Something for Them and Something for Me.

I have been crafting a lot for Rory and Lenore, the chinchillas, lately. Those little girls create a lot of waste due to the amount of bedding they need. We use Carefresh bedding, which is made from recycled paper and can be composted, but I wanted to create something reusable and less costly. $25 for 50 litres is a lot, especially when we go through the entire 50 litres in one month. The issue with a reusable cage liner is that chinchillas like to chew everything and most fabric frays. Little threads can be dangerous for chewers! The solution - polar fleece. It does not fray, and most chinchillas do not bother trying to chew it.

I'm not sure if this switch is actually better for the environment even though we are no longer going through heaps of bedding. Polar fleece is made from plastic and it does require washing. Although, we do a load of pet laundry each week (blankets, pet beds, and chinchilla hammocks), so adding a few cage liners to the mix does not create an extra load. Four two by three foot fleece liners that can be used for a long period of time creates much less waste and less mess than bedding, and it saves a lot of money, so I do feel it is a better choice for us right now. It's also much cuter!

I don't have a photograph of the liners, but I do have one of the new fleece tube I made for Rory and Lenore. Of course there's a liner to match, and there will be a matching hammock once my sewing machine is back from the shop.

A soft and cozy gift for my girls.

For a craft of a different nature, I had a lot of left over scrapbooking paper in my favourite pattern, Urban Prairie by BasicGrey, which I used to embellish my mini-drawers. I have been trying to find the perfect project for it, when I came across these Paper Globe Ornaments by Heather Bailey. So sweet, and just the thing!

A perfect little something for me. I am planning to hang this up somewhere, perhaps in a window. I still haven't found the perfect place.