Bird Feeder from Family Fun

For whatever reason for Scouts this month, my partner and I have really zoomed in on birds. Probably because it is Spring and they are everywhere and it helps pass of a requirement and elective and goes toward getting their conservation patch. (For you non-scouting people, I am sure that all means nothing to you.)

Anyway, my partner found this on the Family Fun website and this is what we are doing for our next meeting. I have found doing simple projects like these are really are fun and keep the boys happy and busy and less likely to break something in my house. :)

CRAFT MATERIALS:
Clean 1-liter soda bottle
Craft knife
2 wooden spoons
small eye screw
Length of twine for hanging
Time needed: Under 1 Hour

1. Start by drawing a 1/2-inch asterisk on the side of a clean 1-liter soda bottle, about 4 inches from the bottom. Rotate the bottle 90 degrees and draw another asterisk 2 inches from the bottom. Draw a 1-inch-wide circle opposite each asterisk, as shown.

2. Use a craft knife to slit the asterisk lines and cut out the circles (a parent's job). Insert a wooden spoon handle first through each hole and then through the opposite asterisk, as shown.

3. Remove the bottle cap and twist a small eye screw into the top of it for hanging.

4. Finally, fill your feeder with birdseed, recap it, and use a length of twine to hang it from a tree.

Christmas Card Project

About a month ago, I started on this project and just finished it. I am very happy with the results and I thought I would pass the idea along. I wanted a way to store all of our family's Christmas cards but also be able to enjoy looking at them every year. I am not a "scrapbooker" and I am sure many of you could (and will) come up with lovely and beautiful ways to do something similar. In my pragmatic mind, this is what I came up with.

I went to my local scrapbooking store and purchased an acid free notebook.



The picture doesn't show it's true color, which is dark green. (For obvious reasons, a Christmas color.)




In the process of doing this, I decided to add all of the Christmas cards from growing-up as well. I contacted my mom and she was able to get me originals and when needed copies of originals. During the family reunion, in August, I gathered everyone in the family together and one night, we compiled these.


This one is from 1982. Do you like the 80's hair and makeup? My sister, Goddess #3 I am sure will not be pleased that this picture is on-line. She is quite the beauty these days and does not have a short permed haircut anymore.





I then put everything in acid-free sheet protectors, in order starting from the 1st year my mom sent out Christmas cards (1963) until the present. I also have the Christmas cards that my husband and I have sent in order starting in 1999 until the present.

The plan is to bring out the notebook every Christmas season with the rest of my Christmas decorations. I plan on putting it on my coffee table and it will be a fun thing to look through as the years pass.