{Pinterest Inspired}: Bird Feeders

I got the idea and instructions for these here via Pinterest. I doubted the process.  I guess that I forgot how sticky gelatine really is.  This worked great.  We doubled the recipe and made 4 big feeders.

Thursday was National Bird Day.  At least it was according to Holiday Insights.  So - last night, Taft and I worked on a few gifts for the birds in our neighborhood.  We even had all the ingredients already.

Here is what you need:

• 3/4 cup birdseed
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 small envelope of Knox gelatin
• twine or string
• cookie cutters, molds or mason jar lids
• wax paper

You need to put the water and the gelatin in a sauce pan.  Heat to a simmer and stir constantly until the gelatin is dissolved.  Remove from and the heat and let it cool a minute.  Then add in the birdseed.  It says to add a little extra seed if there is liquid left in the bottom of the pan.
Lay your cookie cutters (or anything that you are using as a mold) onto the waxed paper.  Fill them half full of birdseed mixture.  Add your twine or ribbon.  Then finish filling the mold with the birdseed.  (This makes the ribbon or twine sandwiched into the mold.)  Press down on the birdseed until the mold is full and it is packed tight.
Let them dry overnight and removed from the molds.  Then we hung on trees in the front yard.

{Pinterest Inspired}: Gift Wrapping

I let Taft pick a gift to give the teachers and staff at his school.  So many people there are in his daily routine.  There is an owner, public relations, office staff, cook, music teacher, gymnastic teacher, ...you get the picture.  We found some cute sets of holiday bath gels.  Seven to a set and a great price.  We got two sets and broke them into individual gifts.  Taft is a huge fan of bath products so he loved the idea.  I knew that I wanted to wrap them in brown paper bag style.  I have seen so much of this on Pinterest and just love it, so I let Taft pick out the ribbon that he liked (he said that it looks like Santa's clothes) and it was already 70% off too.  I got the brown lunch bags at Dollar Tree.  They came in a bag of 40.
The gift tags were very simple and quick.  I just altered a photo Taft in Picnik and uploaded them to Wal*Mart.  I did a 4x6 collage print for 9 cents a sheet.  Taft loved seeing his picture on each bag. 
I used a scallop blade on my paper trimmer to cut the very top of the bags off and punched two holes for the ribbon.  Done!  I love the way that they turned out.

Pinterest, I am addicted

Do you know about Pinterest already?  I am pretty sure that I am the only person that doesn't, seeing that I have heard people are talking about it on Twitter like crazy.  I found it today on the Boo Mama Blog. 

I have a Twitter account that I have used less than 5 times.  I just can't get into it.  Maybe I need to in order to stay informed about things like Pinterest.

So - if you don't know about Pinterest, here it goes.  This site is GREAT!  I spend time on the web looking for inspiration all the time.  How many times have you planned a birthday party, shower, wedding, looked for scrapbook/home decor ideas only to have to save the pictures to your photos.  Or maybe you print them out, email them to yourself, or write down the site?  Well - this is the place for you.  You make virtual pinboards.  Just find something online, pin it, and it is there.  Make a pinboard for everything you can think of.  I have one for recipes, things I like for a future office/craft room, fall diy decor, and many more.  It's AWESOME!! 

Of course - my first thought is why didn't I think of this?  It is like Inspiration Binders online.  Completely needed in this world.  At least by myself and hundreds of others.  ;0

You can see my picks at www.pinterest.com/Kyetra. You know you want too.