Winner: Pet Charm Giveaway

And the winner of the Pet Charm Giveaway is:


(sorry for the very tiny screenshot!)

Amy (comment #4). Dawn (the creator of the pet charms) will be in touch with you within the next week to  plan your charm!!

Tomorrow, I'm taking the day off to enjoy the deluge here!

See you on Monday!!

Petco Giveaway

I'm starting the weekend off with a giveaway!


How does a $30 gift card to Petco sound? They have pet supplies for most pets you can think of: dogs, cats, mice, rabbits, iguanas, fish, turtles, birds and even ferrets (anyone out there own a ferret?)


All you have to do is follow my blog and leave a comment at the end of this post. 


Easy, right?

This giveaway will close on March 22nd at 11:59 pm et. This giveaway is open to US and Canadian mailing addresses. 

Growing Catnip

We had a minor change in schedule today, so I will be posting!


Are you all ramping up for spring break? Because my kids are at two separate schools and the vacation times don't overlap, we'll be off for a whopping 3 weeks over here! When I ask them what they want to do over the break, without hesitation, they say, "home school." Which I find pretty hysterical! But I'm happy to oblige. On the agenda: learning about Stonehenge, poetry month, cooking and chess.


But back to the animals.....


Today, I'm going to talk about growing edibles for your cat in the garden.


I grow plenty of wonderful things for human consumption in my garden:

But wouldn't it be fun to be able to grow your own catnip?


Kitty could either help herself or you could harvest it, dry it out and create some sort of fabric toy to stuff the dried catnip into (stay tuned for a guest post next week that does just that!)

Catnip is a member of the mint family and the most alluring plant to cats. When I had cats, I remember giving them dried catnip and I'd watch as they go nuts for the stuff! Apparently, it does have drug-like side effects for the cats, but it's safe in small doses! Don't worry, you won't have to send your kitty to NA!


Catnip is also a beautiful plant!

It does well in both shade and sun.


You can plant it from seed or transplant baby catnip plants (now is a good time of year to do this if it's not too cool on your end) or grow inside in a window box.


Apparently, catnip also acts as homeopathic remedy to quell headaches and anxiety.
Catnip, here I come!

fabric grocery bag holster (a.k.a. kitty litter bag holder)

One of the weird things about working in the blogging community is that most times you never actually get to meet the people you interact with. Devon of Miss Make is the rare exception. I first met Devon at the Urban Craft Center in Santa Monica and I've been a fan of her blog ever since!

Over at Miss Make you'll find tons of project inspiration and tutorials like this sparkle punch baby cushion:

Or this delectable recipe for caramelized brussel sprouts with bacon:

And she can be cheeky too as evidenced by this giant tomato pin cushion!

Today, she's offering up her take on a cat lover's must have item: the fabric grocery bag holder.

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For a long time I had resigned myself to the fact that there is no good way to store plastic bags.


They have a way of floating and sneaking and escaping out of whatever thing you're trying to trap them in. They have a weird chalky texture and loud annoying rustle. They're also kinda just plain ugly. But since I have an indoor cat, they are a very necessary part of the whole clean-the-litterbox process. And although I've never had a dog, I know they can also be useful for your pupper's trips outside.


Then one amazing day in Target I saw this little fabric tube thingy, specifically designed to hold plastic bags. It was groundbreaking. Revolutionary. I looked at it for a little while and thought I could probably make my own version at home, out of fabric I liked better. I also thought it would be a perfect project for Pet Month here on Meremade. So here's what I did.


This is a super easy sewing project that even the most beginner of beginners can do. The handle means it can hang basically anywhere you need it to go [door knob? utility room hook? back of a car seat?]. And the best part [to me anyway] is that you can make it out of whatever fabric you want, so you can turn something that's boring and chore-related into a little spot of visual happiness. I like visual happiness!

Fabric Grocery Bag Holster

Materials:

15" square piece of fabric

15"x4" rectangle of fabric

[as a shortcut you could use 15" of 1" wide ribbon or cotton webbing]

8" of 1/2" elastic

matching thread

First you'll make the hanging strap. Fold each long edge of the 15"x4" fabric in to the center and press. Then fold the whole thing in half and press again.

Topstitch along the open edge to close, 1/8" from the edge. Then topstitch along the other side.

Zig zag stitch right along three edges of the 15" square fabric. Go right along the edge.

Fold the strap in half and pin it to the printed side of the square, 3.5" in from the edge, on the middle zig zagged side.

Fold the fabric square over the strap so that it's sandwiched inside. Pin along the zig zagged edges.

Sew along the zig zagged edges with 1/2" seam allowance, backstitching at beginning and end.

Turn up the open raw edge 1/4" and press. 

Turn up another 3/4" and press again.

Turn everything right side out. Sew along the inner folded edge of the turned up fabric, making a continuous circle around the inside of the tube. Don't go all the way around though, leave an opening so you can insert the elastic.

Using a safety pin, thread the elastic through the casing you just made. Overlap the ends 1/2" and sew together, sewing and backstitching several times with a zig zag stitch. 

Wiggle the elastic inside the casing, then sew the rest of the casing closed, backstitching at beginning and end. Stuff your new creation with all your ugly annoying grocery bags.

Pull bags out as you need them. Enjoy!

pet shop roundup

Didn't you love those paper mache pets?? 


Things have been a bit slow over here. Our three-year old caught some nasty bug and was running 105 fever for 5 very long, very stressful days. Thankfully, it broke at the 5 day mark (did you know that after 5 days of high fever they need to start testing for some really scary stuff!).


So he's recovered now and back at school! And this mama is exhausted!


So instead of being super creative today, I'm going to leave with some fabulous swag for your pets. Here's a roundup of some great pet presents!


I love these Paul Frank pet products from 26 bars and a Band!

A Paul Frank bed

Paul Frank leash!

Dura Doggie makes awesome dog toys:

And a portion of the proceeds go towards various causes. For example, buy an orange dog toy and 20% of the proceeds go to fighting diabetes. 


These wall mounted cats beds from Akemi Tanaka are to die for! So sleek and modern!

100% of the net profits from a Rescue Chocolate purchase are donated to animal rescue organizations. Chocolate and charity? You can't beat that!

With flavors like Fosteriffic Peppermint and Pit Bull Peanut Butter, you can't go wrong!

Flint and Lars is my kind of pet shop. They sell handmade pet wares on Etsy and everything is priced so reasonably, whether you want mouse toys or squeaky bones:

Happy Pet Shopping! And we;ll see you tomorrow with Devon from Miss Make with a treat that applies to both cat lovers and people who like to stay organized!

Paper Mache Pets

Hello! I'm Amy C from this heArt of mine, a blog about good food, a creative home and loving my family.

Good food like Homemade Pizza, Nutella Whip Dip, Roasted Brussel Sprouts and Cinnamon-Sugar Doughnut Muffins.

A creative home, with projects like ombre infinity scarves, painted walls, birthday party fun and bottle-cap wine glass charms.

Plus stories about loving my family!

I'm happy to be here today for Jennifer's Pet Month. While I like the idea of pets, we don't have any real ones.


Well, that's not exactly true.


We do technically have a dog but she lives with my in-laws. It's a long story and we just met, let's just say, it's for the best. :) We make up for it by housing a whole slew of pets of the stuffed variety. My daughter loves pretend pets. Dogs, cats and her very favorite, her giant horse Harriet. I have been itching to do some paper mache stuff and thus, the idea of the 'Paper Mache Pet' was born.

I started this project like any old-school paper mache project, with balloons, white glue, a little water, a paint brush and newspaper cut in strips.

The glue and water ratio is 2 to 1; 2 parts glue to 1 part water.

I added the pieces, strip by strip, sticking them with the glue/water mix.

Then I let them dry overnight. Once they were nice and dry, I popped and removed the balloons.

To give the 'pets' a different texture, I used a technique I saw in the book Home, Paper Scissors by Patricia Zapata. I chose a couple of hues in the same color because I like the variation. I also painted the paper mache form to match the paper strips make it all blend better.

With my daughter's help, I feed short strips through the paper shredder. It made a neat confetti.


The application of the small paper strips is just like simple paper mache, albeit, it's a much slower process. Lay down a layer of glue/water mix, add a few strips of paper and add more glue/water mix.

Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Here is the brown one all finished and drying.

It's slow, it's messy but it is a fantastic texture.

I used cut-down paper cups for the leg/feet/base and wrapped them in fabric.

The ears and faces are made of fabric as well.

The pets aren't just pets either. They double as banks. For the 'bank' part, I cut a little slit on top.

To cover the opening in the back, I stacked up some circles of fabric, looped a strip of fabric through another little slit and glued the strip to the felt circles. Not the most traditional closure but it works.

And there you have it, totally adorable pets! At least, my kind of pet. :)

Thanks for having me, Jennifer!
Take care.
-amy c
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take care.
♥amy c
www.thisheartofmineblog.com