Bird Feeders

Bird feeders are always a cute craft to make in the Spring, especially with the help from kids.  Thanks to my smoothie recipe, I was able to save a couple cartons in no time for this project.  The idea came from this post on Parents.com which I found on Pinterest. The materials used for this were: hot glue gun, old milk cartons, a Post-it note (to use as a stencil), sticks from the yard, bark from a tree, and some twine. Do not forget to rinse the cartons out really good, maybe even use a little bleach, because they could become really stinky if left dirty. ewwww!

As you can see, I cut out a Post-it note shape on 2 sides of the carton. Make sure to leave about 2 inches at the bottom (like the left one in the pic).  The one on the right was the first one I cut and realized that the bottom was not a favorable amount of space to hold bird feed. It is still usable though!

I stabbed a hole in the middle of the top and ran some twine through it to make a nice hanger.

After hot gluing a stick at the bottom as a place for birds to perch, I used acrylic paint to beautify the carton. It was left to dry overnight.

***The stick fell off after 3 weeks.  It is better to poke a small hole and poke the stick through it and then glue to secure it.***

The next day I glued sticks on to make a roof.

My project helper used a big piece of bark for his. I love this idea! He also spiced his up a bit by gluing some newspaper around the bottom.

Now all they need is some bird seed.