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Today my tutorial for Project Handmade Christmas Present is part store bought part homemade. Today I am showing how to make any sweet stuffed animal pet your child's very own.

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How this all came about...my Little Men had a "Top Secret" item on their list to Santa this year. At first I was worried, but I soon figured out the secret. Then I had to start worrying again...their top secret request from Old St. Nick...a dog. Uh-oh. Yeah there isn't going to be a dog anytime in our future no matter how much we love these boys of ours. So we had to let them know that with big things like pets Santa always checks with the mom and dad and that we told him we couldn't have a puppy.

"How does he check with you?" inquires one Little Man.
"He has a special phone number to call mommy and daddy." I reply.
Three very shocked "What!!!!? Really?"
"Yup" Hubby replies.
"Awesome."

So they know that a really puppy isn't coming for Christmas, but who is to say they can't adopt a lovable, warm and fuzzy puppy stuffed animal.

All I had to do was take this adorable stuffed animal and add a personalized dog collar. Now they can each have their own puppy and I don't have to worry about cleaning puppy messes.


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Aren't they so sweet?

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I started with these three beagle puppies from, well just my most favorite store in the world, IKEA. The day after Thanksgiving all of their stuffed toys were 50% off their already low prices. These puppies cost us about 4 bucks each. Score.

They were just begging for us give them a good home.

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In order to make them personal, I made them each a collar from felt.

If you want to do the same thing, all you have to get is velcro, felt, and some thread. EASY.

First, measure around your new pet's neck. Then add an inch. Our puppies each measured 9" around, so my measurement was 10".

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For each collar you want to cut-

2-10x1 inch strips from felt in same color.
1-3x1/2 inch strip from gray felt.
2- circles cut from felt (mine was about a 1 1/2" circle)
initial for pet's name cut out of black felt
about 1" of velcro
thread

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First I sewed on my letters to one circle.

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Then to make the tag, sew the circle with the letter to the other circle, letter facing up. Then take the gray strip and fold so  the short ends meet. Sandwich the top of the tag into the bottom of the gray strip. Sew strip to tag. [Image]  Set the tag aside and work on the collar part. Sew one piece of velcro on one side of one strip and the other piece onto the other strip on the other end. They will look like this.

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Pin the tag in between the strip in the middle of the collar. Pin collar strips together. Make sure the velcro is facing the right way.

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Sew around the edges of the collar attaching the two strips and securing the tag in.

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Lovingly place it around your new family pet...or pets in our case.

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To.Die.For. They are seriously so cute and it was so easy to take a simple store bought toy and make it more special.

To make your new pet adoption that much more special you can even provide them with an adoption certificate for their new pet.
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Hey guess what, here is a blank one that you can even save to your computer, edit in picnik.com, and print off for your own new pet owner.
[Image] Happy handmade present making. This is a super easy project to add to your list.

Merry Christmas everyone! Come back tomorrow for a gift for teacher.

Linking:
We Did it Wednesday: Sew Much Ado