Happy Holidays Everyone! With the holiday gift giving season upon us, my critters are at the top of my gift list… they are, after all, my fur babies. Santa Paws (who braved the Black Friday crowds) will be bringing Cashmere and Velcro a new cat tree to claw, climb and sleep on. Casey is getting a new dog bed and leash. (Shhhh… Don’t tell them… they still believe in Santa Paws.) And, of course, their stockings will be filled with catnip, treats and squeaky toys. So, that takes care of my critters, but what about the other fur babies in my life? Almost everyone I love has pets and I wanted to spread the holiday cheer with them, as well as their pet parents.
So, I set my sights on creating some cute way to package pet treats. The first idea came rather quickly… To use Paper Garden Project’s Country Cottage Birdhouse Box Cutting File and transform it into a dog house.
I struggled a bit more on an idea for the cat treats. I wanted a fish shaped box of some sort, but guess what… a fish shaped box just doesn’t seem to exist and I didn’t have the time (or the gumption) to try to create one myself. So, I turned to my “up-cycle” bin where I hoard save interesting containers. I decided on a Crystal Light container. I liked how the height and shape were so unlike the dog house.
The next thing to do was to find some digital products for my project. I hit up the Digichick shop and found Quirky Twerp’s adorable Good Doggie Bundle and Here Kitty Bundle. I loved the cat and dog images, the word art and the bright colors in these kits. But I needed some holiday/wintery elements, as well. So, I went in search of a Christmas kit with similar colors and was thrilled to find Kimeric Kreation’s Funky Christmas kit. The colors were almost identical and the whole look and feel was so similar… it was one of those eureka moments, I tell ya! 
Before we get started, here are the supplies I used:
Paper Garden Project’s Country Cottage Birdhouse Box Cutting File
Quirky Twerp’s Good Doggie Bundle
Quirky Twerp’s Here Kitty Bundle
Kimeric Kreation’s Funky Christmas kit
Photo editing software (I used Photo Shop Elements- version 9)
Plain paper (I use Epson Matte presentation paper)
White card stock
Red card stock
Medium brown ink (to ink the edges of the dog house shingles)
Adhesive
String or twine
Small piece of cellophane (I used some I had re-cycled from some packaging)
Straight edge paper cutter
Silhouette Cutting Machine
Okay, let’s get started.
Open the bird house png file in your photo editing software
Clip your background paper to the png
Add your digital elements to complete your design
Save your project as a png file (so you can open it later in your cutting machine program). If you are hand cutting; you can go ahead and print (on white card stock) and cut out your dog house now.
Measure the dimensions of your Crystal Lite container and open a Layout in that size. Be sure to add a bit extra to overlap in the back. (My layout size, including the overlap, was 8.50” x 6.125”)
Create your design and print on paper (not card stock). I used Epson matte presentation paper.
If desired, create tags. (I created extras… I wasn’t sure which way I wanted to go…lol.) I ultimately decided to use the ones with the paw print/bone on them and then used my Silhouette to cut out the paw/bone.
Next, you’ll want to cut out your dog house and cat treat container wrap.
I opened my dog house png files in my Silhouette software and I used the Silhouette trace feature to create cut lines around the door opening. The remaining cut lies came directly from the cutting files in PGP’s set.
Once all my cut lines were in place over top of my png files, I used the print and cut feature to print on white card stock and cut out my dog house base.
For the shingled roof, I chose red card stock to cut from.
I then decided to change the top shingle row to white so it would look like snow. So, I cut just the top shingle from white card stock.
Next, I cut out the wrap for the cat treat container. (I used a regular straight edged paper cutter for this)
Onto the assembly…
Before I built the dog house, I cut and taped a piece of cellophane to the inside of the dog house door opening.
Next, I inked the edges of the roof shingles with a medium brown ink. (What a big difference that made!).
I then built the dog house, following the instructions included in the Paper Garden Project’s Country Cottage Birdhouse Box cutting file folder.
For the cat treat container, I used double-sided tape to attach the wrap around the container.
And my last step… I wrapped some red/white baker’s twine (I just love that stuff) around the containers, tying them on top with an attached tag.
The finished Project
… And here’s a closer look at how the tags are attached
…and one last shot showing the treat containers at different angles
I just love the kits I used on these. From the cute Christmas lights and delicate snowflakes, to the adorable critters; I just love the little scene I was able to create. Now, I am off to make about 5 more sets like this. (And that’s exactly why I love using digital product in my paper crafting… I only have to do the design work once… then I can print and cut it as many times as I want. Such a time saver!)
If you create a pet treat project, I’d love to see it! Post the link to your project in the comment section below.