DIY Christmas Archives - Stylish Paws

Tag: DIY Christmas

20
Dec
2017

Christmas fun.

categories: Holiday fun, The Three Amigo's

For us Christmas is about spending quality time with loved ones and of course that includes our four legged children! This year will be Charlotte, Duke and Peaches’ first Christmas so it needs to be a special one.

The big fat man dressed in red will be making a delivery for them too… Since it is difficult to find nice bunny goodies where we live, I like to make homemade gifts for them using bits and pieces I found around the house. The goodies I did find in the shops include a children’s ten-pin bowling set, because bunnies actually love playing interactive games with you. A doggy interactive toy, a new cat tunnel, an outside enclosure play pen and I made some homemade bunny treats (recipe below).

Homemade Bunny Crackers:

These are by far the easiest bunny toy to make. You simply take a toilet roll holder, fold in the one side, fill it with whatever your bunnies go crazy for like pellets, dried flowers and dried herbs or fill it with fresh goodies like carrot sticks, celery bits and herbs. Then fold in the other edge. Your bunnies will love throwing this around while trying to get the yummy stuffing out. I like to use different size ones (some toilet roll holders and some kitchen roll holders) to make things more challenging for them.

Bunny Treats:

I enjoy making homemade treats for the babies because that way I know exactly what is in them. No hidden dyes or preservatives, only ingredients I know are safe and healthy for them.

Ingredients

1/4 cup bunny pellets, blitzed up

1/4 cup blitzed oats

1 mashed banana

1 large carrot cooked and mashed into a puree

Directions

Pre-heat your oven to 180 degrees. Mix all the ingredients together in a mixing bowl until everything is nicely combined. Line a baking tray with baking paper. Spread the treat mixture evenly so it is about 1cm thick. Bake in the oven for +-30 mins or until the treats are cooked and hard. Take them out the oven, cut into small bite sized squares and allow to cool. Store them in an airtight container for on hand treats. Your bunnies will LOVE these… You can play around with the ingredients, choose your bunnies favourite veggies, fruit and herbs but please be mindful of what is safe for your furry loves to eat!!

We are at a comfortable stage where the bunnies can be around Oscar and Zara, so this Christmas is going to be lots of fun. Both Oscar and Zara love opening their Christmas gifts so they are going to have to show the bunnies how it’s done, perhaps even help open theirs!

Whatever your Christmas plans are this year, we hope you have a wonderful and safe celebration!

Thank you for reading

23
Nov
2016

Little Critters Rescue Club.

categories: Valentine and Duchess

My mom and I were fortunate enough to visit the Little Critters Rescue Club at the beginning of November. We took some much needed supplies and we wanted to spend some time and get to know each Little Critter. We fell in love with all the critters, including the permanent residents! It is such a special place and one that is close to my heart, especially since Valentine and Duchess came into my life. When Lauren opened the door we were greeted by the cutest pack of wagging tails. Marmite, Peanut, Misty, Molly and Barney to be exact. Isabel who is one of Lauren’s rescue cats quite proudly showed us where the Critters were and then demanded some tummy tickles as a reward for her efforts.

Lauren started Little Critters Rescue Club out of pure love and adoration for smaller pets such as rabbits, hamsters, guinea pigs, mice and chinchillas. The club is a rescue, rehabilitation and re-homing center, but of course some of the critters that come in become permanent residents, mostly because they are special needs critters.

Lady, Gladys and Odette, the permanent residents

We met Gladys who was an abused little guinea pig girl who now has scars across her back. Her fur is long enough to cover them up and when you look at her you would never know just how hurt she was before she came to Little Critters. She was so friendly to my mom and I, we even got little piggy cuddles. She melted our hearts!

Lady is another piggy permanent resident who was so over bred that her bottom eyelids suffered such trauma from inbreeding that they now protrude outwards. She also has ovarian cysts and has had many ovarian issues as a result from all the breeding and she needs constant care. We also got piggy cuddles from her and she was such a sweet heart.

And then there is Odette, who is very special to Lauren! She has kidney failure and needs three supplemented feeds a day to make sure she gets all the vitamins, proteins and fluids she needs!

Then we met Sooty and Sweep, two cute baby bunny sisters! Lauren hand fed these babies and taught them everything they know. Luckily at the same time they came in, another guinea pig family came in and the three amigo baby guinea pigs and Sooty and Sweep became inseparable. Luigi, Herbie and Peanut are such curious little boys. My mom and I could have sat for hours listening to them chat amongst themselves, feed from their mom, explore their surroundings and play with Sooty and Sweep.

Sooty and Sweep are gorgeous baby bunnies and remind me of Duchess

The Critters live a life of luxury while at the club. They have access to a massive mansion that has ramps, pillows, hideouts and lookouts. When they are not relaxing in their mansion they have access to the most awesome herb garden where they can run free and just be Little Critters! There is also a playground for everyone to enjoy with things to jump over, hide under and gnaw on.

Visiting Little Critters has inspired me and given me new ideas on how I can improve Valentine and Duchess’ play room, hutch and outdoor area.

Before any adoptions, strict home checks and interviews take place. It is very important that anyone wanting to adopt is doing so for the right reasons. Lauren will also educate the adoptive family on proper care, food requirements and how to keep your Little Critter truly happy.

These critters were abused, abandoned and not cared for, yet they still have enough love and trust in them to allow us to show them what its like to be loved, it honestly is heart warming.

The guinea pig family enjoying a meal together — The guinea pig family

This Christmas I ask you to please think of these Little Critters.

Before Valentine and Duchess came into my life I had no idea just how much effort goes onto making sure they are kept happy and healthy! Meal times are a lot more than a lettuce leaf and a carrot. Despite their size, their food bill and toy bill is costly. I can’t imagine having more than two Critters to feed and look after. If you can, please donate any amount to the Little Critters Rescue Club. They always need Burgees Pellets, Timothy Hay, blankets to snuggle in, and interactive toys. You can contact Lauren on lauren.namer@iburst.co.za and please be sure to follow them on Facebook (click here) and Instagram (click here), every share is one step closer to finding these Little Critters their perfect forever home!

Thank you for reading

21
Dec
2015

DIY Christmas Fun…

categories: Holiday fun

Who doesn’t love a bit of DIY during the holiday season, especially when it’s for your best friend? For most of us, our pets are part of the family and will travel with us on holiday, have a present under the tree and a stocking hung up. Oscar’s favourite morning of the entire year is Christmas morning! He gets to finish off the cookies and milk which ‘Santa’ didn’t finish, and then he gets to find his presents and open them up. He is a real professional at finding which presents are his under the tree. He then takes them to his chosen spot, tears them open and enjoys whatever is inside. He truly is a very happy doggy on Christmas morning! Naturally I love nothing more than to watch this happy moment take place.

Because Oscar is a really spoilt pup, it is sometimes difficult choosing gifts for him, so I often opt for the DIY option. So here are a few of this years DIY Christmas fun…

Homemade candy cane:

We all love our Christmas sweets and treats-which are not pet friendly. But that doesn’t mean Oscar can’t enjoy a bit of candy of his own…

Ingredients

3 cups whole wheat flour

1/2 cup powdered milk

1 cup milk

1 large egg

1 tsp vanilla essence

Red food colouring

Directions

Preheat your oven to 160 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, add all the ingredients (except the food colouring) and mix together. Break your dough in half and add some of the red food colouring to one half of your dough. This may get messy but it’s ok 🙂 Knead the food colouring through your dough until it is the desired red you would like. Break off a small piece of the plain dough and a small piece of the red dough and roll each one out into a thin strip. Then plait the two colours and make a candy cane shape. You can brush with an egg wash if you like and bake at 160 degrees for +-20 minutes or until cooked. Place them on a cooling wrack to cool. Wrap them up and put them under the tree or in your pets stocking for them to enjoy.

Paw frame:

This one is for us humans to cherish our pups forever…

What you will need

A picture frame

A piece of card board

Paint

Your pups paw

A marker pen

A damp cloth or doggy wet wipe

Directions

Write your pups name on the piece of cardboard with the marker pen. Then pour a little paint into a container and carefully place your pups paw in the paint and place it onto the piece of board. Press gently to get their full paw print. Lift and wipe his paw clean immediately, either with a damp cloth or a doggy wet wipe. Wait for the paint paw print to dry, place it in the frame and hang it up on your wall. Just a little something special.

Treat jars:

Christmas is all about over indulging, so why not let your furry love over indulge a little too…

Ingredients

3 cups flour

2 small bananas mashed up

1/4 cup natural peanut butter

1 egg

1/2 cup milk

Directions

Preheat your oven to 160 degrees. Mix together all the ingredients in a bowl. Then tip it out onto a floured surface and knead until all the ingredients are mixed. You can add food colouring to make your pups treats festive. Roll out the dough and use cookie cutters to cut your shapes. Place them onto a greased baking tray and bake for 15-20 minutes or until cooked. Let them cool, place them in the treat jar, decorate the jar and let your pooch enjoy delicious snacks all through the holidays.

Paw print tree ornaments:

Why not let your pup have his own tree decorations? In our house, Oscar has his very own tree decorated with paw imprint ornaments, doggies that look like him and bones-some are edible and some are not.

Ingredients

1 cup flour

1/2 cup salt

1/2 cup water

Directions

Preheat your oven to 80 degrees. Mix together the flour, salt and water. Roll it out and using cookie cutters cut out the shapes you would like most on your tree. Keep in mind your pups paw needs to fit on some of them. Gently push your pups paw to make an imprint into the dough. Use a straw to make a hole to thread some ribbon through and place them on a baking tray and bake for 2-3 hours or until hard and dry. Let them cool, then begin decorating with paint and glitter. Go wild and have fun! Hang them on your tree every year 🙂

Handmade rope toy:

Oscar has loads of toys, but somehow he always knows which ones are bought and which ones are handmade-the handmade ones being his favourite option to play with.

What you will need

Two or three old t-shirts

Scissors

Directions

Cut the t-shirts into 2cm wide and the length of the t-shirt strips. I used red and white t-shirts to keep with the festive season theme. Pull the strips together and tie them at the top, you can either knot it or use another piece of material to tie it. Then plait them all the way to the bottom and either knot or tie at the end. Wrap it up and watch your best friend have loads of fun opening up his gift.

Free gift labels:

You can’t give your furry love a gift without his name on it, so here are some super cute free printable labels you can use for your Christmas gifts this year.

click here to download your free Christmas tags

Most of all, Stylish Paws and Oscar would like to wish you a very Merry Christmas! Have fun, be safe and enjoy the Festive Season with your furry loves and family.

Thank you for reading