bird nest supply station tutorial

[Longelegantlegs]

This is so clever! I will TOTALLY be doing this later today.

[baygirl69]

yes! i wanna make one too!!! fun, fun!

[Clarachk]

(And the bird lovers behind me collectively "AWWWWWWW!!!")

Awwww! This is so freaking sweet! I'd be tempted to hang this on my front door in place of my nearly-dead Christmas wreath :O) This would look GREAT! I was super excited to see that the base was a picnic plate holder thingy! (Sorry for lack of a more 'proper' name, LOL.) I always hated having to toss out the ratty-looking ones. Now I will have a reason to hoard these along with all the other crap I save because "it's NOT garbage! It can be beautiful too!" Your little tute here sites endless possibilites. Thank you for sharing it with us!!!

[AnnaAnna]

Very cool!  I just saw the thumbnail and thought to myself "that looks like a bird's nest" -- haha and it is! (or soon to be!)

[lunamadre]

(And the bird lovers behind me collectively "AWWWWWWW!!!")

Awwww! This is so freaking sweet! I'd be tempted to hang this on my front door in place of my nearly-dead Christmas wreath :O) This would look GREAT! I was super excited to see that the base was a picnic plate holder thingy! (Sorry for lack of a more 'proper' name, LOL.) I always hated having to toss out the ratty-looking ones. Now I will have a reason to hoard these along with all the other crap I save because "it's NOT garbage! It can be beautiful too!" Your little tute here sites endless possibilites. Thank you for sharing it with us!!!

You're so welcome!  I threw out some old baskets a while back and during this project i kicked myself.  lol I was looking so hard for the "perfect" basket or wreath, and I got so disgusted by the cost.  I mean, 8 dollars for a little grape vine wreath?  really?  Where I live I drive past acres of vineyards constantly, it seemed so dumb to buy one.  But I didn't have the patience or time to ask someone for some grape vine, soak it and then make one.  Some of the baskets were honestly too "nice" to purchase for this project.  I was getting so frustrated and then I saw the plates and figured it was worth a shot.  I do have to admit, it was great fun making something from basically nothing!  And it felt good to pull out the scrap bag and actually have a use for all the tiny pieces I thought I was crazy for keeping.

I noticed one piece of fabric sitting on the grass yesterday, but i haven't seen any action yet.  I did place it near our corn cob feeder that the blue jays are using...so I'm hoping the notice it.  I'm thinking of scattering some bird seed on the ground near it to attract the birds more...I'm worried it blends in too well and they haven't found it yet!

[Longelegantlegs]

We did this as a school activity yesterday!
I didn't have a plate or basket but I had these little rattan balls from the dollar store. They worked really well, and the kids just used the eraser end of a pencil to poke the bits of yarn and fabric into the balls. They're not as wreath-like and pretty as yours, but the kids had a ton of fun with them.



They're hanging by our bird feeder and I've seen several birds visit them. This is SUCH an awesome idea, Lunamadre! Thank you!!

[lunamadre]

OH how cute!!! I was looking at grapevine wreath balls and I wasn't thrilled with the cost...I didn't even think of checking a dollar store for those kind.  That works great!  Thanks for sharing the pics, now I want to go try that too!

[craftylittlemonkey]

I forgot to post this in the Recycling Round Up and I can only post once, poop! One of you might want to enter this awesome project... http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=377431.msg4455456#msg4455456

I sorted through all the scraps but there were just too many to weave into a basket. We used a big deep basket and made a yarn "net" over top to hold it all in. It's on the deck with some bird seed so hopefully the birds and squirrels will make use of it if we're not too late for nest building.

[lunamadre]

wow, that's a big stash! lol  Looks like your yard will have many toasty warm critters this spring. 

afterthought:  My only concern is with the yarn netting you made....I'm worried birds might get entangled in it.    I used the same technique on mine, but it's against a flat plate.  Once the critters start sticking their head on to get the scraps on the bottom of the basket, I'm worried they might get tangled up and trapped.  Maybe just keep an eye on it, or eliminate the yarn web?  One of my friends said she just sets out an uncovered basket full of fluff, and the birds use it just fine. 

by the way, the link doesn't work craftymonkey...what is it for? 

[craftylittlemonkey]

Sorry, I should have mentioned that it's a Friends of Craftster forum. You can become one though, it's very affordable, supports our lovely moderators and has great benefits. The link is to a thread about our fave recycled crafts, I have a feeling it's going to be a good one...

I'll keep an eye on the basket, good thing the string is on there because it's windy today and it's fallen off the table out there already. Have to think up something else to hold all that in. That was about a fifth of my shred stash BTW. I have a problem throwing things out...