Handmade Reviews: Stashbuster Catnip Mice from Crafty Creatures

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Kittehs LURVE getting stoned off of catnip.

The ubiquitous catnip mouse is THE best catnip distribution method known to mankind, but your kitties deserve better than that junky Dollar Store poly-fill catnip “mouse” that they’re half-heartedly batting around while wondering why you don’t love them very much.

You DO love your kitties, though, right?

You DO want them to have the bestest, cutest, most catnip-filled mice that human hands can make, right?

Crafty Creatures book coverWell, *I* love my kitties, so check out the bestest, cutest, most catnip-filled mice that my kids and I made for them using the “Mice made easy” tutorial from Crafty Creatures, by Jane Bull. Since these toys are made from a combination of natural materials and waste fabric scraps, they’re both cheap AND eco-friendly–a tough combination to score at your everyday pet store!

“Mice made easy” is an ingeniously simple build for a catnip mouse–my kids can make them by the armful!–but it does require a few modifications to make it safe and fun to use as a cat toy.

First, you want to make sure that the ears on this mouse softie are very well secured, with zero chance that a cat could chew them off and swallow them. This should easily be accomplished simply by following the tutorial, but I did carefully double-check my kids’ sewing before I let their catnip mice pass inspection.

Second, you want to make sure that the tail on this mouse softie 1) also can’t be swallowed and 2) isn’t long enough to be a strangulation hazard. We accomplished this by making the tail out of the same length of embroidery floss that we used to sew up the mouse; we cut it to a safe length, and since it’s also stitched down the entire length of the mouse, there’s no chance of it pulling loose and being swallowed.

Third, you don’t want to attach that cute button or bead eye to this mouse–embroider a couple of little mice eyes, instead.

catnip-mouse-tutorial-(1-of-3)And finally, instead of polyester stuffing, I think it’s nicer and better for kitty to use a natural filling. We stuffed our catnip mice with unwashed wool fleece, briars and brambles and dirt and lanolin and all, and liberally sprinkled dried catnip throughout.

catnip-mouse-tutorial-(2-of-3)Our kitties LOVELOVELOVE their hand-sewn catnip mice. Mind you, they also LOVELOVELOVE paper bags and rolled-up balls of aluminum foil and our socks and moths and the kids’ novelty erasers, but the kids and I also love watching them play with their hand-sewn catnip mice, their special toys made by us just for them.

I received a free copy of Crafty Creatures, because I can’t review a book if I haven’t used it to help me get my cat stoned.

3 thoughts on “Handmade Reviews: Stashbuster Catnip Mice from Crafty Creatures”

  1. wow its so much funny because i have my white cat in my back home which is very very beautiful and i love it. By seeing that now i will make one small beautiful cutey mouse for kitty. i love to make that type of extra ordinary things……

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