Calling all creative animal lovers! Your insane abilities might be put to significant use at the animal shelter in your community, whether your preference is sewing, woodworking, or gluing together empty toilet paper rolls.
As part of National Craft for Your Local Shelters Day on July 21, join crafters from all across the country as they donate to help animals in need in the best way they can.
This yearly event was started by Sew Doggy Style in 2012 with the goal of fusing the crafter’s passion of animals with her desire to give back. Basically, you employ your artistic prowess to aid your neighborhood shelter.
To get started, speak with the shelter where you live to determine which handmade products and how many might be useful. Once the project has been chosen, gather your supplies—and friends!—for a craft night and get to work.
The need to support our local shelters is expanding as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic’s disruption of volunteer options and availability. Despite the fact that many shelters had empty kennels since so many individuals adopted animals while they were still in quarantine, there is still shelter work to be done as more people return to their jobs.
Additionally, there will always be possibilities to provide shelters with crucial supplies until spaying and neutering pets as a matter of course becomes a thing.
Don’t know how to sew, carve, or possess another formal crafts skill? Fear not. Here are six simple craft projects that anyone can do:
Cat treat tubes, first
Empty toilet paper rolls can be used to create some lovely crafts. This will occupy any cat for hours, I guarantee it.
Resources required:
• 1 large, empty box of tissues
• 14 unused tubes of toilet paper
• Scissors
• Ribbon
• Glue gun, hot
Directions:
1. Snip the top panel of the tissue box off using scissors.
2. Cut two holes through the tissue box’s bottom panel with scissors, spaced about 2 inches apart.
The box should be upright such that its height from the ground is greater than its width. To be able to tie the box to a piece of furniture, pass the necessary length of ribbon through the holes. Delay tying.
3. Place the box back on the floor with the bottom panel facing up.
The tissue box’s long side should have a row of five vertically positioned toilet paper tubes. Hot glue is used to hold.
4. Rotate the box so the line of vertical tubes is on the other side from you.
On the empty, long side of the tissue box, arrange a further row of 5 toilet paper tubes. Make that the tube ends are once again upright in the box. Protect the tubes.
5. In the vacant space in the middle between the two rows of tubes, arrange a row of four toilet paper tubes. Make that the tube ends are once again upright in the box. Protect the tubes.
6. Hold the box in an upright position and fasten it to some furniture. The tube games can start once you put a cat goodie inside one of the tubes.
Dog Bed No. 2
Do you need to retire that ugly sweater? Make it into something lovely with this simple dog bed!
Resources required:
2. XL sweaters
• Scissors
• Sewing bobbins
• 1 band of elastic
• Cotton or polyester stuffing, or previous attire you don’t want to wear
• A dressmaker’s pencil
Directions:
1. Cut the sleeves off the sweaters using scissors. Make a sizable square out of the remaining fabric.
2. Fold each fabric square into quarters. Draw a spherical form with a pencil.
3. Cut one folded square along the pencil line using scissors. For the second folded square, follow the design on the fabric that was cut.
4. Fold both of the squares into circles. Place the two circles exactly next to one another, one circular on top of the other. The edges should be pinned together.
5. To make slits in the circular, cut them with scissors about an inch apart, 2-3 inches from the edge and toward the center.
6. Unpinch the circles. To locate the center of a circle, fold one of the circles in fourths. Three inches or so from the center of the fabric, wrap your elastic band around it.
7. Lay this circle down on the ground, pointing the elastic up. The other circle should be put directly on top. The fringes on both rings should be knotted together, with the exception of 10 matching fringes, which should be left untied. Fill the bed as you see fit with old clothing or filler. the remaining fringes into a knot.
A dog toy.
The ability to recycle items you no longer use is one of the numerous crafts’ appeals. With this one, your dog’s old t-shirt will quickly become his or her favorite tug-of-war item!
Resources required:
Two t-shirts
• Scissors
Directions:
1. Cut three slits into each t-shirt, one inch apart and roughly three inches from the edge.
2. Create strips of cloth by ripping each slit across the shirts with your hands.
3. Compile your t-shirt strips so that the ends are all the same size. 2 inches from the end, tie off one end of the strips.
4. Separate the longer end of the strips into three sections. Combine braids.
5. Tie off the braid when it is the length you prefer. Trim the ends with scissors to match the other end’s length.
4) The Doggie Station
Without needing to invest a lot of money on brand-new, expensive shelves, aid your neighborhood shelter in getting organized. All you need is some ingenuity and an old chest of drawers!
Resources required:
• An antique chest of drawers or another type of shelf unit with drawers
• Stickers for scrapbooks.
Directions:
1. Label each drawer or storage area in the unit with stickers to indicate the different supply categories. Examples include food, grooming, toys, treats, and bathing. Find out the preferences of your neighborhood shelter.
No. 5 Cat Scratcher
Here is a cat-friendly craft for shelters that let their cats have free reign of the workspace.
Resources required:
• Extra table leg
• Rope
• Scissors
Directions:
1. Starting at the floor end of the desk leg, wrap the leg in rope working your way toward the base. To ensure that no desk leg shows through, the rope strands must be firmly coiled around one another.
2. Tie off the rope once the desk leg has been completely wrapped. Cut the rope’s end using scissors.
A cat toy.
Here is yet another simple DIY using toilet paper tubes.
Resources required:
• 1 tube of used toilet paper
• Scissors
• A stapler, some glue, and some thread.
• Tiny jingle bell
Directions:
1. To ensure that you have 4 intact bands when finished, cut the toilet paper tube in half using scissors.
2. Place one band inside another, then another inside the other two. To create an asterisk, spread them out. You can use a stapler, glue, or a needle and thread to secure.
3. Insert the bell into the ball. Placement of the fourth band should result in a more unified ball shape. Glue down the fourth band.
We also advise creating frozen desserts to deliver to shelters. It’s hot, they require little to no effort to make and store dog (though be sure to check with your shelter to see if they have storage), and they are simple to execute.
