A T-Shirt Cat Tent Gone Hay "Wire"

After Batman (my cat) was forced to be on bed rest for two weeks after emergency surgery, I wanted to make him something special, a place he could go and hide from the world if he wanted to. Something... comfy, but inexpensive. When I saw this on Instructables, I thought it was perfect! A cat tent made from an old t-shirt was something I knew I could make at no cost. Boy oh boy was I wrong...

If you want to attempt this, you'll need:

* A piece of cardboard
* Two wire hangers
* An old t-shirt
* Tape
* A pillow (optional)

I started by bending and morphing the two wire hangers to be approximately the same shape and have the same curvature. This wasn't easy, but it got Batman's attention.

I then poked a hole in each corner of the cardboard and stuck the wire hangers through, making sure to tape the center where the two hangers crossed. So far, so good!

Batman was not impressed but he looked on with much curiosity.

I secured the wire with tape around the holes both on top of the cardboard...

...and underneath. You have to bend the wire in order for it to lay flat.

Here is what the frame of the tent looked like. I should have kept it like this, as it only went downhill from here...

I attempted to put the pillow on the cardboard but the pillow was too thick because once the t-shirt went on, there was hardly any room for him to sit!

And then there were structural issues... the t-shirt decided to pull the frame whichever way it chose and it wasn't pretty. It was as if Slimer from "Ghostbusters" had a humpback.

You're supposed to be able to tie the sleeves together underneath the cardboard but if your shirt isn't big enough, that ain't happenin'.

Batman attempted to make the most of his owner's shoddy work, but it was for naught. He looked on with the deepest sympathy in his eyes for my pathetic attempt.

Ideally, the cat is supposed to be able to fit his WHOLE body inside the tent, not just one half at a time.

So here are 3 tips I recommend, should you choose to try this yourself:

1. Make sure your cardboard bottom can't be bent. The thicker, the better. If that means reinforcing with tape, so be it.

2. Use pliers to bend the wire, not your bare hands. It'll be less painful and less time-consuming, I assure you.

3. The flatter the pillow and the bigger the t-shirt, the better!

"It's no Bat Cave, but it'll have to do." - Batman

TOTAL COSTS: Free

The t-shirt, cardboard, masking tape, and wire hangers were all readily available

TOTAL AMOUNT OF TIME: 45 minutes

I didn't use pliers and fiddled around a lot with the frame, which took more time than I care to mention.

EASY-PEASY SCALE (1 super easy - 5 very difficult): 3 out of 5

So I made a lot of mistakes which hopefully you'll learn from if you attempt this project. Try not to get too frustrated if it doesn't come out perfectly. As long as the frame is immovable, you should be fine when you put on the t-shirt!

Phone Book (or Newspaper) Wreath

When I saw this post by MormonMommyBlog, I figured I could knock it out in a couple hours and have a nice, eco-friendly, homemade recycled wreath. Let me tell you right now: get a friend, a child, a spouse, someone to help you or you will spend a ridiculous amount of time on it, which is something the original post doesn't tell you. So here's what you'll need:

1. A large piece of cardboard
2. Scissors
3. A marker/pen
4. A hot glue gun and 3-4 sticks of glue
5. A ruler
6. Something to trace your circles (I used a small bowl but you could use a coffee lid)
7. At least 1 phone book (I used 2)
8. A ribbon or something to hang the wreath


First, cut out the size of your wreath. Keep in mind, the bigger the square, the longer it'll take to cover! I tried to eyeball how big they made theirs so I could make mine the same and guessed it was about 14"x15".

Next, trace your circles onto the pages of your phone book. I started out using 8 pages but halfway through the project, I used 4 pages per circle and couldn't tell any difference in size. Batman wanted to help trace circles but he ended up playing in the leftover pages all over the floor instead.

Cut a spiral into the circle, roll it up tight, and slightly release to make rosettes. I recommend gluing the end of the spiral in.

Glue down your rosettes to the cardboard and note that they all don't have to look the same. In fact, if they're different sizes, the variation makes it look unique!

The tracing, cutting, rolling, and gluing takes the longest so if you have a second pair of hands, it would help! Also, your fingers will be covered in ink and hot glue by the time you're done.

Add a ribbon to hang and you're all done!

TOTAL COSTS: Free!
The cardboard was from IKEA packaging, the phone books we receive annually, and everything else was on hand.

TOTAL AMOUNT OF TIME: About 8 hours
Just to cover the bottom, it took 2 hours, 48 minutes.

EASY-PEASY SCALE (1 super easy - 5 very difficult): 2 out of 5
It wasn't so much difficult as it was time consuming. You have to be careful not to burn yourself with the hot glue but other than that, it's a piece 'o cake!


UPDATE: It has been a month and a half since I wrote this post and I wanted to post an update. Since having the wreath up, some of the spirals came undone. I live in LA so my door is prone to the occasional Santa Ana wind gust, but I wanted to give you fair warning the same thing might happen to yours!