Tutorial: Kitty Scratching Pad

Last night I had a wedding nightmare. Not about my own wedding, although I did have several before mine. About my friend's wedding. I think that should earn me the best bridesmaid award, since I was so worked up over it that I couldn't fall asleep again.

The dream involved the no-show of the seamstress (all of our dresses were too big), and the makeup and hair team (I had these weird horn-type curls at the top of my head, although my friend looked gorgeous as always). Also, the ceremony was on a beach with a rising tide, so the waves were crashing in on us (violently). To top it all off, the other bridesmaids were late, and I was completely unprepared to do the things they were supposed to do during the ceremony. As in, provide the champagne glasses for the mid-ceremony champagne toast. It all culminated with me running after the seamstress to give her a piece of my mind, and ending up on a escalator that went up 2 floors, wouldn't let me off, and then down the the lobby again into a crowd of people who were slapping my butt and calling me sweetcheeks.

Ok. That was weird. Maybe I won't share any of my dreams with you again. Or, maybe you're secret dream interpreters and will have a wonderful time interpreting that dream and telling me I am wayyyy too stressed out for my own good.

(In reality, the reason for the dream is that I received my bridesmaids dress in the mail, and it REALLY needs alterations. But I don't know where the rest came from....)

Since I was up and going a little earlier than planned, I decided to work on a little project I found on Pinterest last night. It ended up taking me longer than I thought, a few hours. I present.... the Circle Cat Scratcher (originally found via Pinterest from Design Sponge).

Oliver is an excellent model

Full directions at Design Sponge. Here's my pictures from the project (needed some photography practice) and a few tips.

I found it very helpful to break in the strips by running them along the side of my table. Especially in the middle, since the roll is so tight. Oh, also, make sure to cut strips perpendicular to the corrugations. To help finish it (to cover the tape) and keep in the catnip, I added a paper bottom and sides. Since Hazel likes to eat tape (I know!), I wanted to keep the bottom as tightly enclosed as possible. I probably ended up doing more work than I needed, but the end result is a Hazel-proofed taped circle (and a very happy Oliver).

Love them! (Oliver is a little jealous of Hazel's "pretty princess bed". Or maybe the catnip that bribed her to be in the picture).