For the last few years I have been making homemade gifts with Mr. A for the grandmothers for Mother’s Day. I can’t put my finger on it but there’s just something about Mother’s Day that begs for craftiness. Maybe it’s because Moms do so much for us that I kinda feel like for Mother’s Day the least we can do is put an effort in and “do” something for them.
The last couple of years we have gone to our local paint your own pottery place and created coffee mugs, gardening stakes, and the like. All well received by the way. Grandmas love anything their grandsons paint. This year we are changing it up a bit. With everything I’ve been pinning on Pinterest I figured I could probably find something among my boards. We decided on these. I’ve had the idea pinned for awhile and Mother’s Day seemed like the perfect reason to make these bird seed feeders. We love to feed the birds at our house. So do the Grandmoms. This couldn’t be a more appropriate gift. There are a few different recipes out there . Here’s how we made ours.
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Bird Seed Feeders
- 2 packets of unflavored gelatin (the boxes usually one in a four pack so you can get two batches out of one box)
- 2/3 c water
- 2 c bird seed mix (like THIS )
- twine or string
- cookie cutters in your favorite shapes
- straws
- cookie sheet or something to set them on for drying
- parchment paper or wax paper (we use parchment)
To Make the Bird Seed Feeders
First mix gelatin and water together in a pot and stirring constantly bring to a simmer over medium heat. Once it starts to simmer, remove it from the heat and stir in the bird seed.
Alternative method using microwave: Measure out birdseed and set aside in a large mixing bowl. Heat the water to boiling in a microwave safe container. (I find in our microwave this takes about 90seconds. Then stir in gelatin until dissolved. Once all the gelatin has dissolved pour the mixture into the birdseed and stir until thoroughly combined.
Let the birdseed mixture cool while you set up a tray/cookie sheet lined with parchment or wax paper and spray your cookie cutters with cooking spray.
Spoon the birdseed mixture into the cookie cutters, all the way to the top, and pack it very tightly (imagine packing brown sugar into a measuring cup). I can’t stress this enough. It will not hold together if it’s not packed tight enough. To make the holes for the string all you need to do is insert a straw, chop stick, pencil (you get the idea) and make the hole. If you have a straw you can cut it up, and just stick pieces of straw into the feeder where you want the hole to be. Leave them there until it’s dried. I will do that next time. We tried making a hole in one and then moving onto the next and we kinda had to fiddle with it a bit to be sure the seed didn’t fall back into the hole when we took it out. Either way works…just make a hole that stays a hole!
Mr A thought maybe he could sculpt something out of the birdseed. It was a great idea and he had fun trying for awhile, but we found out it doesn’t hold together unless it’s packed really tight. Birdseed sculptures were a good try, but a miss.
Let them sit until they are completely dry. We left ours overnight just to be safe. Then gently pop them out of the cookie cutters and tie some twine or yarn through the holes.
We had to try hanging a couple on our crabapple tree just to see what they would look like.
Pretty!
I know apples for teachers is very cliche but doesn’t this apple feeder just scream end of the year teachers gifts?
PS. I have noticed I am not the only one with birds on the brain right now. A few of my blogging friends have been up to the same thing. Juggling With Kids also made some Cookie Cutter Bird Feeders. Hers even got some visitors. I’m so jealous! I was very much looking forward to getting pictures of our fine feathered friends eating on these adorable feeders, but I’m pretty sure the ones we hung up got hauled off by the squirrels 🙁 You should check out Triple T Mum too! She did a cute version of these feeders with her toddlers with a different twist for molding them. You can read about it here.
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Thanks,
Renee
BEAUTIFUL BLOG!
LOVE THE MOTHER’S DAY PROJECT! MY FOUR YEAR OLD WILL LOVE THIS ACTIVITY!
Renee, thanks for stopping by and thank you for much for your kind words! You have made my day 🙂 I will absolutely stop by your site! Isn’t blogging fun?! Thanks again 🙂
Eeek! These are so cute! Maybe this is the trick to attracting birds to our little window bird house. Thanks for the tutorial and beautiful pictures as always :o) -Sarah
Aw, thanks Sarah 🙂
Thanks so much for the link! Your bird seed treats are adorable. The Grandmas will be delighted with their gifts! It’s coming up to Mother’s Day for us Aussie’s soon, but I am thinking of something a bit different. Hope you stop by and check it out in an upcoming post.
Thanks Amie! I definitely will! Love your blog 🙂
What a great idea! Thank you for sharing! We will be making those soon!
Thanks Marla! We had fun doing them and are planning on doing another batch ourselves 🙂
They look great! Such a lovely gift and I’m sure the birds enjoyed them too! Thanks so much for sharing this with the spring carnival. 🙂
Thank you! I think our squirrels enjoyed them more than the birds lol 😉
These turned out AMAZING!! What a fun project! I featured this on TGIF this week – http://livinglifeintentionally.blogspot.com/2012/05/tgif-linky-party-28.html – Thanks for linking up – can’t wait to see what you link up this week!!
Beth
Thanks Beth! These were fun, in fact, we just made our second batch the other day 🙂 Already linked up for this week. Thanks for the feature. I love your linky 🙂
Great, great idea!! I was wanting to something with Bird Seeds and you’ve just inspired me 🙂 Thank you for posting and for sharing this with us at Sharing Saturday!!
Thank you very much! I hope you have fun 🙂 Love your linky, glad to have found it!
We are making these for Christmas. I had one question…The gelatin we bought has 4 envelopes per package. Would you use two envelopes for the recipe or two packages of 4 envelopes? Thanks!!
You will want to use just two of the envelopes. Have fun! They will make great gifts 🙂
I am getting married in June of this year and would like to use this idea for wedding favors. My problem is that I’ve read in other posts that they can or will begin to mold within a few days after making them. Yours seems to have a slightly different recipe than the other one I read. So I was wondering if you knew if they mold quickly? I was hoping to make these a few months in advance for the wedding. I guess I could make a trial run on a batch if anything. Thanks so much!!
Congrats on your wedding! I wish I knew if these would mold or not. I haven’t had them hanging around the house for more than a couple of days before putting them outside. My inclination is to say they might due to the gelatin. I think your idea of making a test batch is spot on 🙂
These are so cute and look easy to make. Our climate is so hot and humid that I’m concerned they’ll melt quickly or get moldy. Any observations to pass my way?
Thanks for this great idea! I just featured you on my blog: http://www.colorfulcanary.com/2014/12/diys-are-for-birds-17-easy-and.html
Colorful Canary recently posted…DIY’s Are For The Birds! 17 Easy And Decorative Ideas To Help Birds Through Winter
I think birds will be impressed after seeing those seed feeders. Where do you get this such kind of bird seed feeders? Your photos are also great. Thanks for sharing your great ideas.
Cute idea! I want to make these with my daughters 1st grade class. I’m not sure if I can boil water there for the gelatin, could I make this batch before hand and bring it in that day or do you think it will harden?
Hi! It would harden. Do you have a microwave at school? I’ve brought the water to a boil using a microwave then dissolved the gelatin and then added that mixture to a bowl of birdseed. Works great!
We will be making these for Earth Day today. Caring our outdoor friends is a healthy environment choice. My munchkins are very excited and cannot wait to show their parents.