DIY Cat Scratcher from Upcycled Corrugated Cardboard Boxes

This tutorial was originally posted on Crafting a Green World.

This upcycled cardboard cat scratcher is a great way to use up all your corrugated cardboard boxes. Cats love it, and it's a useful donation to your local animal shelter.

There comes a time in every person's life when they find themselves simply awash with cardboard. Maybe you just finished unpacking from your latest move. Maybe you went a little too ham on the most recent gift-giving holiday. Maybe your Girl Scout troop sold 2,000 boxes of Girl Scout cookies and now you have 250 empty cookie cases to show for it.

Whatever the situation that has left you with too much corrugated cardboard, I have the perfect solution: an upcycled cardboard cat scratcher!

Cats LOVE this style of cat scratcher, and it's a great one to make for them because it's eco-friendly on both ends: use upcycled cardboard to make it, and recycle it when you're done with it. Make a few of these cat scratchers and tuck them around your space so your cat never has an excuse to sharpen their claws on your furniture. If you don't have cats, make these cat scratchers anyway and donate them to your local animal shelter. My local animal shelter specifically requests this style, and my Girl Scout troop enjoys making and donating them.

This cat scratcher is an improved version of the two types that I made back in 2020. In the years since, I've refined my style to what my own cats and the animal shelter prefer, and redesigned the scratcher to be sturdier and more easily recyclable. My own cats do still really like that round one from the 2020 tutorial, and that's a great style if you've got a lot of room to devote to a nice, big cat scratcher. This version here, though, has a more inconspicuous profile, transports better, and my local animal shelter says it works better in their cat enclosures.

To make this upcycled cardboard cat scratcher, you will need:

• lots of corrugated cardboard. If you're using Girl Scout cookie cases, you'll need about five per cat scratcher. Otherwise, prepare to cut up more cardboard than you thought you'd need--this cat scratcher uses a LOT!
• measuring and cutting tools. At the minimum, you need a ruler and a pair of sturdy scissors. The work will go quicker with a quilting ruler, self-healing cutting mat, and craft knife.
• hot glue gun and hot glue. You're not going to use much, but this is still an essential component.

Step 1: Cut the bottom off of a box.

Choose a cardboard box whose area at the bottom has the dimensions that you're looking for in a cat scratcher.

Measure 2" up from the bottom of the box all the way around, then cut. Reserve the rest of the box for Step 2.

The bottom of this box will be the base for your cat scratcher.

If necessary, reinforce the bottom box flaps with hot glue.

Step 2: Cut corrugated cardboard into strips.

Flatten and/or disassemble a corrugated cardboard box, then examine it to see which way to cut. You want to cut across the corrugations, not parallel to them. When you cut, the cut edge of the box should show a cross-section of the corrugations--that's what the kitties love to dig their claws into!

Use a ruler and craft knife to cut a 2" wide strip down the cardboard, then repeat until you've cut up the entire box. Recycle or repurpose any leftover cardboard.

Measure the length of your box bottom, and cut the cardboard strips to this length. Recycle/repurpose any end pieces that don't reach the correct length.

Continue cutting cardboard into strips until you have enough strips to completely fill the box bottom. If you're making these from Girl Scout cookie cases, it takes about five cases, including the one you cut the box bottom from, to make this cat scratcher.

Step 3: Insert strips into the box bottom, gluing as you go.

After you've got enough strips, dump them all out of the box bottom and set up the hot glue gun. Lightly glue the strips together as you reinsert them.

This is my biggest improvement over the 2020 version of this cat scratcher; when the strips weren't glued together, I found that occasionally my cats would snag their claws into one and pull it out of the box! THIS cat scratcher keeps all its strips nice and snug inside for ultimate cat scratching perfection.

Step 4 (optional): Glue the cat scratcher to the base.

If you want to make the cat scratcher REALLY sturdy, then after all the strips are glued together, carefully pry the whole thing out of the box bottom, then use hot glue to lightly glue it back in. This will keep even the most enthusiastic cat from pulling the entire cat scratcher out of its base.

Either way, the added beauty of this corrugated cardboard cat scratcher is that it's DOUBLE-SIDED! When a cat has worn one side of the scratcher down, carefully pry it out of the base (the hot glue should peel away fairly easily, if you weren't too enthusiastic when you glued it), flip it over, and reinsert it, re-gluing it as necessary.

The model for this tutorial is Dill, one of the three-week-old kittens plus mama cat (also in some pics) that I'm currently fostering for my local animal shelter. I'll keep them safe and happy here with me until the kittens weigh at least two pounds and are at least eight weeks old, and then I'll bring everyone back to be speutered and adopted. Kittens this young don't do well in a shelter setting, and foster families are crucial to their survival, well-being, and proper socialization. If you've got space in your living area and your heart, please reach out to your local shelter and ask about their foster programs

This is one of my all-time favorite upcycling projects. It's a nearly-waste-free way to turn trash into treasure, it fills an incredibly useful niche in cat gear that you'd otherwise have to buy new, and it's a simple, cheap donation project that directly benefits the most innocent creatures in your local community.

I challenge you (and me!) to make every unwanted corrugated cardboard box that comes into our lives into a cat scratcher for use or donation.

DIY Cardboard Minecraft Heads Make an Easy(ish) Halloween Costume

 

You remember how much the kids used to love Minecraft, right?

Well, turns out they still do. Honestly, I think most of their play these days involves hanging out with their buddies on their servers, rather than mining and crafting, but I guess there's nothing like a global pandemic to highlight the benefits of a social, virtual, sandbox game.

Minecraft is also a pretty good source of Halloween costumes! The heads are simple constructions with easy-to-add details, and those heads are so notable that you can pull together whatever clothes you've got on hand for the rest of the costume and it still looks fine.

For these two Minecraft costumes, I drove over to the county recycling center and liberated an absolutely massive cardboard box from its path to the cardboard dumpster. It was large enough that each kid could cut her Minecraft head from one of the box's original vertices, giving her three good edges and one good corner as a head start.

I measured each kid's shoulder width, and that was the length of each side of her cube. The kids cut each face to be that measurement squared, then assembled them into a cube using copious amounts of duct tape (good thing they did this project BEFORE Syd and I made her a duct tape dress form, because now we no longer have copious amounts of duct tape!). 

The kids primed their cubes, then each used a ruler and pencil to mark out each face of their cube into an 8x8 array.

Then they painted!

When the painted heads had dried, each kid measured the circumference of her head, the cut a hole in the bottom of the box to fit. Pop the box on, and you're a Minecraft character!

Left to its own devices, the cardboard box shifts around alarmingly on one's head, so each kid engineered her own solution to make the head wearable. Syd made herself a head brace out of cardboard, bamboo skewers, and hot glue. 

Will just stuffed a blanket into the top of the box. Honestly, Will's one-second method worked better than Syd's painstakingly-crafted method, as Syd's brace gave way halfway through our weekend trick-or-treating event and she spent the rest of the time just holding the box under her arm like a Minecraft Headless Horseman.

Will also made her eye holes bigger, so it's also possible that she simply didn't care when the head shifted around:

The real winner of our trick-or-treating event, however, was Luna! I followed behind the kids with Luna, not trick-or-treating (but still wearing my DIY Hogwarts robe, of course!). Several times, someone handing out candy approached me and asked if they could give Luna a treat. And she wasn't even in costume!

Luna scored a few dog biscuits and an entire bag of dog treats, but the real prize was this genuine pig ear:

Luna was delighted with it, but because I had to keep the kids in sight, I refused to let her lie down with it immediately and start leisurely munching like she wanted to.

As a compromise, she simply carried it around in her mouth for the whole time we trick-or-treated, looking absolutely adorable and charming everyone who saw her.

Make a Folder from a Cardboard Record Album Cover

This tutorial was originally published on Crafting a Green World in 2016.

You're going to have the coolest school supplies on the planet when you make yourself an upcycled folder from a cardboard record album cover.  

Cardboard record album covers are perfect for this project--they're a little sturdier than your regular dime a dozen cardstock folders (which is a good thing!), but still light and easy to carry, and their prominent graphics both recall the look of your favorite themed folders and are unique to your own old-school interests. 

Seriously, where else on the planet am I going to find a Simon and Garfunkel folder for myself? 

 Tip: To find cardboard record album covers to upcycle, check out yard sales and thrift stores. People barely know how to properly store records anymore, which means that a lot of the ones that you can pick up on the cheap have been mistreated and are now completely unplayable. Unplayable records are records ripe for upcycling! 

How to Make a Folder from an Album Cover

You will need: 

  cardboard record album cover. You'll need one entire record album cover, as well as one additional piece of cardboard of the same dimensions. Two record sets will provide the necessary cardboard, or you can utilize part of another record album cover. 

  x-acto knife and self-healing cutting mat. While cutting the cardboard to make one of these folders, I sliced a gigantic piece of flesh almost completely off of my index finger. I then proceeded to half pass out in the middle of the floor, bleeding profusely, while my two children hovered over me, horrified, and repeatedly asked me what to do.  It's important to make memories with your children, Friends! 

  duct tape. Duct tape isn't an eco-friendly craft supply, but it IS the best supply for the job here. You're also not going to be using a ton of it, and the folders that you make are sturdy enough that they should last for a super long time, so I'm comfortable with it. If you're not, play around with perhaps stitching or lacing up your folders, and then tell me all about it in the Comments below!  

1. Measure and cut your cardboard record album cover. For this folder, you will be using both the front and back of one cardboard record album cover, keeping them attached on the left side to form the folder's natural fold. The height of the record album cover, 12", is perfect for a folder. 

To get the correct length, 9.5", cut the excess 2.5" away from the right side of the cover. Watch your fingers!!! 

 Slit open the top and bottom of the record album cover, leaving the left side attached. 

  2. Measure and cut the upcycled folder pockets. From a second piece of cardboard, measure and cut two rectangles with the dimensions "9.25 x 5". Notice that the length of the cardboard is slightly less than that of each folder half--this will decrease bulk at the fold. 

The height of each pocket is up to your discretion, although 4"-5" looks proportionate and will do a good job holding your papers. 

  3. Tape the hinge of the upcycled folder. Measure out a piece of duct tape that's a little longer than the height of the folder, then cut it in half lengthwise--you'll have the easiest time if you use duct tape scissors (I own this pair). Use one of the halves to cover and strengthen the folder's hinge.  

After you've folded the duct tape to cover both sides of the hinge, trim off the excess at each end. 

  4. Place and tape the pockets. Turn the folder over and place the cardboard pockets on each side, lined up with both the bottom and outside edges. Use the second half of duct tape to cover the inside hinge, catching both cardboard pockets.  

Overlap or trim off any excess tape at each end. 

  5. Tape all the other edges. You can now cover the perimeter of the folder with duct tape, again measuring out the correct length for a side and cutting it into two lengthwise.  

Fold each piece of tape under to cover both the outside and inside edges of the folder, and don't forget to make sure that the tape catches the edges of the cardboard pockets, too. Trim excess tape after you've taped each side.  

These folders really are SUPER sturdy, and will stand up well to being tossed into a backpack and used all year. And next school year, you can use them again!

A New Freezer and...A Really Big BOX!

Ah, the joy of the really big box. Last night we trekked over to Menard's to buy a chest freezer, and it was probably less than twelve hours between Matt nearly herniating himself hauling the boxed freezer down to the basement and this:

  

Hello, ratty basement playhouse in the playroom I painted pink because I didn't remember how it would crazy up colors when I photographed in it!

The kids and I are fond of projects we can immerse ourselves in for days (I mentioned that I'm obsessive, right?), so I expect the playhouse decoration and interior design to only get better, but while Syd napped her afternoon nap Will and I were able to get a lot of work done on one side wall--

--and the front door--

I donated the scrapbook paper that I bought as part of a set but that is way too cheezy for me to actually use (surfing? the American flag?)--

--and Will and I worked some collaborative finger-painting, as well:

 

And then after Syd woke up, both kids had a good long play down in the basement with the playhouse while I went about my own productive business. Of course, the playroom floor now looks like this--

--but whatever, it's not like it looked that much better before.

The chest freezer is 7.2 cubic feet, and we got a pretty good sale on it. The idea is to freeze stuff, duh, but dinners mostly--this coming fall semester I'm teaching the same hours that I worked last fall semester, Monday through Wednesday, 5:45 pm to 8:30 pm. And last fall semester, Matt would come pick me up after teaching, kids in the car past their bedtimes, and likely as not, as soon as I got in the car he'd ask, "What do you want for dinner?" If he didn't ask that question, you can bet there would be a hot pizza in a cardboard box waiting on the passenger seat. 

And mind you, I'm not going to fill our new chest freezer full of gourmet home-cooked dinners--when left to my own devices every day, I feed the girls Quorn nuggets/grilled cheese sandwich/peanut butter sandwich/Boca dog/leftovers from last night's dinner with the additional possibilities of cheese cubes, whole wheat crackers, or soy yogurt, and no less than two different raw fruit/vegetable combinations--but I can fill it with lots of bulk frozen dinner options from Sam's Club. Matt and the kids are both inordinately fond of plain cheese tortellini, no sauce--barf.

Record Album Cover Box Tutorial, Here We Come!

So even though my Bargain Hunter swap partner really wanted some nice storage containers, those were pretty much the only things I wasn't able to score for her at the various thrift stores and yard sales and dumpster-diving locations I visited during our swap. I found billions of knitting needles and yarn and books to alter and cool Spanish T-shirts, but no storage containers. 

So the day before I sent, hanging out at home alone with the girls, I made some record album cover boxes out of records I got at the free day at the Monroe County History Center garage sale. The kids could entertain themselves for an hour, I figured. Thus follows the course of that hour:

RECORD ALBUM COVER BOX TUTORIAL (INCLUDING WHAT YOUR CHILDREN WILL BE DOING/WRECKING/FIGHTING ABOUT WHILE YOU MAKE THE BOX)

1. Gather your materials. You'll need some record album covers, scissors, a good long ruler (bonus if you've got a ruled cutting mat), a pencil, and a hot glue gun with glue. While you do this, your children will be putting together a giant velociraptor puzzle:

2. Separate your record album cover into two pieces, front and back. Sometimes you'll need scissors, and sometimes the cover will be so old that it will easily separate by hand. When you're done, it will look like this:

 

You'll need to sacrifice a cover to your children so that they can do this, too, because tearing things up is fun. NOTE: The cover you sacrifice will NOT be usable after the children finish with it.

3. Starting with the cover you want to be the top, decide how tall you want your box to be. It will be a square box, and the taller you make it, the narrower the box width will be. 1" tall is wide and flat, 3" tall is tall and narrow, but 2" is a good height for a generic box. Using your ruler and your gridded cutting mat, if you have one--

--mark a line 2" from the edge of the cover all the way across on all four sides of your cover:

 

Press hard with your pencil, because you'll later be folding along these lines, and the pencil indentation will make it easy to fold. While you're doing this, the children will have moved on to clay.

4. Do the same with the side that you want to be the bottom of your box, only now you need to measure 2 1/16" from the edge of the cover on each side. This will make the bottom of your box slightly taller and narrower, and since the top of your box will be slightly wider, it will fit over the bottom snugly but not too tightly. When you're done your two covers will look about like this--

--and your two children will be done with clay:

 

5. Notice that in each corner, your lines have crossed to make a square. On each side, cut the right-hand line up to where it meets the perpendicular line--

--and then fold all the ruled lines you made, making sure they bend easily at a 90-degree angle:

 

While you're doing this, your children will be emptying out the dress-up bin, looking for their tutus that they actually left in the car after the last dance class.

6. So you can see how, when you snipped the right-hand line up to where it met the perpendicular line on each side of your cover, you made square tabs, each 2" square. Take two adjacent edges of your cover and fold them up to a 90-degree angle along those lines you drew. On the side of that tab that has the cover art on it, you're going to spread hot glue, and then tuck it inside the box and press it onto the inside of the adjacent edge:

 

This forms one corner of your box. Press firmly until the glue cools down, and then repeat for your other sides. It should now look like this:

And your dancing daughter looks like this:

  Repeat for the other half of the box until it's finished and looks like this:

 

And then quickly, while your daughters are blitzed out on Jumpstart Kindergarten--

--repeat three more times until you have this:

Whew! What an hour!