Pet Ornaments!

I must admit, I'm something of a crazy cat lady. With four fur babies (three of which are curled up with me as I write this post), of course I'd want to include them in my holiday decorations! This year I decided to make an ornament for each of the cats, with their help.

I bought red and green Sculpey III, which I had never used before (I always buy the big bricks of white Sculpey II and paint it). I rolled out the clay and cut out my individual ornaments with the top of a cup.

 Then came the fun part: Catching the cats and pressing their paws into the clay! Some were more cooperative than others. Of course, make sure you're not causing your pet too much stress. If they don't want to participate, try again later. If the paw print isn't very deep, you can take your pinky finger and make the impression a little deeper. If you mess up, just wad up the clay and try again!

Pheeny clearly did not want to make ornaments. Her paw print came out a little wonky, so I'll probably remake it at some point. After I had their prints, I took my clay embossing tool and added their names and the year. I poked a hole in each one for hanging.

 I baked the ornaments according to the directions on the clay, and let them cool. Once they cooled, I painted each one with black paint to bring out the detail in the lettering and make the paw prints a little clearer. I wiped off the excess paint with a paper towel.

I sealed each one with a coat of Mod Podge. Once that dried, I put a little jump ring (the kind used for jewelry) through the hole in each one and hung them with twine. You could also use ribbon or traditional hooks. You can skip the jump ring if you like, I just like the way they hang better with the rings.

And that's all there is to it! I love the way they turned out. You could also do this in memory of a pet with a paw print shaped stamp. I hope you like them! If you have any questions feel free to ask. Do you include your pets in your holiday decorations?