Cat themed Dollar Tree DIYs | Dupes Inspired by Target Home

Don’t you love browsing the home section in Target? But sometimes those prices are high! That’s why I’m sharing 3 Target inspired DIY dupes that have the same look for less money. These DIYs look SO close to the originals for just a few dollars each and they have a cute cat theme.

I have a YouTube channel and shared a video below showing you how these crafts came to life.

target Dupe  #1 // meow basket

First, we’ll be making this cute meow basket from Target. It has a farmhouse vibe to it and I thought this would be great to store my cat treats.

It is regularly priced at $45, but was on sale here. We are only going to spend $5 to make our version.

You will need one of these baskets from Dollar Tree.

I cut the foam core and then got to painting with a “greige” color I created with some black, white and a little pink paint.

After the basket and foam core was painted, I got my new saw out and cut this Dollar Tree dowel in half. I am so happy I have a new saw, if you’ve been watching my videos, you guys know I was struggling with that old one! No sore arm this time! I painted those dowels to match the sign and basket. I love this grey color, it looks kind of like metal.

I used some E6000 to attach the sign because the painted piece of foam core was starting to bow, so I wanted to make sure it was really secure and flat on the other piece of white foam core. I laid a heavy book on top, while it dried. 

Next, I printed out the “meow” letters. If you had a Cricut machine, these letters would be much easier to make, but we are going old school and are hand trimming them with an Xacto knife.

Dollar Tree had gloss and matte Mod Podge. We will be using the matte one to match our metal looking basket. I stuck those letters down with a little tape, so they wouldn’t move and then I used the Mod Podge over the top of the letters.

I used a couple coats of paint on some rounded stickers I found at Dollar Tree and then drew a black line on top to create the look of screw heads. I stuck these down with more Mod Podge and after attaching the sign with E6000, we now have a cute little meow basket perfect to hold your kitties treats. 

Here is the comparison! I think mine looks really close to the original. If you have a dog, this would be fun to do with “Woof” as the wording.

target Dupe #2 // cat painting

Don’t you love how cheap and easy these dupes are? Well, this one is even easier than the first dupe!

And don’t be intimidated, because there is painting involved. Everyone is an artist and I’ll show you a little trick to get a cute original piece of art that looks really close to this one! I love this cat canvas but for $118 dollars, well we can make it for waaay less. Like how about $3?

All you need from Dollar Tree is a canvas and some black and white paint.

I used this wax paper trick for my boho patio makeover. Tape a piece of wax paper to a regular piece of paper and then print your design right on the wax paper. Make sure that piece of wax paper is really secure before feeding it into your ink jet, so it won’t get jammed. Also, have your canvas ready to go because you want to do the transfer while the ink it still wet.

It isn’t a perfect transfer, but it is enough to use as a starting point for tracing out the image. It is way easier to have this little cheat on the canvas, instead of painting from scratch, especially when it’s something realistic like this.

I kept the photo nearby as I was painting, so I could look at the shadows and highlights and just copy the best I could with the paint. Even if yours comes out a little abstract, that is ok. It’s fun to paint and get creative and not worry about the outcome. Art comes in all kinds of styles, so embrace what you come up with!

I love how simple and elegant this is and for $3 versus $118, I think we did pretty good. 

target Dupe #3 // cat pillow

Our last dupe is this cute cat pillow. But instead of $37, we will make it for a few dollars.

Now, I’m not a pro at sewing, but I’ll show you how I managed to make this without a sewing machine.

Dollar Tree had this felt in many different colors, so I grabbed some white felt for this project. I cut it into a rectangle and then drew on the cat face with some oil based paint pens.

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I freehanded the cat face, but you could use that wax paper trick if you don’t trust your freehand skills. It doesn’t have to be perfect though – a little crooked cat smile just adds a bit of charm to this pillow.

I got my crafting mat dirty and once again this nail polish remover came to the rescue. It gets those oil based paints off surfaces really well and is way better than using harsh paint thinner.

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I had this pink fabric from another project. You can find quarters of Waverly fabric at Walmart for a couple dollars. Dollar Tree also has small amounts of fabric in seasonal patterns.

I used some heat and bond fabric tape. This stuff can be cut into any size and then sealed with the heat of an iron. I love how easy this is and no sewing machine required!

I added a little felt to the inside of the ears to make them look puffy. I cut holes at the top of the pillow to add the ears and then I stuffed the pillow.

I used some fabric fuse to seal all the holes and attach those ears. 

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And here is mine compared to the Target original.

If you want to see more high end home decor dupes, then I have a playlist full of inspiration right here.

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