Things to Do

So we're almost done with the first week of Thing-a-Day month. I'm not really participating, but I'm still trying to take it as inspiration to make something, fix something, or do something new every day. So far most of my daily projects are pretty typical: fixing a drawer in the bathroom, cleaning the back porch, starting some seeds in egg cartons. But while I've been unemployed over the last few months, I've done some other little projects, and I thought I'd share them in the hopes that they'll inspire somebody else.

Paper lantern

There's something about lanterns (as well as kites, umbrellas, and folding fans) that I find fascinating. They're really pretty great. This type of lantern is easy to make with only a piece of paper and some glue.

The easiest instructions I've found are on this construction paper website.
But the best instructions are on this lantern festival site. However, they don't really explain how they come up with their measurements. Here's the deal: it's all in the spacing between the lines that you fold. On that site, they use 12cm, but you can change that. Just make sure that your spacing is even - if your paper is 8.5" wide, don't choose a spacing of 2", or you'll have half an inch left over. The length and width spacings don't have to be the same; in fact, if you choose different ones, it changes the shape of the triangles, as you can see in my picture on the left. The shorter, stockier one is made according to the directions on the site, and rolled lengthwise; the taller one has about twice as many divisions and is rolled vertically.

I suspended a little rgb LED inside one of mine; you can also use them as a lampshade, if you get a large enough piece of paper (or plastic) and if you have a suitable lamp.

Plant trellis

At a bed & breakfast that my mom is especially fond of, one of the owners makes these adorable, rustic little fences around the gardens by weaving branches together. I was impressed by how simple and attractive it was, and eventually that memory inspired this trellis for my passion vine.

This is pretty simple; I just took some old bamboo stakes and stuck them around the edges of the pot. Then I wove other bamboo stakes between them, alternating the direction to make it more stable. I plan on upgrading this with longer and nicer bamboo stakes when the hardware store gets some in stock.

It may look like it'll fall apart at any moment, but it's actually fairly stable. And it really makes a great trellis for climbing vines.


Stuff for the cats

Okay, easiest to hardest.

Our cat Banana loves to sleep on piles of clothes, but she's always scared that another cat might be sneaking up behind her. So I made this little BoxHab the other day and put it on the floor of the closet with an old towel inside. I traced a circle on it with a flowerpot, cut it out and taped the box closed. It took maybe 5 minutes.

She likes it fairly well. At least, she's stopped sleeping on the clothes, and she chases the other cats away from this little cave.

I also made this scratching pad (on right) out of a few pieces of the massive amount of cardboard that this house goes through. I found the instructions for making this here; it's the first result for "make cat scratching pad".

It's very easy and fairly time-consuming. All you need is cardboard, masking tape, a ruler, and a knife. It actually takes quite a bit of cardboard, and I only chose to make mine 2" thick instead of 4", like the instructions recommend. This probably took me a couple hours; your mileage may vary, depending on the size of the boxes you use.

Sprinkling some catnip on the scratching pad (and making sure that it falls down in the holes) will definitely help make sure your cat gets the right idea, and prefers scratching the cardboard to scratching your furniture.

Finally, I spent quite a bit of time working on this cat perch. If you ever wonder why they're so expensive in the pet store, try making one.

Honestly, this one has probably not been worth the time and energy I put into it. It was fun, don't get me wrong, but there were some issues.

First, it's a little tricky getting a single post to support several stable platforms. I'd recommend at least two.

Also, our cat Stella, who uses it the most, drives the other cats away. She mostly likes to sit on the top platform and look out the window. I think each cat wants its own separate piece of furniture.

The scratching post part, made by wrapping sisal twine around a post, is probably the most popular part. It was definitely worth the time investment, which wasn't much... I might try making a small scratching post for my next cat-related project.