Sunday, February 13, 2011

bird seed wreath

More snow = more outdoor activities. This time Claire and I made a birdseed wreath. I've seen these made all over blogland where the people used cookie cutters to make the bird feeders but I wanted to make one larger bird feeder. 

What you need:
3 cups of birdseed
2 packets of gelatin
cake pan to form the wreath
non stick spray 

small container to form the hole in the wreath (not pictured)
piece of fabric to hang the wreath, I used an old dress shirt (not pictured)

I used the instructions found here. Sprinkle two packages of gelatin over 1/2 cup cold water. Let it sit a couple of minutes until gelatin has absorbed the water. Heat 1 3/4 cups water in a pan, then add in the gelatin mixture. Stir until dissolved. Stir in 3 cups birdseed. Allow mixture to cool until gelatin is thick and coats all the birdseed. (I think that I should have let the gelatin thicken a bit more before I put it in the pan.)

I sprayed the cake pan, put a small container in the middle of the pan and then poured dumped in the birdseed mixture. I put the pan outside the back door so that it would harden quickly. Then, I just ripped a strip off of the old shirt and used that to hang up the wreath.


 The birds loved it. We saw chickadees, bluejays and

 even a few woodpeckers. Now, I'm not sure if our wreath didn't really hold up because it was so large (maybe there's a reason why everyone used small cookie cutters), or if it was because the woodpecker chewed through the wreath. However, as it turns out, the birds don't seem to care if the wreath is hanging on the tree, or laying on the ground- lucky for us I guess!
  

11 comments:

  1. I've used cookie cutters to make smaller feeders. However, I forgot to put the hole in them before they hardened. So, I put them in the metal suet feeders instead. The birds loved the seed mixture/gelatin and when they broke apart, they were still contained in the suet feeders.

    Ann
    Harvest Moon by Hand
    http://harvestmoonbyhand.blogspot.com

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  2. Amazing! I'd been wanting to do something similar all winter, but never got around to it. I really just want to photograph birds in my backyard, and I guess it doesn't hurt if I feed them too, right ;-)

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  3. Very tiggeriffic idea~! It's always good to feed the birds.. Have you noticed the birds are now starting to sing.. spring is close by.
    ta ta for now from Iowa:)

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  4. Beautiful! We may try one of those soon. Thanks for sharing!

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  5. What a great idea! We'll definitely have to try this. Thanks for sharing!

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  6. Love your unique style and I've awarded you with The Versatile Blogger Award ~ take a look: http://tinyurl.com/6chr84e
    I'm also your newest follower. Have a great weekend!!

    ~Jenna, SAS Interiors
    www.sasinteriors.net

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  7. Ah your wreath looks fabulous and lovely! And popular with the birds! For some reason our feeder was a "fail"...

    Do come and join us on Kids Get Crafty! Latest link http://www.redtedart.com/2011/02/16/kids-get-crafty-robot-cards-the-robot-the-blue-bird/

    Would love to see you there!

    Maggy

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  8. I'm so excited about this--a birdseed project that doesn't involve peanut butter! Great for allergic families!

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  9. Love this cute idea, can't wait to give it a go! Thanks for sharing the idea :)

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