Craft for Cats is a quarterly fundraising crafting activity held by Cats Protection. A virtual craft-a-long is held in the private Craft for Cats Facebook group on a chosen day with a live video from the pros, however, if you can't make it on the day there is a comprehensive how-to guide included with your kit and the video is available to watch again at any time after the event.
It started in late 2021 and I sadly missed the very first craft, however, have been lucky enough to take part in each one since.
If you're a regular to my blog you may know that I previously volunteered for my local Cats Protection Adoption Centre so I got to see first-hand how fundraising is needed and how it helps. I've also always been an arty, crafty person, even if I'm not a master of any crafts I do have a big crafting stash and have done lots of different little makes over the years. So to bring the two things together while learning new crafting skills from professionals is awesome.
As the crafting year is now over I thought I'd share my 2023 makes here and give a little shout-out to Craft for Cats in case anyone reading would be interested in joining in next year!
You can check out part 1 of this post with all of my 2022 Craft for Cats creations here > Craft for Cats with Cats Protection
Paper Quilling with The Quirky Quillers
This was my first time ever paper quilling and I can understand how it could become addictive!
The making of the individual pieces is a repetitive motion that is quite good for keeping your hands busy, however, it did take patience to glue everything down. It made quite a nice finished piece though don't you think?
Overall it was great to have such a different craft. The instructions it came with were great as was the live craft-a-long.
Clay Pot Sculpting with Jasmine Pottery Studios
Another new craft for this year - we got to play with clay!
I loved taking part in this and how much creative freedom there was to make something unique while still within the brief.
The perfectionism struggle is real though and I had to force myself to just leave it alone for fear of ruining it. Definitely would do another clay craft.
Embroidery with Paraffle
This is the second embroidery kit we've done with Craft for Cats and the booklet was fantastic!
I didn't actually take part in the live event and instead finished two different designs over a few days purely from the booklet instructions.
It was a busy month or so for us, so limited photos this time.
Needle Felting with The Makerss
To round out the year we had some more needle-felting, though rather than a cat tree topper it was a tree bauble. Of course, as I did last year, I tailored it a bit to suit my needs better. I know a huge percentage of the UK does celebrate Christmas, but I hope next year the craft is more winter-themed than for a specific religious holiday.
Anyway, I enjoyed another felting activity and have a stash in my supplies to do more at some point.
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Another year of crafts has flown by and I have more lovely handmade goodies scattered around my house. I really enjoy taking part in these quarterly events and look forward to seeing what new and different arts we get to try next year.
If you'd like to give one of the above kits a go pop on over to Craft for Cats | Cats Protection because previous kits have now been made available to buy! Keep an eye on that page in the new year too if you want to join in the fun in 2024, it's there that you will be able to sign up for the Spring event hopefully soon.
You'll also see when you go through the process of signing up that it asks ''Would you like your funds to benefit your local branch or centre? If a branch or centre is not selected the funds will be used wherever the need is greatest.''. If you check that box you can enter your postcode and find your local centre! Mine is the Tyneside Adoption Centre and it's fab to know that I can support the cats at the centre where I used to volunteer with my crafting.
I hope you've enjoyed seeing my creations and will consider joining us at the next craft-a-long! Until next time...
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