250 seems to work just as good. It takes a little longer to shrink them, but they don't curl up and deform as much.

Bird Toys - by Danielle Warvel

What you will need: Decorative plastic curtain chain and metal chain (Found at Wal-mart in their domestic department.), cotton string (Don't use string with dyes in them.) and a plastic clasp, stainless steel jingle bells.

What to do:

1. Cut 5" lengths of chain and tie them together at one end and tie that end to a plastic clasp. Tie jingle bells to the other ends. Hook to the inside of you bird's cage.

*Caution when making bird toys do not use items made with zinc. Check your birds toys often to make sure they are not coming apart. Do not use items with flaking paint. Do not use metal clips, keys, nuts and bolts, Costume jewelry or metal beads that contain zinc or lead. Use stainless steal items when possible.

Crafts for Pets on Other Web Sites

Precious Pet Bowl Large "Precious Pet Bowl Large-Porcelain: Create a one-of-a-kind lasting treasure with the Precious Porcelain products. Each piece is perfect to give as a personalized gift that will be a keepsake for many years. Each has a unique porcelain coating that lets you become the artist! * Using the specially formulated color markers, your drawing will become permanent within minutes! * No heating, baking or mixing required * Contains no lead"

Milestones Stepping Stone Kits "Milestones Kits Paw Print: Create a treasured childhood keepsake in 3 easy steps, simply mix, pour and decorate. * Kit contains rainbow rocks, glass gems, glitter, wood mixing paddle, craft stick for writing * Reusable mold, bag of stone craft mix and instructions with project ideas also included"