Supplies:

• Colored Permanent Markers
• Rubbing Alcohol
• White T-shirt
• Piece of cardboard
• Small Dropper
• Cup (optional)

Directions:

• Place the cardboard between the front and back of your T-shirt to prevent the Markers from soaking through and create dot patterns making sure not to place the dots too closely together because the ink will spread and you want to be able to see and enjoy each color.

• Be mindful of colors that will look good when bled together – yellow and orange, blue and purple, etc.
• Using complimentary colors too closely together may end in a muddy looking mess.
• My favorite color combinations were fuchsia with red and turquoise with green!

• We threw in some lines and swirlies but the dots turned out the best.
• Use a variety of large and small dots!

• Once you are done with your drawing, you will drop Rubbing Alcohol onto the middle of your designs to get the colors to spread out into a tie dye effect!
• Using a cup may make this process a bit easier for you if you made circular patterns.
• Secure the T-shirt around a cup using a rubber band (or just hold it taut with your hands) and drop a few splatters of Rubbing Alcohol smack dab in the middle of the design.

• To get the colors to spread out farther, add more Rubbing Alcohol to the center of your design.
• The faster you drop, the easier the ink will spread without being absorbed by the cotton.

• Once you are satisfied with your tie dye job, remove the cardboard and put your T-shirt in the dryer for 20 minutes to set the marker.

• Then, put it on and ROCK IT!

Notes:

• The fun part is coming up with any wild design your heart desires!

This was a fun task for me and my kiddos! I hope you family enjoys their new designs!

Find Out More with My Military Savings and DIY & Crafts!

This acorn tree certainly fits perfectly with my autumn decor and it has such a unique, au naturel look. And it’s probably the cheapest tree I’ve bought or made – I only spent $2 on the styrofoam cones from the dollar store!! Add this to your project list this fall and then leave it out through winter as well with some red berries sprinkled around the bottom, perhaps!

This is all you need:

• Styrofoam cone (can be found at dollar stores or craft supply stores)
• Hot glue gun
• ACORNS! Lots of them. In all different sizes.

I initially decided to make 2 acorn trees. Because I could only find one-size styrofoam cone, I cut the base off of one to make it shorter than the other for some fun diversity. And then I only ended up completing one tree anyway.

Step 1) Start at the base of the cone and hot glue acorns forming a spiral up towards the top of the cone. Once you get about half way up the cone, start forming second and third lines to make sure you can make everything fit. You want to end up with hardly any white styrofoam showing through.

Step 2) You don’t have to worry about straight spiral lines through the entirety of the tree – fill in little acorns in places that you can make them fit. The spiraling just gives it a more interesting look rather than gluing the acorns straight across in rows. Finish your tree off with a few acorns on the very tip top!

For my next tree I may spray paint the styrofoam cone a gold color before gluing on the acorns to help hide the white that shows through the acorns in some places. Either way, I think it’s beautiful! My husband thought I was crazy when I had bags and bags full of those little nuts but agreed afterwards that my Acorn Tree turned out very nicely. Hopefully our neighborhood squirrels aren’t too hungry now!

Would you give this a try?? I’d love to see your results! How else have you brought the outdoors into your home??

For more awesome DIY projects, check out MyMilitarySavings.com!

I found a random photo of some shelves online and decided to recreate it without a tutorial. I was able to complete the entire project from start to finish in one afternoon and the satisfaction I get every time I look at it in my home is indescribable. If you are used to carpentry work then that may not be a big deal for you but coming from me, someone that needs to read instructions to put together a plastic table, this was a huge accomplishment! And that is why I am sharing the idea… if I can do it, I know it is absolutely possible for anyone else to as well. If you are interested in how I created my DIY Pallet Hanging Wall Shelves, read on…

The only things I needed were:

• an old pallet, disassembled
• circular saw
• 2 inch wood screws
• electric drill
• sand paper
• wood stain
• paint thinner (optional)
• 3 hook screws (optional)

Step 1) When disassembling the pallet you will need to keep the wider slats, also known as top deckboards, usually located on the very ends of the pallet (see photo below, black arrow) and the supporting pieces underneath the slats, also known as stringers or runners (see photo, red arrows).

Step 2) Collect the wider slats or top deckboards and give them a good scrub under the water hose to remove dirt or debris. Arrange along the ground in a pattern that you prefer – I chose to stagger my pieces as shown in the photo below. I also did not trim off any length, I left them completely as they were. *Note- You do not HAVE to use the wider slats of wood. For a nice sized hanging wall shelf you could substitute the 3 wider pieces with 4 thinner slats instead.

Step 3) Use the supporting pieces, or runners, from the pallet to figure out your shelving. These supports have indentations in them that if used, will reveal that your masterpiece is indeed made from a pallet when you are all said and done. So I measured each shelf to connect across at least 2 slats and then my very bottom shelf went across all of them. This is how you will join and keep your back boards together, simply with securing your shelves (next step).

Saw all of your shelves to fit how you want. Notice I made sure that those indentations show on my shelving (see the left side of the 2nd shelf from the top, and the right side of the very bottom shelf.)

Step 4) This step is a little tricky. Now that you have everything lined up on the ground the way that you want it… you have to flip it all over backwards to secure it all together. Flip it over, line everything up, and then use an electric drill to insert screws making sure to put a screw in each deckboard so the shelves essentially are the only thing holding this entire piece together.

Step 5) Once it’s all assembled, it’s time to stain!! I lightly sanded the edges of my shelves first – this is meant to be a display shelf in my home and won’t be used or disrupted so I wasn’t that worried about splinters. I didn’t want to use a straight stain because I wanted to see the natural marks in the wood so I thinned it out with paint thinner. I always choose the darkest stain I can (in this case, dark walnut) because you can add more layers to make something darker but it’s harder to make something lighter once you get it too dark. If you do mess up and stain any furniture entirely too dark, you can usually sand it off and then reapply. So one layer of a paint thinner and stain combo and I was done. Let it dry out!!

Step 6) I added a hook screw to the very bottom of each of my back boards to hold car keys and such. This is totally optional.

Step 7) Gather some cute knick knacks to display!

Yes, that’s a cowgirl boot on my shelf and yes, there’s a story behind it. It is my preschooler’s old shoe and I had set the pair aside to drop off at our local thrift store along with some other items. My father came over to visit and thought those boots were sooo cute, he talked me into keeping them “for some project.” I am so glad that he did because they are precious, and I think it fits on my bottom shelf perfectly!! Think outside of the box when finding treasures for your shelves.

I’d love to see how your pallet projects turn out! Share your photos in the comments below!

For more fun DIY projects, follow me at MyMilitarySavings.com!

In case you missed it, I made an Americana star from a pallet last month, too! Check it out here!

In the spirit of all things autumn… I was inspired by RootAndBlossom to create this delicate little hand print leaf and this dainty pumpkin footprint. In the original blog, this craft was made into a banner with twine and clothes pins. I think that is a fantastic idea, and I plan on sitting my little one down to make a few more of these beauties with me so I can do just that with different fall-colored paper!! 

All I needed was:

• Yellow and orange construction paper
• Red and orange paint
• Brown and green markers
• Scissors
• Paintbrush

Step 1) Paint those hands and feet and stamp ’em on your paper! I used orange for the foot (which will be a pumpkin) and red for the hand (which will be an autumn leaf).

Step 2) With a brown marker, add a stem and the veins to your “leaf.”

Step 3) With the brown marker, trace the outside of your pumpkin and add a few groove marks. With the green marker, add a vine and some leaves!

Step 4) Cut your prints out in the general shape of a leaf and pumpkin. This would also be a great time to laminate them if you’d like! Don’t forget to add the child’s name and date to the back! 🙂

This craft is simple, fun, kid-friendly, and festive for the fall season!

“If a year was tucked inside of a clock, then Autumn would be the magic hour.” – Victoria Erickson

For more hand and footprint art, check out my other craft blogs:

Birdie and Owl Prints

Flipflop Prints

3D Hand Print

Valentine’s Hand Print Tree

Back to School Footprint

Visit MyMilitarySavings.com for other fun, family projects!

So for a few days we broke our ritual of heading to the pool after lunch and I opened my arts and crafts room up to my two daughters. My oldest ended up building a fort and writing letters to old friends under it (awesome idea!) and my youngest decided she wanted to learn how to play the keyboard. Arts and crafts didn’t even come into play but the musical instrument interest got my crafty juices flowing and the next day I set out materials to build some of our own instruments if the girls chose to do so. Without any prompting they both jumped on this idea so together we began our toy guitar experiment using our favorite snack, a RITZ® box! This is something my 10 year old could complete by herself however my 4 year old certainly needed a little help. WE HAD A BLAST!!

All you need:

• an empty RITZ® Cracker box
• a paper towel tube
• LONG rubber bands (we used 7 x 1/8 inch)
• scissors and duct tape or a heavy duty tape

To create a toy guitar:

1) Cut a hole in the top of the RITZ® box to fit the paper towel tube. Also cut a hole in the front of the box as a guitar body has a hole in the front as well to amplify the sound of the vibrating strings (in our case, rubber bands) from within the hollow body.

2) Secure the paper towel tube inside of the top of the RITZ® box with heavy duty tape. Use a lot of tape. A lot. Seal the entire top of the box shut.

3) Cut dashes into the top of the paper towel tube to place your rubber bands inside of. Then wrap your rubber bands into these slits and stretch around the entire box. Use tape to keep the rubber bands in place around the top of the paper towel tube and also tape the bottom of the box to keep bands from sliding around down there as well.

4) Enjoy!!

It may appear that I was having the most fun but indeed, all of us got quite the kick out of this project. My munchkins took turns strumming the guitar and by the end of the hour we started our own rock band with a few other instruments we have around the house. My husband was on camera duty and I am so in love with the videos that he took of our rock show. My 4 year old was running around head banging with her recorder and my 10 year old was singing her heart out with the keyboard… we put on quite the performance!!

Annnd… we worked up quite the appetite. Have you ever had a BBQ-Chipotle Pulled Chicken Topper?? It’s just another amazing thing you can do with the deliciousness of RITZ®! You’ll want to down a handful of these after all of your arts and crafting, for sure. Find the yummy recipe here!

You’ll also be excited to know that assorted varieties (including Fresh Stacks) will be on sale this month at the commissary, from June 16-30th! Only $1.89 for a 11.6 – 15.1 oz. box!!

The RITZ® Bits are going on sale, too! Both peanut butter and cheese varieties, 8.8 oz. boxes, for only $1.89 from June 16-30th!

The RITZ® Bits come in a smaller box. What difference in sound would different sized guitars create? There’s only one way to find out!!

Visit MyMilitarySavings.com for more fun, family crafts and to find additional Commissary and Exchange savings!! It’s an all-around great site full of awesome information!!

We conceded that purchasing this gadget online was the best option (or perhaps only option in our small town case) but having raised my daughter to be frugal and conscious about her spendings, she chose the cheapest fidget spinner that she could find (only $3!! SCORE!) … This also meant that it had to travel from Hong Kong to arrive at our doorstep and would take approximately a month for delivery. She knew what she was getting herself into. I don’t know why she made such a big deal about it every day after. Yet everyyyyy singgggle dayyyyy until this thing arrived in the mail she was rushing to greet our mail lady in hopes that she may have made a deal with the Mail Gods to finagle this toy to us early. Everyyyy singgggle dayyyy when our mail lady just shook her head I had a pouting 10-year-old stomping around because “life is so unfair” and she thought she couldn’t live without a little metal spinning thingy that she hadn’t even had the pleasure of owning yet. I need to clarify that she completed the transaction online by herself, with just a little help. This wasn’t a case of Mommy-being-too-cheap-to-order-a-decent-one-that-would-be-shipped-in-one-week. Just throwing that out there.

In the meantime we found a suitable replacement. Why? Because parents do what they can to make their children happy. I didn’t buy an alternative- I didn’t purchase anything, actually. I had everything on hand to create our own DIY Fidget Spinner. This could be used as a substitute, or as an additional fidget thingy to add to their collection. What is most important is that it works annnnd it’s unique in that you can’t buy these at the stores! If you show one of these to your buddies, guaranteed they’ll want one, too.

All you need is 4 sheets of origami paper (6″ x 6″), a small piece of cardboard, and a toothpick. A hot glue gun would be useful at the end but is completely optional.

You will be creating an origami Ninja Star and I will walk you through each step. I have also included a link to a video tutorial at the end of this blog if it is easier for you to follow that way.

1) Take a sheet of origami paper, turn it upside down, and fold in half. Unfold it back open (photo 1) and then fold in the left side to the crease line at the middle and fold in the right side to the crease line at the middle (photo 2). Then fold the left side to the crease line at the middle AGAIN and do the same with the right side as well (photo 3). Once your paper looks like step 3 in the photo below, you will fold down the top left corner to the middle crease line to create a little triangle (photo 4). Then take the right side, unfold the vertical flap one time so the right side now looks like it did in step 2, and fold the top right corner down to the middle crease line to create a larger triangle (photo 5).

2) This next step is the trickiest part of making this whole DIY Fidget Spinner. Use your left hand to hold down both the small triangle at the top left and the top portion of the large triangle at the top right. Using your right hand, lift up the outer edge of the right side so it folds back inwards on the crease line (photo 1) and use your left hand to work the top section down into a point (photo 2). This may take a few attempts – take your time.

3) Now fold your paper strip inwards in half so you have what looks like photo 1 below. Hold the pointed tip up so you can see down into it (photo 2) and make sure that the edge with a slot in it is on the backside away from your body. Now fold this strip in half taking the bottom and bringing it up towards you (photo 3) so what was a 6″ strip is now about 3″. The top of one side of this strip is flat across as seen in photo 3 but behind this on the other side is that angled tip.

4) Take that flat edge and fold it down over the pointed tip behind it (photo 1). Then stick the ends of the paper into that slot that you had found a few steps above (photo 2) and this will secure this end for you.

5) You will repeat this whole process for the remaining 3 sheets of origami paper until you have four 3″ pieces of pointed paper strips as you see in the photo below. Lay all 4 strips down until positioned like I have them below. I have labeled them A, B, C, and D for this next step.

Take strip B and stick it through strip C (photo 1) with the pointed edges facing up and to the right. Then stick strip C through strip A (photo 2) with strip A’s pointed edge facing left. Slide strip B to the left a bit to allow room to insert strip D up through strip B with the pointed edge facing down (photo 3). Then take the pointed edge of strip A and insert it through strip D (photo 4). Push all the pieces together snugly and you have completed your Ninja Star!

6) Now you simply add your rotating piece to the middle of your star to allow it to spin. To do this, you will need the cardboard and a toothpick (photo 1). Cut two small circles out of the cardboard and insert the toothpick through each one to create a hole in each piece (photo 2). Play with the ninja star to open a small space in the middle of it to allow the toothpick to pass through (photo 3) and then place a cardboard circle on each side of the star (photo 4). You will have to play with it and spin it a few times to get a feel for how tight you want to put the cardboard against the star – you will need some room to allow the spinning action. When you get it how you want it, cut the extra toothpick off of each side. At this point I’d recommend securing the cardboard with a dab of hot glue, and even securing the strips of origami paper exactly as they are around the toothpick to keep them from moving around with use. This is completely optional!

And there you have your completed, DIY fidget spinner made with origami ninja stars!! Perhaps you’ll start the next trend with THESE!

If the step by step photos were unclear, the video below is an outstanding tutorial on the origami star.

I promise it is not as hard as it may sound. Get the kids involved… get them folding!! If you do not have origami paper on hand, cut down a piece of regular computer paper to a 6″ x 6″ size and go from there. For smaller hands, try a smaller sized paper! Decorate it with markers. Get creative I’d love to see what you come up with!!

For more family-friendly crafts and projects, subscribe to MyMilitarySavings.com!

MyMilitarySavings.com was not compensated by the company, service or product mentioned in this blog. This is strictly the honest opinions, findings, beliefs, and/or experiences of the author. The views and opinions expressed in this blog are purely the bloggers’ own. Any claims, statistic, quotes or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer, provider or party in question. MyMilitarySavings.com is not liable for any risks injury or illness that may occur if you choose to act upon the bloggers’ suggestions stated in this blog.

I say all of that to explain that I did not make a DIY project or family craft this week because of the (beautiful) chaos. I do, however, have plenty of previously made crafts to share with you! If you are reading this now, my Driftwood Bird Mobile must have caught your eye. This was a project that I made for my daughter’s bird-themed room in NY that she loved enough to request that we pack it for her new room here in GA. I do apologize for the poor photography; these photos were snapped just prior to the packers loading up her room! I had this mobile placed right above her reading nook so when she was laid back with a book she could glance up and see this:

Pretty neat, huh?

I got this idea from Martha Stewart’s blog but made a simpler version. I decided to put to use some driftwood that I had collected a while back because all of my family loves the beach and, well, it just looks cool. If you don’t have anything similar to use, Martha Stewart gives a tutorial on making your own branches with wire and floral tape. Check out her blog here for the how-to.

Besides the driftwood, you’ll also need scrapbooking paper (or decorative card stock) and fishing line. That’s it!

The first step is to cut out birds on your paper. Use Martha’s template for this that you can find on her blog, or grab it here. It looks like this-

Print out the template, trace it on your paper, and then cut it out. You may notice that there are “tails” for the birds on this template that I chose not to use. It’s just another change that I made to keep things simpler and it does not affect the weight of your bird making it lean farther in one direction or another. It’s simply an aesthetic choice that is up to you!

After I assembled 5 birds I made a tiny hole above the back end of the wings to hang them. There isn’t an exact science to this step… you can alter the direction your birds are facing by simply adjusting the hole forward or backward a bit. The birds on my mobile are facing straight ahead but it would be really cute to have some swooping upwards or downwards. Just a thought!

I created these holes with the tip of a craft knife but you could use any sharp little point. Then thread fishing line through and tie in a knot. Leave each strand of fishing line long and you can adjust the length of each as you hang them on your driftwood.

How you will hang your birds on your wood depends on the shape of driftwood you are using. Start by tying the fishing line from one bird right in the middle of your stick. Add two more birds to each end of the stick. Then add all of the other birds you have made in between. If you’d like all of them at different heights, wrap your fishing line around the driftwood a few times to shorten the length of the line. This way you can also play with keeping each side of your mobile weighted evenly without cutting and tying, cutting and tying. Just simply wrap and rewrap if needed!

Lastly, add another string of fishing line to the middle of your driftwood to hang your mobile from a ceiling hook.

Again, I have to apologize for the poor photography because these pictures really don’t do this bird mobile justice! It is quite whimsical and would be perfect for a child’s room or nursery.

Even add some flowers to the driftwood!

If you give this project a try, I’d love to see your end results!! For more DIY projects and fun family crafts, visit MyMilitarySavings.com!

This project was inspired by my cat-loving aunt, Marjorie. She offered to drive five hours just to babysit my four year old because you know how the military has a way of sending away our spouses when we already have plans made – for example, a three day school trip to Gettysburg for my ten year old that I signed up to chaperone. So for her to offer to drive to a completely different state to watch my youngest munchkin for me so I could attend that trip deserved a huuuuuge thank you. This craft seemed perfect. And it was certainly made with love. <3

To begin, I found a free newspaper printable online. I knew an actual newspaper would crinkle under the wet watercolor paint so I printed what appears to be a newspaper onto thick card stock that would hold up.

So this is what you’ll need: card stock (8.5″ x 11″), a thin black marker, watercolor paint, and this free newspaper printable from Knick of Time (there are a few different pages to choose from). Plus a frame if you’d like to make it fancy once you’re finished.

Once you have printed the newspaper on your card stock, draw any design that you’d like onto it. We obviously chose a cat. I prefer simple, basic shapes because drawing is not my forte but feel free to get crazy with it!

Next, paint your design with watercolor! I let my four year old completely have at it without any direction from me. She chose her own colors, decided to make “patches” and even began coloring in the background. I assisted with the cat’s stripes and eyes but she gets credit for absolutely everything else and my, what a fantastic job she did!!

After the paint dried I framed this beauty in a simple document frame. I didn’t want to use a frame with too much detail to keep the focus on the artwork. And voilà… a handmade, heartfelt gift. That is pretty contemporary, I might add.

I immediately determined that I’d like a few of these for myself so I have some extra “newspaper” printed and saved for a rainy day!

What designs would you choose to draw on your newspaper? I’d love to see your creations! Share them below in the comments!

For more family friendly crafts, visit MyMilitarySavings.com.

One of my other favorite things (besides raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens… ha) is simple craft projects that look chic and trick you into thinking that it took a lot more effort than it really did. It’s like finding a fantabulous outfit from the thrift store that cost you $10 but you wear it and feel like a million. Ya know?! This Birch Tree Canvas is exactly that… an insanely easy craft that I think looks store-worthy once it’s finished. I’m pretty sure I would have bought this if I found it at my favorite craft spot and didn’t know any better, that it can simply be recreated! So. The cat is out of the bag. Save your moola and craft this up yourself!

The trick to EASY birch trees is an old credit card. Or ID card. Or whatever card you don’t need anymore. You use this to scrape black paint along the edges of your trees. Bam. Whoda thunk?? Stay with me here… I’ll explain it all.

This is what you’ll need for this project:

• A canvas (I used an 18″x24″)
• Painters tape or masking tape
• An old credit card
• Acrylic paint in colors of your choice (for the background) and black (for the trees)

The how to:

1) Place tape down to create your tree trunks. Stick two pieces side by side to create thicker trunks, place some at a slant, and even crisscross one or two to add a little depth to the picture. Turn your canvas over once this is done and smooth it out firmly to make sure the tape is adhered completely at the edges.

2) Paint the background of your picture. You may choose to use bold colors, a pigment that matches the color scheme in your room, or a neutral tone. I chose a very light grey but decided to do a reverse ombré at the bottom with darker grey colors.

I had grey acrylic paint but decided that I wanted a much lighter shade for my background so I added white to the grey to create the perfect color. To create the reverse ombré I added black to the plain grey acrylic paint to mix the darkest shade that I wanted to have at the very bottom of my canvas. I dabbed this dark grey color at the very bottom and blended it upwards with a dry paintbrush. I then added a touch of white to that dark grey paint to lighten it a bit and I painted this color right above the dark grey on my canvas, again blending upwards with a dry brush and blending down as well. I added a touch of white twice more and repeated that process until I had created the look I wanted. This reverse ombré reminds me of peering through the forest and seeing the sunlight pierce the sky towards the top of the canvas, but as you look deeper into the forest and lower towards the ground the light diminishes and it is more damp, cold, and earthy. Man, I can almost smell it. Tree hugger here, I told ya!

3) Once your background has dried, remove the strips of tape. If you crisscrossed any, only remove the top strip at this point.

4) Begin painting with your credit card! The fun part Before attempting this on your canvas I would suggest a few practice strokes on a piece of paper to understand how exactly this works. It all depends on how hard you press, how much paint you apply, how far you smear, etc. It’s simple, don’t get me wrong, but practice never hurts. As you see in the photo below, apply paint to the edge of your card and then place the card straight down on your canvas at the edge of your tree trunk. Then turn the card sideways and smear inwards.

Play around with the paint. If you add a lot to your card, you will end up with thicker smudges. You will want to alternate between both thick and thin paint to get a realistic birch tree look.

5) If you had crisscrossed any tape to give the appearance of a tree resting behind another tree, you should still have that last piece of tape on your canvas as I described in step 3. Once all of your tree trunks have been painted you will then remove that final tape strip and paint it as well. This will become the tree trunk that is farthest in front.

Step 6) Once your paint has dried, you will have a beauty similar to this! Now you can stop here or you can choose to add a little decorative heart like I did, perhaps with your name or your and your spouse’s initials? You know, like a carving in a tree that young sweethearts tend to do.

I actually already have a tree painting with my husband’s and my initials (but it isn’t a birch tree… aha!) so I decided to add a heart with our anniversary date instead. I traced it with pencil on the largest area of tree trunk that was unpainted and I used a small paintbrush and gold acrylic paint to cover it.

NOW my masterpiece was finished!

Let’s be honest – I never would have thought to paint trees with a card until I came across Angela Anderson’s blog (view it here). I know artist knives exist for similar reasons of just slabbing paint on a canvas (like, to add dimension to a mountain or something… google Bob Ross, you’ll see what I’m sayin’!) but this handy dandy card technique had me in awe. Now the possibilities are endless… I have so many ideas fluttering through my head! Stay tuned and perhaps I’ll be sharing more soon!

For more DIY projects and fun family crafts, visit MyMilitarySavings.com!

If you’ve got some free time on your hands, some cardboard scraps, two metal hangers, and a pet that would use it… then try this fun DIY project. What do you have to lose?! You’ll also need a tool to cut the hanger, packaging tape, a small blanket (I used a receiving blanket), an old tee shirt, and a hot glue gun.

1. Start with a square piece of cardboard. I used an old box from the post office and cut it about 14″x14″. If you need to, you can tape two pieces of cardboard together as this part will lay on a hard surface and doesn’t necessarily have to be that sturdy. It’s just your base for holding your hangers together!

2. Cut your (2) metal hangers at the very top beneath the twisted section on each side. You are going to remove this hooked part of the hanger (but do not throw them away yet) and bend the remaining hanger pieces into an arch for the “roof.”

3. Now take the hook that you cut from the hanger and use the sharp metal end to punch a hole in each corner of your cardboard. Wrap your blanket across the cardboard and hot glue it in place underneath, being careful not to cover the holes you have just made. Take your bent arch pieces and criss-cross them, sticking the ends into the holes on each corner.

4. Secure the area where your two hangers cross with tape and then bend a small portion of the arches on the underside of the cardboard at each corner and then tape in place.

5. Pull the t-shirt over your cardboard with the front of the shirt facing up (I used a men’s size large) and arrange it to where the neck hole is facing towards you and makes a suitable entrance for your pet. Fold and tuck the excess shirt material underneath the cardboard (trim some off with scissors if needed) and hot glue in place.

There you have it!

This will be an even bigger hit with your fur babies if you use a shirt that you have recently worn that may have your scent on it!

Here are my 2 goofballs, Bruno and Gus Gus, initially battling over the cat house and then agreeing to snuggle up and share it together.

I can’t guarantee that this will keep your cats out of your dirty clothes hamper or off of your favorite spot on the couch, but I can guarantee that they will appreciate this new hiding spot. My handsome guys are in it almost every afternoon!

If you missed my DIY cat collars (for under $5!) then you can check it out HERE!

For more fun DIY projects and/or family friends crafts, check out MyMilitarySavings.com!