Home Goods

Make it Monday! DIY Vintage Suitcase Dog Bed!

DIY Vintage Suitcase Dog Bed

The weekend may be over but don’t let Monday get you down. Lets get creative! Today on Make it Monday! Basil, and I, with the help of my brother in-law Jake, turned a super cute vintage suitcase into a new unique dog bed.

What you need!

  • Hard case suitcase. (I found this yellow Samsonite case at an antique store for $9!)
  • 4 short table legs. (The ones we used were actually banister toppers found at a hardware store. The leg came with hardware already included.)
  • 2 2×4 pieces of wood cut to size.
  • Hot glue gun or sewing machine. (My Sewing machine is currently out of order so I went the glue route and it worked just fine.)
  • 1 yard of fabric
  • 1 or 2 standard size pillows or square thick foam. (I used 1 pillow and a small old quilt for padding.)
  • Drill
  • Optional: Trim
DIY Vintage Suitcase Dog Bed
I told him I wouldn’t photograph his face… I lied! Oops!

Okay so if you are anything like me you probably don’t have a clue how to build things using power tools. The extant of my knowledge is limited to hanging a picture straight on the wall and using an allen wrench to put together my “affordable Swedish crap.” This is where my brother in-law Jake came into the picture. He is a construction work and has every tool under the sun. For the first part of this project, the hard part, putting on the legs, I pretty much just handed him the pieces and said “help me!” In the following pictures if you see hairy forearms, they are not mine!

 

Part 1: The Hard Part! Attaching the legs!

DIY Vintage Suitcase Dog BedStep 1: Mark where you want to position the legs and drill holes.
Step 2: Attach the wood beams to the inside of the suitcase. These are going to act as the anchor for the legs. Make sure to position them over where you drilled the holes.
Step 3: Screw in the legs, with the already attached hardware, through the drilled holes and into the wood beams.

 

Part 2: The Fun Part!

DIY Vintage Suitcase Dog BedDIY Vintage Suitcase Dog BedStep 1: Find a cute fabric to match your case.
Step 2: Use fabric is cover your pillow/foam padding. Make a pillow case using your sewing machine or hot glue gun. FYI, they make fabric glue for your hot glue gun! It’s washable! (I’m not going to show you how to make a pillow case. Thats not fun. If you really don’t know, there is this magical thing called Google that will help you out.
Step 3: Attach your trim, if you so choose. I liked how it looked with the trim so I went for it. I used a chevon red burlap ribbon that I found at the craft store. I used my hot glue gun to glue it around the inside of the whole case.
Step 4: Insert padding and pillows!

Done!!

DIY Vintage Suitcase Dog BedDIY Vintage Suitcase Dog BedI put the adorable new bed in Basil’s new “dog cave” and he and our cats love it! The best part is now I have a dog bed that doesn’t look like a gross ugly dog bed!

Thanks to HGTV for the idea. If you want to see how they did it, its a little different, check it out here.

Let me know if you make this project. I would love to see your pictures!

Until next time friends! Xoxo

Travel well, nap well, live well!
-Abbey & Basil

Something about last Christmas… Throwback! Blogmas Day 3!

Christmas tree 2014

Christmas tree 2014

Check out these photos of last years Christmas tree. We cut it down at Little Switzerland Fraser Firs in Little Switzerland, North Carolina. If you are in the area and need a beautiful Christmas tree make sure to check them out. Great little family farm in the hills of North Carolina. Also, there is a coupon on their website and they are dog friendly! Can’t go wrong!

We are currently super busy getting ready for our upcoming trip to Texas. I’ll be posting for Blogmas while we are there so make sure to check back daily to see all of our adventures. Also, follow me on Instagram for even more fun!

What does your house look like for the holidays? Do you get a tree? Let me know in the comments!

Until tomorrow! Xoxo

Travel well, nap well, live well!
-Abbey & Basil

This is the Droid you’re looking for!

With the new Star Wars: The Force Awakens movie opening this Christmas and the release of the toys happening today (!!!!) everyone is talking about Star Wars. The most popular toy so far is the BB-8 droid. It’s an app controlled robot that will patrol your home and maybe confuse your pets. It’s pretty cool!

Check out this awesome video, thanks to Vanity Fair, of a group of puppies being introduced to the BB-8. If this doesn’t convince my husband to splurge (Only $149.99!) and just order one, I don’t know what will!

Travel well, nap well, live well!
-Abbey & Basil

Ps. Hope everyone has a fun and safe Labor Day weekend! Xoxo

Make it Monday! DIY Doggy Ice Block!

Its been a super hot summer so far. Even in Seattle we have been seeing temps of 90 to 100 at least once a week. For this Make it Monday! I thought I would make something that would help cool down the pups on these hot days. I call it, thanks to my sister-in-law, fruit chicken soup!

 What you need

  • A Tupperware container or bucket (I used a 7 quart Tupperware with a lid) 
  • Tap water
  • Chicken broth 
  • Dog friendly fruits & vegetables (I used blueberries, strawberries, and carrots.)
  • Freezer 

 First I filled the Tupperware half with tap water and half with chicken broth. Then I added chopped strawberries, and carrots as well as a cup and a half of fresh blueberries.

 The next step was to freeze over night. It may take longer or shorter depending on the size of container you choose.

This morning when we wake up the sun was shining and the mercury was already rising. I pulled the fruit chicken soup from the freezer and with a little help from the hot water tap I was able to pop out the ice block. I took it outside and Basil, and our housemates dogs, Luna, and Hank went to town.

Dogs love ice blocks!This was a serious success! I am very happy with the result and the dogs really enjoyed it.
I highly recommend doing this for your dog this summer. Feel free to add dog food, dog treats, and toys or whatever your dog prefers.

Let me know how it goes!

How was you weekend? Until next time! Xoxo

Travel well, nap well, live well!
-Abbey & Basil

Make it Monday! DIY T-Shirt Dog Toy!

So being Monday and all I thought, “lets be creative!” Today is the first of my Make it Monday series. Here is a re-share of my first dog DIY project,  the T-shirt dog toy. I know a lot of people enjoyed this one and I know a lot of people missed it so I thought I would repost. I hope you like it and going forward on Mondays I’ll be posting new dog friendly recipes I’ve tried, other DIY toys, crafts for the home, and a ton more!

DIY T-Shirt Dog Toy

Hello all! In our house Basil loves new toys and my husband loves new t-shirts so I came up with a way that I can make both of those things happen much faster. By using an old, stretched out, too large t-shirt of my husbands and a pair of scissors I can make a rope toy, and I can show you how.

What you will need:

1 clean, old T-shirt

Pair of good scissorsDIY T-Shirt Dog Toy

Step one: Cut off both sleeves of the T-shirt.DIY T-Shirt Dog ToyDIY T-Shirt Dog Toy

Step two: Cut the seams off both the sleevesDIY T-Shirt Dog Toy

Step three: Cut down the seams on both sides of the body of the T-shirt.DIY T-Shirt Dog Toy

Step four: Cut long, wide strips “hot dog” wise. (One T-shirt can make two or more toys)DIY T-Shirt Dog ToyStep five: Over lap the ends of 3 to 5 of the strips. (I used only 4 this time but do whatever you are comfortable with braiding!)DIY T-Shirt Dog Toy

Step six: Use one of the seams that you cut of the sleeves to tie and knot the overlapped strips.DIY T-Shirt Dog Toy

Step seven: Braid! Make it as tight as you can for the best toy.DIY T-Shirt Dog Toy

Step eight: Use the 2nd seam from the sleeves to tie off the other end of your braid.DIY T-Shirt Dog Toy

Step nine: To finish the toy off, I hand knotted the middle to add more interest for my boy. I also added a few stitches to the knots on each end to insure that they stayed put!

All that was left was to leave the new toy in the toy bin and wait! It wasn’t long before he found it and brought it to me. We played tug-a-war for a while and I tried to get a good picture of him enjoying my handmade toy but that was much harder than expected!Dog enjoys DIY T-Shirt Dog ToyLet me know if you want me to Make it and I’ll give it a try!

Have a happy, creative Monday and we’ll see you tomorrow for Travel Tuesday!

Travel well, nap well, live well!
-Abbey & Basil

It’s starting to look a lot like Christmas!

Well, thanksgiving is done and over and Christmas is now everywhere. We got our tree a couple of weeks ago but it’s just now that the harvest decor is coming down and it’s really starting to feel like Christmas.
Since getting our tree all of our local friends have been asking us where we got it and I’m happy to share.
Our beautiful 8 foot tall Fraser fir came from a little family farm in the Smoky Mountains called Little Switzerland Fraser Firs. About an hour and a half from our home outside Charlotte, high in the mountains sits a dog friendly, family friendly slice of Christmas tree utopia.
Little Switzerland Fraser Firs has hundreds of beautiful Fraser fir Christmas trees to chose from. From tall to small you really can’t go wrong. This is our 2nd year cutting down a tree from there and as long as we are in North Carolina, it is the only place we’ll go.

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As you can see we really had a great time. Basil even made two new friends, a horse and another Boston terrier!
If you are in the area and still in the need of a Christmas tree make sure to check out Little Switzerland Fraser Firs.

What does your Christmas tree look like? Send us photos and I’ll post them here! Hope everyone is surviving the week and the weather!

Travel well, nap well, live well!
Abbey & Basil

PS… As I’m posting this I had to stop Willow (our 20 lb. cat!) from drinking our of the Christmas tree stand, TWICE! 

Reading with Abbey & Basil — Photo Booth Dogs

But first… Let me take a selfie! Basil loves taking selfies!

This Monday on Reading with Abbey & Basil we are talking about Photo Booth Dogs by Cameron Woo.

First off the bat, you may look at this book and say “You only buy books with Boston terriers on the cover!” Well, that may be a little true but if you remember last weeks Reading with Abbey & Basil, that was about cats! So there! Photo Booth Dogs by Cameron Woo

This little coffee table book is chalked full of old, antique photo booth photos. Other than the intro, where the author gives us a short history of the photo booth, the book lets the photos speak for themselves. With almost all the pictures included being in black & white you can really feel the history. I look into the eyes of these like-minded dog people in some of the photos and can really feel how much they enjoyed their dogs. And even though most of these pictures are at least 30 years old, some even from as far back as the 1930’s, one thing has stayed the same; our love of man’s best friend.

Photo Booth Dogs is a great book to pick up if you are interested in photography, dogs, or just to look great on your coffee table or book shelf. I would also recommend it as a great house warming present. I can truly say this book makes me smile with every viewing and I’m happy to include it in my book collection.

Hope everyone is enjoying their Monday. Remember, if you need a Monday pick me up check out our Sunny Monday post from a couple weeks ago. It is sure to help!

Travel well, nap well, live well!

-Abbey & Basil

 

Basil’s Favorite Things – Burt’s Bees Dog Shampoo

Its Friday and its time for a very over due bath for Sir Basil. Somehow he has gotten out of it everyday for about the last month; Not today! I started the bath, added the bubbles and wake him up from his daily afternoon nap.

He begged me with those eyes to keep that very strong dog odor that he worked so hard for, but it didn’t work!

So, after a few moments of the sad eyes, in the bath Basil went. Being the amazing dog that Basil is he doesn’t fight it or cry he just tries to enjoy the warm water and yummy smell coming from his favorite puppy shampoo. Burt’s Bees Apple & Eucalyptus Deodorizing Shampoo is just perfect. It smells fantastic, bubbles up well, and cleans this little black & white dog like nobodies business!

If you haven’t used Burt’s Bees before we highly recommend it. Their shampoo is made from natural ingredients and is 100% cruelty free. Its easy on Basil sensitive skin and leaves him smelling like apples!

After being soaped up and then rinsed off it was time to call in the “muscle”, also know as my husband. We have a very old house and a super deep bath tub so lifting a wet, 25 lb. dog out of the bath without getting soaked is a little tricky for me.

Once out we dried him off and watched his attitude change from sad face back to the happiest dog in the world! He knows that always after a bath he gets rewarded with many treats, which he totally did! He now smells delicious and I hope that lasts for a long time. 

If you are looking for a new dog shampoo give Burt’s Bees a try. You can find at pet stores or we always get it in the pet section of Home Goods.

Hope everyone is have happy Friday and staying warm!

Travel well, Nap well, Live well!

-Abbey & Basil