Home Made Christmas Present #1 (non-edible)

The Menu:
Home Made Bird Feeders

(front view)
(Side View)

The Original Recipe:
Well, we are tight on money this year, and I have a lot of "crafty" ideas floating around in my head as to what we might be able to make for the grandparents this Christmas. Gifts from the heart! It's always a joy to have a 13 (almost 14) yr. old boy help with crafts *eye roll.* My smallest boy is 5, and so he needed a bit of help. I helped him. That left my 13 yr. old boy to help my 7 yr. old boy, and my 8 1/2 yr. old boy on his own to do his bird feeder. My 13 yr. old decided it was much to much "work" to help his brother and no longer wanted to make one of his own. To Bad! He had to make one anyway. It is sloppy at its best, but it is still so cute and he just slaved on it all afternoon to finish. I get a chuckle at thinking how easy these really were. I am also very impressed with our project and how they turned out. Our grandparents are bird watcher/feeders and these gifts are going to be great for each of them.

What you need:

Empty Juice bottles-- We used Juicy Juice bottle which were the perfect size.
1 medium bottle of glue
Water
fat craft paint brushes
Collage paper
sticks
wire hangers
scissors and/or craft knife
bird seed

How to make:
Make sure your juice bottles are rinsed and dried out.
Also peel the label off of the outside.

Now, I used a scrapbooking craft knife to cut out rectangular holes on each side for the birds to get in to eat. You don't want it to high up, just high enough for them to bend down and find the food. You don't want them nesting inside.

Next, make a hole below the food hole on each side for a stick/branch to go through so the bird can perch on each side.

After that, make a smaller hole up on each side. This is where you will undo your hanger, stick it through the holes and then redo it to be able to hang.

Ok, so next we want to tear the collage paper into medium pieces. Lots and lots of medium pieces.
Once that is done  you will mix your glue with some water in a small cup. I would say 1 tsp. of water to 1 tbls. of glue (you might have to double/triple, etc.). It should be thin enough to spread over the bottle with out really dripping.

Next you paint some glue on your bottle, then you take a piece of paper and stick it on the glue and then paint more glue over the paper gently so that it adheres nice and flat. Do this until the bottle is covered and you see no plastic peeking through. Don't cover the holes though. If you do, gently poke back through them.

After all is covered up with pretty paper and nice and dry, go ahead and use clear spray paint to seal the whole thing together (and it makes it weather resistant, too).
 You can then add your sticks and hangers, fill with bird feed and now you have great Christmas presents, not only for your grandparents but for the birds, too!

(Oh, and I am leaving my cap untouched. I might have the kids paint it, but I want the grandparents to be able to open it, stick a funnel in and fill the feeder with food.)

Comments

Krystal said…
I love it! We're also making all our gifts this year. But our oldest is not even 3 yet, so I'll be saving this for another year!

-Krystal @ recipesofacheapskate.blogspot.com
Krista said…
What a great idea! We'll be making some Christmas gifts this year too.