Easter Bunny Peeps Catnip Toys

Let me first start off this post with an apology. There are a LOT of cat photos on this page. Like, a LOT. You’ll have to forgive me… my Marla is one of my favorite little beings on the entire planet and this time last year she was healing up from having a kidney removed AND most of her teeth removed. She had 3 surgeries in only a few weeks. And when she was sick I was so, so sad. And now when she’s happy I take, like, a bazillion pics.

Well, maybe a bazillion isn’t a realistic number of photos. I mean, my memory card is only so big, right? But I still snap and snap and snap and then I spend AGES on my computer picking out the best of the best… the crème de la crème if you will. And wouldn’t you know that I picked out a WHOPPING 62 photos? But to be fair, I took almost a THOUSAND. Geez, right? But then I sensibly culled that 62 down to only 33 and THAT is when I realized how nuts this was getting. I sat myself down and said, “self, you need to get this under control. Sure the people who are checking out HOW to make catnip toys are likely crazy cat people, too, and probably love looking at cat photos as much as you, but you’ve got bandwidth and hosting to consider.” And so, I pared it down to only 8 of my most favorite Marla with her new Bunny Peeps Catnip Toys and gosh, I’m just not sure how I feel about that except I might start having a panic attack soon :)

So. Many. Photos. But look at how much my girl LOVES her new toys.

The girl just CAN’T STOP SHOVING HER HEAD INTO THEM. That’s one of the most surefire signs of TRUE LOVE when you’re a kitty cat, right?

And rubbing them ALL OVER her adorable little face.

Actually, this behavior where your cat jams his or her head into things is called “bunting” and it’s a way of marking one’s territory. You see cats have scent glands in their heads and on their cheeks and by rubbing onto you or their toys or doorjambs, or what have you, they’re leaving behind their smell and staking their claim. So, basically, MaMar up there is letting any other cat around know that she is the owner of these amazing DIY felt cat toys so BACK OFF. Except that Maybe will just jam her face all over them later and we’ll lather, rinse and repeat this business over and over and over and they’ll trade of ownership of them. But, the more you know, right? Moving on…

If you’re a regular reader around here and have been for years, this might look a little bit familiar to you and that’s because this post is redux. Basically, since I love, love, LOVE my Cricut Maker I have decided to make SVG cut files for some of my fave projects around here. Because, in all honesty, sometimes I just really love a project I’ve done in the past and I want to make it again. And these cat toys, though not the most popular things on this blog, are something that I really loved making the first time and loved making again the second time. And that, in my book, is a pretty darn good project WORTH sharing over again, right? Right!

Even though this new tutorial has some flashy new photos with lots of jazzy new colors and fancy cut files, you can still TOTALLY rock this project by hand. In fact, that’s how I made these Peeps Felt Cat Toys the first time around and that method still totally works. But if you happen to have a Cricut Maker, then I’m super stoked because this project just got to be super fast.

Want to make some adorable Bunny Peeps Catnip Toys? Let’s HOP to it.

(Have you grown incredibly tired of that pun showing up in all your craft tutorials? Sorry! Not sorry!)

If cutting by machine, for this project you will need:

• Cricut Maker
• Cricut Felt Sampler (we used hot pink & yellow from Carousel and coral, blue and mint from Sky)
• 12 x 12-inch StrongGrip Machine Mat
• Matching Embroidery Floss
• Catnip
• Free SVG File

If cutting by hand, for this project you will need:

• Acrylic Craft Felt + Matching Embroidery Floss
• Black Embroidery Floss or Fabric Marker (for eyes and nose)
• Sharp Scissors
• Freezer Paper & Iron OR Straight Pins
• Catnip
• Free Easter Bunny Peeps catnip toy printable

For each bunny toy, you will need 2 bunny cut outs. You’ll also need 3 little black dots for the eyes and nose but that can be accomplished in 3 different ways. The first is to cut the itty bitty circles out of black felt, which I totally recommend you do if using a cutting machine, and tacking them on with black embroidery floss. When trying to cut these little guys out by hand, however, it becomes a bit more difficult because they’re really darn small. So, if cutting by hand I’d recommend either embroidering circles onto the little bunny faces OR marking them with a black fabric marker. These days I’d far prefer the embroidery method for a cleaner finished look, but the marker method is fast and works pretty darn well, too. (again, more details about the marker method in the original post).

Since we’ve already covered how to cut these guys out in the original post (which you should swing on by over here to check out the original Peeps Bunny Cat Toys post with LOTS of deets if you need help) we’re going to go ahead and start with what you do AFTER your bunnies are cut and ready to go.

Ooh, but not before I show off my new UNICORN thread snippers. Aren’t they so. much. fun? They’re made out of that rainbow stainless steel that is almost too much fun just on their own, but dang as a unicorn? Gah. Moving on…

To sew your bunnies together and keep the catnip INSIDE of the toy rather than sort of falling out every once in a while, we’re going to sew around the shape using the blanket stitch. If you need more help with the blanket stitch, I have a whole whopping post about how to do it and I can’t possibly do the stitch justice in one little paragraph here.

Now see where I’m starting to stitch? This is where I have found is the BEST place to start and stop and stuff the catnip in with the least bit of mess. Do it any way you please, but I’m going to suggest starting around that point up there to begin stitching your 2 pieces of felt together…

To keep the stitch nice and tight around the curved shape, place 2 stitches where the curves meet, like the body to the head and the head to the ear. See how there are 2 stitches that look like a > sign? That will keep everything in the toys IN the toys and give you a nice, clean edge in your stitching, too.

Once you work your stitching around to where you’ve reached almost the bottom of the bunny, start adding a few pinches of catnip inside.

Now we JUST got this Yeoww! catnip and my cats go loco for it. They LOVE IT. My parents’ cats LOVE IT. 4 out of 4 cats I have tested GO INSANE for it. And it’s really strong so you only have to put a couple of pinches inside of each toy for them to be completely irresistible, which I’m hoping saves money over the long run. Also, my nephew informed me that when I suggest a product and it looks like it might be something sponsored because it’s so prominent, but it totally is not I’m should totally add #nonspon “for authenticity”. Up there is an #affiliatelink, however :) Kid’s schooling my on my own job these days. Jeesh. :)

Sew up one Peeps toy or a whole mess of them… I actually used scraps from my Cricut Felt Samplers in the most Easter-y colors I had enough felt for. I wound up using  hot pink, black & yellow from Carousel and coral, blue and mint from Sky

Since all five of my toys up there are not yet the least bit frazzled and don’t have a single cat hair on them, you know they’re fresh out of the craft room, having never been touched by any kitty in this house!

There we go. Get it, girl.

Aaaaaand, I lied… I had to share NINE of my favorite Marla with her Bunny Peeps Cat Toys photos. Whoopsie :)