Zombie Catnip Toy

Whenever I walk into a Petsmart or Petco, the cat toys are ridiculously cute. Pink feathered birds, blue mice with little red noses... not exactly my style. So when I saw this post from DreamALittleBigger for zombie catnip toys, I knew I wanted to make one. Now I don't have a sewing machine so I sewed it all by hand, which does make it take a little longer but you can definitely conquer this project.

So to get started, you'll need:

1. Green, pink, white, and black felt
2. Corresponding thread and a needle (if sewing by hand)
3. Catnip
4. Scissors
5. (optional) A marker


First, create your zombie body template. I drew mine by hand and have uploaded the pdf here, to save you some time Otherwise, create your own, cut it out, and trace around it on the green felt. Cut out two bodies (one for the front and one for the back).


Put the two bodies on top of each other and cut off whatever body parts you like. Be creative! Cut off a leg, part of the head, maybe some of the insides (but only cut the front body, in that case). It doesn't have to be perfect because, after all, it is a zombie.




 I decided to go with the original's and show the zombie's intestines. To do that, cut out a light pink piece of felt and using your red thread, stitch in the lines of the intestines. Once you're done, sew the pink felt to the green piece of felt that has a hole in it. Don't worry if the back looks like a mess because it will be hidden.



I decided to add some exposed brain so I did the same thing to the brains as I did with the intestines. Small piece of pink felt, red thread for the lines, and sewed to the head of the green piece of felt. I also added an eyeball, a line under the eye, and an X for the missing eyeball, just to give our little guy some character. And don't forget the mouth!



Once all the pieces of your zombie are in place, do a blanket stitch around the sides (if you're not sure how to do one, I walk through the steps in my "How to Make Felt Booties" post). Be sure to leave a 1-2" opening to pour in the catnip. Use a funnel or use your fingers to push the catnip to all the corners of the zombie. I decided to have the opening be the head so I could use my finger to push the catnip through the extremities.





One word of caution, if I may.... the thicker the felt, the better. The reason being, if you overstuff your toy (like I did), your cat may or may not chew a hole through it, which will require some repair. This happened about 15 seconds after I gave him the toy...

Other than that, you're all set! Your little zombie catnip toy is ready to be devoured!

Now isn't this so much cooler than a stuffed purple mouse? My thoughts exactly. 

WARNING: Your cat may or may not act like a zombie wanting brains. Batman was first curious, then ravenous, then paranoid.

TOTAL COSTS: About $6.50

$.33/color of felt at Michael's

$4.99 for catnip at Vons

Thread and needle on hand

TOTAL AMOUNT OF TIME: About an hour and a half

20 minutes to make the template, trace, and cut out felt

20 minutes to make the intestines

10 minutes to sew them to the body

10 minutes to make the brains

5 minutes to make the eyes

15 minutes to sew the body

15 minutes to fill the body with catnip and sew together

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

If you're not good at sewing (like me) you may find this more difficult than if you actually had sewing skills or better yet, a sewing machine. However, it's a zombie, so if the stitching isn't perfect, that'll just add to the zombie's character! 

Zombie Poker Card Hair Pin

Planning a trip to Vegas? Love zombies? Have a regular game night? This might be the perfect accessory for all those situations and, if you really want to stretch it, could be for St. Patrick's Day as well (I only used the clubs in this case). Yeah, that last one might be a bit of a stretch... but it's relatively quick and easy to make and I can guarantee no one else will have anything like it! I found this post originally on Instructables. To make this you'll need:

1. A template to cut out the large, medium, and small pieces. I used the original's template, however I suppose you could just as easily make your own!

2. Card stock paper (for the template)

3. A deck of cards

4. Something to draw the template on the cards. A marker smeared, a pencil hardly showed, so I found a pen worked the best!

5. Glue - hot glue, glue stick, whatever you've got!

6. Something to put in the center. I thought of using a gemstone or a dime but found a better idea - see below!

7. A hair pin/barrette/clip/etc.

8. Scissors

First, print and cut out your three templates on card stock. Once they're cut out, place them on top of the following cards, trace around them with a pen, and cut them out:

* Large template over the top corner of the Ace, King, Queen, Jack, and 10 cards

* Medium template over the number and suit of the 9, 8, 7, 6, and 5 cards

* Small template over the faces of the King, Queen, and Jack

Once all the pieces are cut out, fold the bottoms of each card up and cut a slit in the middle of each, up until the crease.

Slightly bend all the cards so they'll won't lie flat. You'll want them to pop out a bit once you're at the gluing stage.

Now the original post recommended gluing all the large cards in order (10, J, Q, K, A) in the top-right corner and once dry, pulling the Ace and 10 cards together to create the circle. I spent a good 10 minutes trying to do that and I failed miserably. Instead, I glued the bottom right corner of each card and created the circle that way. Don't worry if it's not perfect, it'll hardly be seen!

Once your large cards are glued together, take your medium cards and glue them on top in the middle.

And finally, take your three small cards and glue them in the middle as well.

Now you'll want to find something roughly the size of a dime. I used the back of one of the cards, used a dime as a template, and glued it in the center. It's a nice bloody touch, don't you think?

Glue your pin/barrette/clip to the back. Note that this could just as well work as a broach - it doesn't have to go in your hair.

And voila! Your unique accessory is complete!

TOTAL COSTS: $2.99

$2.99 for the Bicycle Zombies cards from Walgreens

Card stock, pen, scissors, hot glue, and hair pin all on hand

TOTAL AMOUNT OF TIME: 1 hour

However, I spent 10 minutes trying to figure out how to glue just the large pieces in a circle so you might have better luck and get it done faster!

EASY-PEASY SCALE (1 super easy - 5 very difficult): 2 out of 5

The only difficult part is gluing the large pieces into a circle, however it's really not that hard, it's just a little frustrating if you're OCD like me!