I have been meaning to give my cats more blog time, because, let’s face it.. they run the house and I am but their hairless minion.

Now while my cats are perfectly content to make a toy out of a paper wrapper, or a dust bunny, or an empty box, or even thin air, they are unique in that they actually DO play with cat toys – both store bought and handmade. I know, crazy right?!

I’ve been meaning to find some cute DIY cat toys to make for my furry babies, (and I still am planning on making a couple that require, ya know, actual skill) but with a 13 month old tiny human running around making handling scissors and a sewing machine an extreme sport, a no sew cat toy sounded frikkin’ GREAT. Plus, I had a ton of excess fabric lying around from the geeky diaper covers I made Tessa last fall. (Click here to see those!) And we always have a huge tub of catnip handy, since it’s kitty crack, and we are diligent dealers for our furry friends.

So these cat toys are crazy simple. And if you want to fancy them up, every geek with a sewing machine can add craft fancy hems or bling or jazz it up.  So sewing or not sewing – if your cats go nuts for catnip, these are the perfect no sew, no skill, no fuss toys to make and still feel like a Martha Stewart doppelganger. A Martha Stewart doppelganger that hops cats up on a controlled substance. (My cats LOVE catnip, but they get so worked up they end up fighting each other. When I drug up my cats on this junk, I seriously have my own kitty fight club. It’s crazy amusing and borderline unethical..)

You Will Need:

8 inch square of fabric

4 inch strip of ribbon

5 cotton balls

1 tablespoon of catnip

1. Cut out your square of fabric and lay it with the wrong side up.

I used the cliche geek fabric that JoAnn’s Fabrics have been peddling for the last couple of years. Essentially every geek with a sewing machine has made SOMETHING from these prints, making them lose a bit of their geek cred, but I’m sure your cats won’t mind.

2. Place five cotton balls in the center of the square.

It helps if you made a mini-pyramid of four cotton balls for the base and one on top, so it gets a bit of a rounded look when tied up. But again, even if your ball is lopsided and fugly, I promise you.. your cats won’t mind.

3. Sprinkle your tablespoon of catnip on top of the cotton balls.

The cats LOVE helping with this step.

4. Gather up the four corners of the square and then bunch it all up.

There’s not really any rhyme or reason to this.. just gather it up the best you can without letting any cotton ball or kitty crack escape.

5. Get your ribbon and tie it right above the cotton balls, leaving a little tail of fabric.

Make sure you tie this sucker TIGHT. If you own cats, I’m sure you’ve experienced the joy of cleaning up a deboweled catnip toy.. let’s try to avoid that!

6. Give to your furry friend, and feel like the craftiest kitty drug dealer on the block!