Easy Homemade Heart and Denim Bookmarks - Tutorial Tuesday

For today's Tutorial Tuesday we are going to learn how to make a super simple and easy homemade heart bookmark from scrap fabric and upcycled denim. This fast and fun DIY project with 3D hearts is a great beginning sewing project and a perfect last minute gift for Valentine's Day or Mother's Day.

Looking for more sewing and crafting projects? 

Click here to see all my tutorials!

In addition to your standard sewing supplies, for this project you will need:

• Two pieces of  denim fabric 
• Two pieces of  Heat 'n Bond, a paper backed sewable adhesive
• Two pieces of  red fabric
• One piece of Heat 'n Bond
• A scrap of paper
• Pinking shears
• Scissors
• Iron
• Rotary cutter
• Cutting ruler
• Cutting mat
• Sewing machine
• Matching thread

Disclosure: Deb's Days is a participant in affiliate advertising programs designed to provide a means for me to earn fees by linking to affiliated sites. This means that, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a small commission if you click through and make a purchase. Your purchase helps support my work in bringing you new sewing and crafting content.

Now available as a free PDF digital download with the written directions, step-by-step photos, printable templates, and link to the tutorial video. Click to find out more!

Looking for a different bookmark? 

Check out my other bookmark projects!

Otherwise, you can watch the tutorial for making your own homemade quick and easy Valentine's Day denim and heart fabric bookmarks right here:

Sewing Projects for Beginners - Quick and Easy DIY Projects

If you're just learning how to sew here's a great way to practice your sewing skills while making your own quick and easy homemade projects. Learn how to make napkins and bookmarks and gift card holders and more!  These simple DIY project ideas include lots of straight line sewing and the tutorials have clear, step-by-step, how-to directions. Sew an easy and fun project for yourself or your home today in just minutes!

Click below to get started on your next quick and easy sewing project!

Essential Supplies for Feeding Bottle Baby Kittens - Foster Kitten Friday

After having spent several years fostering young kittens, there are some supplies I've come to rely on time and time again. From food to litter and bedding to toys, check out some of those important supplies you'll need when you welcome the little kittens into your home. 

Today we're looking specifically at feeding supplies for bottle baby kittens.

I've added links to Amazon so you can see photos and prices of the different products. I am a participant in their affiliate advertising program so if you make a purchase through my link I will earn a small commission. The purchase helps support me in purchasing replacement products for each year's foster kitties. I buy most all of my supplies from Amazon, but do get your supplies wherever is cheapest and easiest for you!

Check out the adventures of some of my most recent foster kitties here. You'll see them as they work towards growing up big and strong. And bonus - you'll find plenty of cute kitty cat photos!

Supplies for Feeding Bottle Baby Kittens

• Pet-Ag Nursing Kit 2oz Bottle is the only bottle I use for all the bottle babies. It comes with a little tiny bottle brush that makes cleaning the bottles so much easier. 
• The Miracle Nipples are perfect for smallest of the smallest bottle babies like little four ounce Cami and Sami.

• KMR - Kitten Milk Replacer - is an absolute must. It's like baby formula, but for kittens. Cows milk = bad news for baby kitten tummies.
• KMR 2nd Step is another product we use for older kittens who still need a milk replacement.

As we transition bottle babies to soft food, we make a concoction called gruel. For gruel you need:

• A blender/shaker bottle
• KMR 
• Canned cat food
• Jarred baby food (meat flavors)

Rosemary wants you to know
gruel is very messy.

I first try them on a thinner gruel before moving to a thicker version. You may need to try different ways to get the kitties interested in the gruel: 

• Sometimes you need to place it in the Pet-Ag bottle and cut a bigger hole in the nipple and feed them like they were still a bottle baby.
• Sometimes it requires eating off the foster parent's finger.
• Baby spoons can be helpful. 

Parsley likes being spoon fed.

• A very long spoon be really helpful for those kitties who are still scared of people.
• Small plates and shallow bowls are a good next step.
• Double bowls are great - but are better once when they have moved out of the gruel stage. Otherwise they wind up making quite a mess of the bowl - and themselves.

Parsley in her early
eating-gruel-from-a-bowl days.

If the kitties have successfully made their way with the gruel, they can be transitioned to straight canned cat food. If they tolerate the straight canned food, you can transition them yet again to the hard kitten food. Be sure to give their tummies plenty of time before switching over foods.

We're not done with supplies yet! Join me in the upcoming weeks for:

Supplies for Keeping Baby Kittens Warm and Comfortable

Supplies for Keeping Baby Kittens Happy and Healthy

Supplies for Making Your Fostering Job Easier

Homemade Football Coasters Sewing Project - Tutorial Tuesday

For today's Tutorial Tuesday we are learning how to make homemade football drink coasters out of fabric. Just because we aren't gathering with others for the big game on Sunday this year doesn't mean we can't make something festive for our household bubble's football viewing party.

For this project you will need:

• brown fabric (for four coasters)
• cotton batting
• Rick rack
• Pins or Clover Wonder Clips
• Iron
• Sewing machine
• Matching thread
• Rotary cutter
• Cutting ruler
• Cutting mat
• Football templates downloaded from here

Now available as a free PDF digital download with the written directions, step-by-step photos, printable template, and link to the tutorial video. Click to get it now!

Looking for more coaster ideas? Check out these projects!

Disclosure: Deb's Days is a participant in affiliate advertising programs designed to provide a means for me to earn fees by linking to affiliated sites. This means that, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a small commission if you click through and make a purchase. Your purchase helps support my work in bringing you new sewing and crafting content.

Fostering Kittens: Raising Cute Little Foster Kitties for Adoption

What is life like being a foster parent to orphaned kitties? How much work is involved in raising bottle baby kittens and getting them ready for adoption? Find out here!

I'm going on several years now of fostering kittens for Simply Cats, a local no-kill feline adoption center. It's a rewarding experience. They send babies my way and I socialize them and help them grow big and strong. Playful and loving. Healthy and fun. Then they leave my home to get spayed or neutered, micro-chipped and immunized, and then placed on the adoption floor back at Simply Cats. 

Need a list of things to purchase before you bring foster kittens into your home? While many shelters provide your essentials, sometimes you may find yourself on your own. Take a look at my Essential Supplies for Raising Foster Kittens to find items that may be helpful to keep the kitties safe, warm, and healthy.

Check out the adventures of this past year's foster kitties as they work towards growing up big and strong. You'll find plenty of cute kitty cat photos and I even have some tips and tricks in these blog posts:

The Alaskan Mountains  - Denali and McKinley

Hans Solo - The little fellow who lost both his siblings.

The Duck Tales Cast - Huey, Dewey, and Louie.

The Wild West Foster Kitten Gang - Mama Kate, Wild Bill, Annie Oakley, Calamity Jane, Wyatt Earp

Learn about life with Wyatt Earp, one of the Wild West foster kitties, who was born without his back feet. Be sure to check out Wyatt's weekly video adventures here to see how this special needs kitten gets around with no back feet.

The Yellowstone Foster Kitten Crew - Beth, Dutton, Kaycee, Monica, Rip

The Simon and Garfunkel Scarborough Fair Foster Kittens - Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme

The Breakfast Club Foster Kittens - Buttermilk, Flapjack, Shortstack, Crepe, Cupcake, and Mama Sienna.

Want to help contribute to the work I do with foster kittens? I have an Amazon wish list right here. These are the things I use again and again, year after year. With daily laundry and frequent cleaning, items have to be replaced often. I’d love anything you’d be willing to send my way!

Why would I want to foster kittens, knowing I have to give them back?

Can't foster kittens but are interested in helping in a different way? Check out my tutorials for kitty projects: