Flower Shaped Cat Toys - Two Kinds!

The Easiest Ever Flower Power Crispy Cruncher is made with paper layers for cats who love to bite pages while you are reading. Can be made in ten minutes, for about a dollar, with only about eight stitches!

Materials:

*two colors of felt

*file folder or similar thickness paper

*dental floss or strong string

The Impressively Realistic Catnip-Infused Daffodil/Narcissus/Jonquil is made with multiple types of plastic and tasty fun ribbons. The most expensive part is the catnip. Embroidered details are optional, but really make these look awesome, and are easy to pull off even if you are brand new to embroidery.

Materials:

*Two colors of felt

*plastic margarine lid (or similar thickness plastic)

*plastic shopping bag

*embroidery floss and dental floss

*ribbon

Tools:

*binder clip

*circle to trace (coin, bottle cap, or possibly artistic confidence to draw a circle)

*needle

*scissors

*lighter or lit candle to singe the ends of the ribbon (if you are using ribbon that frays)

Use a coin or bottle cap to draw a perfect six-petaled flower around a center circle.

Cut this out, cutting only around the outside edge.

You need 4 identical pieces of paper, and 3 of felt.

Using the same coin or cap, cut two circles of the second color of felt.

Stack your flower-shaped pieces in the order: Felt, Paper, Paper, Felt, Paper, Paper, Felt.

Use the binder clip to hold all of these pieces sandwiched together.

One of the center circles goes on each side; all of the sewing goes around the center circle.

(If you wanted to add ribbons to this toy, just cut two slits in the center of the centermost piece of felt and tie the ribbon in...(purple example))

Making sure to tie the dental floss to the felt centerpiece correctly (the knot must be tied around the felt, not only in the string...(yellow diagram)), start stitching around the center. The needle goes through every layer, and should come out in the center piece on the opposite side. Stitch all the way around. If you have trouble going through so many layers, you can press the back of the needle against something like scrap wood. Go slow so that you can accurately guess where the needle is coming through, and avoid poking yourself. When you are all the way around, push the needle only halfway through and tie off in the center.

All done!

If you need to trim anything that didn't quite line up, do that now.

Hooray kitties!

Again, use a coin or bottle cap to draw the same six-petaled pattern on a margarine lid, milk carton, or possibly even cereal box. ( I'm using a green margarine lid). Draw the outer edges of the circles into points, creating a star shaped flower. Cut this from the plastic, and use this piece as a pattern to cut out two pieces of felt. These felt pieces need to be about a quarter inch larger than the plastic all the way around. Next cut the center, which is kind of a muffin shape. You only need one center.

Attach the center to one of the star-shaped pieces, embroidering all the way around. After it is well attached, you can add more parts to the flower and I added little stitches to show the spaces between each petal.

Tie the ribbon around the plastic piece, and singe the ends using a lighter or lit candle so they won't fray.

The pieces will go: Felt, Plastic, Felt with center facing out.

Use the binder clip to hold the pieces while you sew about 70% of the way around. I love using dental floss because it's strong, I already have it, and the wax makes it super easy to thread. I use the type of stitch where you go in on the same side each time. Remember to tie around the felt again, so the stitches won't pull through.

Tear off about one-eighth of a plastic shopping bag, and tear that in two. Shove the first piece inside the toy, maneuvering it into each petal. Then crumble up some catnip, and dump that in as well. In goes the other piece of plastic. Smoosh it until you like it, and stitch the rest of the way around, making sure that the ribbons fall outside of the toy and are positioned how you want them. Tie the string off and you're done!

These toys look really professional and fun without a lot of actual effort.