Homemade Feeding Mats Keeps Mealtime Neat and Dog Owners Happy

Making homemade gifts for the dog lover on your list allows you to personalize the gift to their specific dog while providing useful gifts that are sure to be used. The trick of course, is making a gift that makes dog care easy and enjoyable while tickling the fancy of the dog lover at the same time.

Personalized Dog Mat

Anyone who owns a dog knows that dinnertime can be a mess with dribbles of food left on the floor around the dish. Although you can certainly buy a fancy mat from a pet supply company , a personalized mat with the dog's name, and pictures of him having fun, is just the thing to add a little sparkle to mealtime.

The Base

Select a piece of colored card stock that is slightly wider than the dog's food bowl and long enough to create an attractive mat. Typically, an 11 by 14 inch sheet works well, but you are free to choose any size you prefer. You will use this for the base of the mat.

Make a Collage of Dog Images

Browse through pictures of the dog and select several shots of him playing and having fun. Use a graphics program to create a collage of images of the dog. Add a text box with the dog's name in attractive font and display the name prominently near the top of the collage. Print out the collage on plain paper.

Assembling the Personalized Dog Mat

Trim the edges of the collage so that it fits neatly inside the cardstock with a ½ to 1-inch frame around the border

Lay the collage face down on the table or other flat surface. Spray the back lightly with spray adhesive. Allow to sit until the adhesive is sticky. Avoid using too much glue as this will wrinkle the paper and ruin the effect.

Center the collage on the card stock and press in place. Press the collage to the cardstock gradually and work your way from left to right. Work carefully to smooth out any wrinkles as your press in place.

Allow to dry completely. Laminate the entire mat and trim to shape.

Presenting Your Homemade Personalized Dog mat

Present the gift with a box of homemade dog treats, small toys or a new pet food dish.

For Real Dog Lovers

For the real dog lover, you'd better come prepared with two mats-one for Fiddo and one for his jealous master. Of course, you may want to omit the dog's name on one mat so there is no confusion on which one is returned to the table and which one fits under the dog bowl after they have been cleaned.