Paint Can Bird Houses

Paint Can Bird Houses!  Great reusing project; its fun for all and creates a living place for our bird friends!   

This is a project I did in the spring with my kids.  It was super fun for all!

We had just bought our house in that winter and painted every room so we had lots of empty paint cans.  Enjoy!

Mr. J even painted his hand! 

Materials Needed:

-empty paint cans (we had used a water based paint and were able to peel the dry paint out of the cans)

-drill and 2 inch bit (for drilling the holes)

-sanding block or sandpaper

-acrylic paint

-foam and other paint brushes

-tray/paper plate or something to use as your palette

-aluminum wire, optional (aluminum won't rust and break over time)

It was an extremely windy day when we did this so that is the explanation for the bricks holding everything down.

Process:

1. Drill the bird house opening about 1 3/4 inches from the bottom of the paint can.

2. Peel out the paint if possible (this was fun for the kids).

3. Scuff up the outside of the paint can using the sanding block. (This will make the paint stick better and last longer.)

4. Paint your bird house.  (I think these would also be cute painted like a face with the opening for the mouth, we have more cans to paint; maybe I'll have to try that.)

5. Hang your bird house out in nature.  You can just hook the house on a sturdy branch or use some aluminum wire to wire it to a tree branch.

*We hung ours in early spring and by early summer there were birds nesting in every one of them!

Pine Cone Birds

These are really fun to do with the kids!  

Just collect the pine cones from your yard or go for a walk in a park or down the road in search for them.  

You could probably even hang these outside, although I'm not sure how they would hold up to the weather.  Maybe use outdoor spray paint?  Depending on where you live and where they are hanging I think they would at least last one spring/summer/fall season outside.

These would also be fun to make and put in a handmade nest!  Could be a fun gift for a teacher, grandparent or care provider.

You can't really do this project in one day so plan on it taking some extra time; I found this good because then the kids could take a break and do something else for a while.

Materials:
-large pine cones
-acrylic paint (glitter paint if desired)
-googly eyes
-orange pipe-cleaners
-assorted medium to large colored feathers
-hot glue and hot glue gun

Optional Materials:
-ribbon
-string
-thin tree branch about 3 feet long
-green paper for leaves

Process:
1. Paint pine cones and allow to thoroughly dry.

2. Make beak (two pieces of pipe-cleaner about 2 1/2 inches long, folded in half like a "V") and bird feet using pipe-cleaners. 
See picture below:

3. Use hot glue gun to glue beak onto the "bottom" end of the pine cone.  Glue the feet in between the layers of the pine cone.

4. Very carefully glue on the googly eyes.

5. Choose the wing and tail feathers you will use; begin gluing on the feathers between the pine cone layers where you want them. (Tip: Glue on the largest feathers first, then the smaller feathers can be glued to the larger feathers.)

6. Glue on a string to the top of the bird if you plan to hang it.

If hanging from a branch...
7. Tie your bird or birds to the branch where you want them (I also added a bit of hot glue to the knot to make sure it wouldn't come untied.)
8. Cut some leaf shapes (Optional: I had my son draw the leaves veins on the leaves.)

 

9. Use hot glue to glue the leaves to the branch.
10. Use a long piece of ribbon tied to both ends of the branch to hang the branch from the ceiling.  (I used a screw-in cup hook to hang this from.)

Painted Stick Garden Art

This was a really fun project for the kids; and its something that adds some character and color to the garden and/or the yard!  We even made some for some friends for their yard; fun gifts from the kids!

I came up with this idea because my kids are always collecting sticks and the love to paint things for the house, the chickens and the yard.

Do you really need to take pictures, Mom!?!

All you need are:

-some twigs or sticks from the yard, you can leave the branches on or cut them off {we cut them off, their more easy to paint and less likely to poke someone walking by}

-various colors of acrylic paint {I recommend bright colors so the stand out in the garden or yard, we even used some glitter paint}

-paint brushes

-paint trays {you could use paper plates, plastic container covers or a piece of cardboard}

-water can for washing brushes between colors

-paper towel for drying brushes

-wire

-bells and/or beads

-drill

{if you have chickens or other small animals that may become pray to bird of pray you could also hang an old CD from the bottom; the reflection can help to deter them from coming near your animals}

Just paint the sticks, using whatever colors you and your kids like.

Drill one hole in each end of each stick; for the wire for hanging and the wire for the beads and bells.

Thread a piece of wire through the top hole for hanging and thread wire through the bottom hole; add some beads and/or bells to the bottom wire.  The bells are neat, because the make sound when the wind blows the sticks.

Hang the colorful sticks wherever you can admire them in your garden or in your yard!

Enjoy and have fun!

Chicken Update...

Its been a while since I've updated you on our chickens, they are now about 3 months old. and we have I think, 5 roosters in the bunch.

We have, I think 5 roosters in the bunch.

Here on the far right we have Marshmallow, he's a really sweet rooster; loves when I rub his head.  Next to Marshmallow, is a rooster that was causing trouble and had to go, then there's Cheeky {black} and Coal {gray and orange}.

I don't know what breeds they are {since they were hatched at my nephew's school}, so if you do please share.

On this day they were hunkered down from the crazy Iowa wind! 

Here is Coal enjoying some alone foraging time!  He's so handsome!

Hope everyone is doing well and staying cool!

Fluffy Blueberry Waffles

These are tasty, tasty, tasty!  And I'm not even a big waffle lover.  I made these for supper on the last day of school; my son loves breakfast for supper!

The leftovers are great warmed in the microwave or if you want them crunchy toast them up in the toaster!  You could also freeze them and toast them as needed, just like store-bought toaster waffles!  Enjoy!

I found the recipe from Taste of Home.

Ingredients:  {I doubled this recipe in the pictures shown below.}

-2 cups flour

-2 1/4 tsp baking powder

-1/2 tsp salt

-1 2/3 cup milk

-3 eggs, separated

-1/4 cup butter, melted

-2/3 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

Process:

1. Beat egg whites until they form stiff peaks.  Set aside egg yolks.

2. Transfer beaten egg whites to a clean glass or metal bowl, set aside.

3. In a mixing bowl {I used the same one that I beat the egg whites in}, combine flour, baking powder and salt.  Mix slightly.

4. Continue mixing while pouring in milk.

5. Add butter and egg yolks to batter mixture.

6. Beat well to combine.

7. Stir in blueberries using a spoon or spatula.

8. Add beaten egg whites to batter.  Gently mix/fold in the egg whites to keep their fluffy texture.

9. Preheat waffle iron.  Pour batter on iron, close and allow to cook.

10. Repeat with remaining batter.
11. Enjoy with syrup, berries and/or whipped cream.