Hello lovelies! My family and I are traveling home from Grand Haven, Michigan, today. It was our last family vacation before Marley starts school next week so we greatly enjoyed it.
Today I wanted to share a fun craft that I recently shared with the readers of Wait Til Your Father Gets Home. My little birds are loving our feeders, and I hope your feathered friends love them, too!
My family and I moved into our new home last June and my favorite part has got to be the nature that surrounds our home. We frequently see bunnies and the occasional turtle, and we even have chickens down the street! I especially love all the different kinds of birds that live in the woods by our home. Their songs echo down our chimney into our livingroom and warm my heart!
I wanted to give our little feathered friends a place to rest and eat, so I made some very simple little bird feeders, and I can’t wait to show you how to make some of your own!
These colorful bird feeders are made using plastic pony beads that you can find at most stores. Ready to get started?
Supplies:
- Round cake pan or pie plate
- Pony beads (I pack makes one feeder, but mix & match the colors any way you like)
- Aluminum foil
- Bowl (not shown)
- Ribbon or string (not shown)
- Hot glue gun (not shown)
First you need to cover your pan in aluminum foil completely.
Once your pan is covered, lay out a single flat layer of pony beads and arrange until you are satisfied with the design. *Be sure to pack them in as tightly as possible to prevent holes in your bird feeder.
Bake at 350° for about 20 minutes. (It may stink a bit – that lovely smell of melting plastic. Bleh.)
Allow to cool in the pan for a few minutes then pop them out.
This is what you’ll have initially. But we’re not done!
Now, grab an oven-safe bowl, flip it upside-down, and cover it in aluminum foil.
Place the flat beaded circle on the bowl and place back in the oven at 350° for about 5 minutes. You can watch the flat circle soften and begin to melt down the sides of the bowl. When you are satisfied with the shape, take it out of the oven.
Are you starting to see it all come together now?! Grab your ribbon or string and cut 2 really long pieces for each feeder. You’ll need to allow enough to hang your feeders.
Use your hot glue gun to attach the string or ribbon to the bottom of each feeder in an “X” pattern. (I added more hot glue on top of the ribbon as well to give it extra hold.
Fill with bird seed then hang! Your feathered friends will be delighted with their new place to dine!
Simple, right? Have a great day!
3 Responses
I love it! I’ve never tried to melt pony beads before, but it looks so fabulous! I’m definitely going to have to try this!
(And love the bird picture – how fantastic that you managed to catch that moment!)
Thanks Tara! I will give you a word of warning when melting the beads: They stink. Just be sure to air out the kitchen. 🙂
Now that the birds have found the feeders, I’m having a hard time keeping them full of seed – those little birds can eat! Thanks for stopping over!