This pine cone bird feeder craft is easy enough for kids to make

The hardest part of making this pine cone bird feeder craft was finding bird seed in bags of less than 5-zillion pounds!  My daughter loved it and was actually able to help quite a bit.

Related Pages: More Pinecone Crafts, Stick Crafts, Make Fairy Houses

What you need to make a simple bird feeder:

• A pine cone
• Peanut butter
  (Note – use soy butter instead if your child has a peanut allergy!)
• Ribbon
• Bird seed
• Plastic baggie

How to make a pine cone bird feeder

Start by cutting a ribbon about 24″ in length.  The idea is to make it so that squirrels can’t easily reach your delicious bird seed.  I think it’s better to attach the ribbon first so that you don’t get peanut butter and seeds everywhere later on.

Move a couple of layers from the top of the pine cone and tie the ribbon around tightly.

Next, smear peanut butter all over your pine cone bird feeder.  This part is kind of messy.  We worked to make sure we got some peanut butter in between the various layers of the pine cone for maximum bird seed coverage.

Peanut butter will make the bird seed stick to your pine cone.

Place your gooey pine cone into a bag of bird seed, hold the top shut, and shake.

(Leave the ribbon sticking out of the top of the bag so it doesn’t get covered in peanut butter.)

The seeds stick to the peanut butter to cover your pine cone.

Take it outside and hang it from a tree with the ribbon loop you created.  We put ours right outside the kitchen window so we can see if any birds come to enjoy a snack.

ETA: I may just need to face reality and rename this post “Squirrel Feeder Craft for Kids.”  *sigh*

The view that greeted me from my kitchen window this morning.

I don’t know how kids feel about Anthropologie, but us adults sure seem to swoon over their artistic decor and design! Drool! These bottles are not hard to make – and certainly cost tons less than the $88 – $128 that similar seashell bottles are selling for on the Anthropologie website! They would look so pretty on a windowsill or decorating a bathroom counter. And with a shell, a little art clay, and a simple bottle, your kids can make a whole set of them to give to any beach loving friend or family member!

Anthropologie Inspired Shell Bottle Toppers Craft

Related Pages: Beach Crafts, Stick Crafts for Kids, Christmas Sugar Cookies

Original craft inspriation from Anthropologie:

Anthropologie Shell Bottles

They have actually used metal to seemingly weld the shell to the top of the bottle. Since that’s a technique that’s a little out of reach for most of us, I’ve found it’s easy to recreate the look using polymer clay instead.

Seashell Bottles Craft Materials

You’ll need a glass bottle with a cork stopper. I got mine on Amazon and at Hobby Lobby.

A seashell

Black polymer clay like Fimo or Sculpey

E6000 glue or glue gun

How to Make Decorative Seashell Bottles

First, use a tiny screwdriver or other object to poke a small hole in the top of the cork. It only needs to be about 1/4″ to 1/2″ deep. This is going to partially stabilize the shell on the top of the cork while you work. So you may have to adjust the depth or width depending on your shell. This doesn’t need to be perfect and it can wobble a bit. The polymer clay will really end up holding it all in place.

Make a small hole in the cork bottle stopper

Now glue your shell into place on top:

Gluing the shell into the cork

Polymer clay needs to soften before you can use it. This would be a great thing for little hands to do! It’s kind of hard at first, but after a while it gets more mold-able. Start taking small pieces of the clay and pressing it around the base of the shell and cork. It really doesn’t need to be all that pretty, just do a lot of pressing on all sides to ensure the whole thing gets covered and is holding the shell tightly in place.

Adding polymer clay around shell and cork

It’s kind of up to you if you want to cover the bottle opening (making it impossible to open later) or just covering up the cork to the bottle top. It also depends on your bottle style – you can see that I covered up one, but not the other. Since these are primarily just for decoration, it didn’t really matter to me. If you want to put something inside of the bottle (sand, more tiny shells, etc.), you can do that before you seal up the clay around the opening for good.

You could actually be done at this point if you want to. But I preferred a smoother texture on the finished bottle than I was able to get with pieced together clay. So I took another chunk of clay and flattened it out to a thin, small pancake shape. I was able to then wrap that around the clay to give it a smooth finish. It still looked pieced together on the back of course, but that doesn’t matter to me because I’ll just be displaying it on a wall shelf.

Smoothing out the polymer clay texture

Wrapping it around the cork:

Wrapping the Clay around the finished shell bottle stopper

And here’s a closeup of the two completed seashell bottles:

Closeup of Shell Bottle Toppers

Remember, this is Day 4 of Twleve Days of Gifts Kids Can Make! 4 down, 8 more to go!

Disney's Tinker Bell Fairy House

A few weeks ago, Disney brought me and a group of other moms out to California for a private screening of the new Tinker Bell movie, Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue. The movie was truly precious – kind of like a Peter Pan story just for little girls. But my crafty heart was set afire when there was an appearance of a homemade fairy house built by Lizzy – the adorable girl that befriends Tinker Bell. It comes out September 21.

I’ve always been a big Tink fan anyway – but this trip was nothing short of amazing. Not only did we get a personal presentation straight from the movie Director, but we also got to spend time with the Art Director. You know Disney animation – their cartoons are pure eye candy. The Art Director actually had a full 2 foot tall replica of the fairy house made in the movie.

Related Pages: Fairy Coloring Pages, Evolution of Disney’s Tinker Bell Pictures, Fairy Tale Crafts

You can see the fairy house better in the trailer:

I came home totally inspired to make my own fairy house. But I wanted to be an easy project – Tinker Bell’s fairy house (and most others) are elaborate abodes that take hours or days to complete. I don’t have the patience for that kind of project – how can I expect my kids to?! Then I found mini bird houses in the dollar section at Joann – perfect!!! (I would link to it, but evidently they must only sell them in stores because I can’t find them on their website – blah!)

So over the weekend I made this easy-peasy fairy house:

Easy Fairy Houses

It might not quite be up to Tinker Bell’s standards, but my 8 year old daughter flipped over it!

Making Fairy Houses

To make a fairy house like this, start with an existing wooden bird house. It can be the cheap $1 models from Joann, or you could also refinish an old bird house.

Unfinished Wood Mini Craft Birdhouse from Joann

Next, paint it in pretty Tinkerbell-ish colors of craft paint:

Painted Fairy House

Then gather up supplies from outside and your craft stash to decorate your fairy house:

Fairy House Supplies

I used a fake silk leaf, a few dyed feathers, petals taken off of an old silk flower, and acorns. You could also use (with varying levels of permanence):

• Pinecones
• Beans
• Sticks
• Grass
• Real leaves and petals
• Pebbles
• Shells
• Driftwood
• Yarn
• Beads
• Dried flowers
• Buttons
• Matchboxes
• Bark
• Moss
• Seeds

After you’ve decided what to decorate with, do a ‘dry run’ and arrange the items on your painted fairy house to ensure you know where you want to glue things in place. Then whip out a glue gun and stick it all on!

You may think you’re done, but NO. In order to make this a truly awesome fairy house, you need a secret ingredient.

Fairy Dust.
(AKA Glow in the dark glitter!)

Using regular glue, dab it onto your fairy house decorations as much or as little as you like:

Adding Fairy Dust to the Fairy House

Then sprinkle the glow in the dark glitter fairy dust onto the house. NOW you are done!

Finished Fairy House Craft

More on Making Fairy Houses

Recycled Fairy Houses Craft	Fairy Houses Dewing Pattern (Not Free)	Making Stick Fairy Houses	Amazing Fairy Houses Ideas

Disclosure – Disney did not commission this post. I did it because I like fairies. The End.

Related Pages: Recycled Kids Crafts, Flower Crafts, Leaf Crafts, Acorn Crafts

Be sure to check out all of our nature crafts on Craft Jr.!

Related Pages: Luau Bingo, Summer Printables, Easy Friendship Bracelets

Beach Craft Driftwood Mobiles	Beach Sand Mosaic Casting	Sea Shell Wreaths
Beach Glass Craft	Beach Coloring Pages	Make Seashell Candles
Origami Oyster Shell Tutorial	Shell Figurine Craft	Making Sand Candles
Silly Sea Shell Creatures	Shell Matching Game Craft	Beach Shell Animals
Driftwood Craft Ideas	Beach Sand Hand Casting	Driftwood Photo Holder

Check out all of the summer kids activities from the Woo! Jr. Network!

Tissue Paper Flower Crafts

Tissue Paper Flower Topiary	Basic Tissue Paper Flowers	Flower Pillbox Hat	Embellished Tissue Paper Flowers

Preschool Flower Crafts

Preschool Paper Flower Garden	Cupcake Liner Flowers	Handprint and Footprint Flowers	Pipe Cleaner Flowers

Flower Printables

Summer Flower Coloring Pages	Spring Flower Coloring Pages	Printable Flowers and Baskets	Printable Flower Letters

Flower Desserts and Treats

Flower Cupcakes	Flower Cookie Pops	Flower Cupcake Toppers	Flower Basket Cupcakes

More Flower Crafts for Kids

Origami Flowers	Dried Flower Crafts	Flower Fairy Crafts	Paper Mache Flowers

Check out more spring crafts and summer crafts, too!

Be sure to check out this great tutorial on how to preserve fall leaves from Gingerbread Snowflakes! This simple technique can make most of these projects last for years rather than weeks.

How to Preserve Fall Leaves	Leaf Templates	Make Leaf Animals	Make Leaf Place Cards
Leaf Rubbings	Leaf Stick Puppets for Kids	Leaf Transfer Painting	Leaf Alphabet Crafts
Framed Fall Leaves	Easy Fall Leaf Wreath	Fall Leaf Mobile	Decoupage Fall Pumpkin

Check out more fall crafts with these fall paper crafts, acorn crafts, and owl crafts over at Animal Jr.!

Fall Acorns

After a few days my bowl started overflowing, and I started coming up with ideas for acorn crafts. They really are little beauties, and they simply scream to be transformed into cute little acorn people!

Acorn Crafts

How to Make Acorn Craft People

Making Acorn Crafts

All you need to make these acorn people is paint, something wooden for the body, a hot glue gun and a little imagination.

The wooden ball and spool I got at Hobby Lobby for super-cheap in the wood crafts section. I chose some beautiful fall colors and got out my tiniest paint brush to dab on the eyes and nose. This was a little tricky, mostly because it’s been forever since I’ve painted and my hands aren’t used to having to be so precise! But you can just wipe off the mistakes, if you make any, to get the faces just right.

Paint the body next, and you can make it up as you go along. I found that the more detailed I could be, the cuter they turned out. I even debated putting tiny Swarovski crystals onto the coat buttons, but that would have required another trip to the store.

Once the paint is dry just dab a tiny amount of glue onto the bottom of the acorn and pop it on top of the body. Hold it for a bit to make extra sure it’s at the angle you want.

I’m saving the rest of my acorns for some Christmas crafts, I just hope they last! They seem to like to split and fall apart after a while. Pffft.

For more fall crafts, check out these autumn paper snowflakes, fall pomanders, or these cute and easy Halloween finger puppets.

.

Lara’s Wood Spool 7/8″”x 1 1/8″” 3 pc
Price: $1.04
Lara’s Wood pieces are unfinished, solid wood. They are great for painting and staining, and you can make endless projects by using several different individual parts to make unique and fun new creations! Warning: These are not toys. Not intended for children under the age of 8. Spool 7/8″”x 1 1/8″” 3 pc

.

Lara’s Wood Half Ball 1″” 4 pc
Price: $1.04
Lara’s Wood pieces are unfinished, solid wood. They are great for painting and staining, and you can make endless projects by using several different individual parts to make unique and fun new creations! Warning: These are not toys. Not intended for children under the age of 8. Half Ball 1″” 4 pc

Admittedly I’m more interested in garden crafts than I am with gardening… but I might plant something this year just so I can use these plant markers! I have to say I think this is one of my favorite projects I’ve ever come up with!

I sat today and tried to think of every vegetable that I might possibly plant in my garden, and drew them up for this craft pattern download. I believe I only scratched the surface of what vegetables are actually out there though:

Tomatoes, carrots, pumpkins, broccoli, potatoes, corn, lettuce, peas, onions, orange peppers, green peppers, cucumbers, beets (or radishes, I suppose), watermelon, beans, red peppers, yellow peppers and squash.

Download the printable plant marker artwork

So suffice it to say that if you see some fruits or vegetables that I’ve missed, please leave them in a comment and I’ll create a plant markers garden craft “version 2.0″ in the next few days.

What you Need to Make these Plant Markers Garden Craft

Plant Markers Materials

• Download and print the fruit and vegetable illustrations on a color printer
  (You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader)
• Sticks from your yard, cut to about 6″ – 8″ inches tall
• Raffia
• Rubber cement or glass glue
• Small clear glass aquarium pebbles, the approximately 3/4 inch size. As tempting as it is, avoid the larger glass pebbles that are over an inch in diameter. They seem like they will work, but the way they are made, they always have wrinkles in the glass on the flat part, which makes it very hard to see the pictures beneath the glass

How to Make these Plant Markers Garden Craft

Glue the paper between the glass pebbles

Carefully cut out the circles of the plant markers you plan on using. I used a 3/4″ hole punch at first, but it was a little too big and I had to trim them down.

When I made these recently I used rubber cement, but in the past I have used this awesome glass glue called Eclectic Adhesive E6000 that I think actually worked better. It’s thicker and left less bubbles between the paper and the glass, and is totally weather proof. Glue the paper veggie circles between two glass pebbles and let dry.

Attach the glued pebbles to the top of the sticks

If you’re using that E6000 glue, you can use it for this next step, too. Otherwise grab a hot glue gun, and attach the two glued together pebbles to the top of the stick. If you’re really picky about what works best, I would use the E6000 for the first step and the glue gun for this step and the next one.

Wrap the raffia around the base

After the glue is dry/cooled off, wrap a 6″ – 8″ inch piece of raffia over the glued area to cover it up. Wrap it in a few layers so that the top layers hold the starting end in place. Then grab that glue gun again and put a dab of it on the back side of the raffia to secure the finishing end in place. This may sound tricky or hard, but it isn’t. It’s super-easy. Trim the ends of the raffia that are still sticking out.

Waterproof the crevice between the pebbles

Now you’re almost done, but you still have paper in between two pebbles that could possibly get wet when it rains. So you need to put a thin layer of glue in the crevice between the two pebbles to seal out the water. You can do this with the rubber cement brush (or more easily with a smaller pain brush), or use your fingers to spread the E6000 glue. It’s ok if it turns out just a little sloppy, because it’s really hard to see anyway.

Now comes the hard part – you can’t use them until you plant your garden!