Your pet may not mind dining informally, but for easy cleanup, you'll want it to eat with a place mat under its bowl. Decorated with animal-print paper and then laminated, the mat looks charming and can be wiped clean almost effortlessly.

Tools and Materials
Pet bowl
Measuring tape
Animal-print paper, such as wrapping paper or page from a clip-art book
Colored card stock
Scissors
Spray glue
Shallow cardboard box
Rug underlay (foam webbing used underneath rugs for grip)

Pet Place Mat How-To

1. Measure your pet's bowl, then add a few inches to determine measurements of the animal-print paper. Adjust the animal-print paper on a photocopy machine to these measurements, magnifying it if necessary, and copy

2. Cut the card stock slightly larger than the animal-print paper to create a border. Lay the animal-print paper facedown in a shallow cardboard box; coat lightly with spray glue. Wait a few seconds until the glue is tacky, then mount the animal-print paper, centered, on the card stock. For a reversible mat, add animal-print paper to both sides of the card stock.

3. Laminate the mat at a local copy center, or do it yourself using a home laminator.

4. To prevent the mat from slipping on the floor, place a rug underlay beneath it.