DIY Pet Placemat

Have you heard about the newest member of Craft A Spell? Her name is Violet.

I wanted to make her something to eat on because my other cat, Zeus (who lives at home with my parents), makes a huge mess. I wanted my brand new carpets to stay nice. I was going to buy a little mat from the pet store but they were either ugly or dog related. So I decided to make her a custom place mat!

To make something similar, you will need:
-contact paper
-fabric
-washi tape
-vinyl
-cutting machine
-scissors

First I cut the contact paper in the size I wanted. I made it nice and big since she has a couple of dishes. Then I cut my fabric to fit inside, making sure I had a border of contact paper around the edge. Contact paper doesn't stick to fabric very well so I wanted it to be able to stick together when I was done. I very carefully put the fabric right side up on the contact paper. It took a couple of tries but luckily the contact paper lets you work with it.

My original plan was to glue the edges neatly with fabric glue but I realized that my fabric was so thin, you'd be able to tell when it was layered. Here is a close up:

I wanted to glue ribbon around the edge like I'd seen others do but I still don't have any at my apartment. I used the next best thing - washi tape! I tried a pink one but it was too translucent so I grabbed my gray one with daisies and ran it along the edge of the fabric. You can still kind of see the difference between the tape lying on the fabric and the tape that's not but it doesn't bother me.

Then, using my Silhouette Cameo, I downloaded a violet flower shape and typed Violet in the largest size of Edwardian script. I then cut it out using different colors in adhesive vinyl that I had on hand.

Once I was finished, I carefully placed the second sheet of contact paper over top of it. I put it on a bit crooked, so I had to trim the edges down. I just made sure there was a border of contact paper on contact paper on the edges.

I must say, I kind of love it. I had my doubts as I was making it.

The problem is, I don't want to put her food dishes on it because I just love seeing her name!