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!

  

Linking up with Red Ted's Art Blog &  Somewhat Simple & ABC and 123 Learning