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Tea Cup Bird Feeders

Living on the West Coast has its advantages. For example it’s spring here while I know the majority of Canadians are still suffering winter’s fury.

And there are certain disadvantages. Like it hardly stops raining.

This year I wanted to welcome the season by making a bird feeder. I know, not so glamorous. But with all the rain I thought having little birds visiting me through the window would make me feel better about being stuck indoors.

As a kid I used to make pine cone bird feeder’s by spreading peanut butter on the cones and then rolling them through birdseed. I would then hang them on branches throughout my parent’s yard and then investigate every other day to see which mixtures and locations were popular.

But now I don’t have the luxury of trees. I have a covered balcony.

A quick browse through Pinterest showed me tea cup feeders are popular this year. I’ve never seen these before but I do happen to have quite the collection of tea cups. If you haven’t got a stash of tea cups on hand, you can find inexpensive vintage and gently used ones through your local UsedEverywhere.com site.

I thought about going all out and setting up a tea party for my bird friends but reason won out and I decided to do some testers before committing to the bit.

Here’s the recipe I used:

• Warm 1/3 cup of peanut butter and 1/3 cup of natural honey in a saucepan
• Mix in 2/3 cup of birdseed, sesame seeds, or other seeds, 1/3 cup of sunflower seeds, and 1/4 cup of flax seeds
• Press the mixture into desired dish
• Cool and serve

Although it was a bit messy the actual project only took about 15 minutes from start to finish. And if I wasn’t doing a test run of the stuff I would have thought ahead to make a bit for me…it is so tasty!

The birds in my neighbourhood will have to be crazy not to come by my deck for tea.

Unfortunately it was evening when I set out my project and although I could hear the birds in the bushes below I probably won’t see any until daylight.

I’m eager to see how this works and I’m in the market for bigger and better birdseed recipes so if you have one please pass it along!

Updating Lamps: From Eyesore to Feature Piece

You know when you’re moving into a new place…your first place (or a bigger place), and you’re hitting up all your friends and family for their old, unwanted furniture so you can furnish your place while you get over the financial hit of moving?

And then years pass and you just can’t quite get rid of it, even though you can’t stand it?

That’s how I feel about my living room lamps.

They came to me along with a truckload of other furniture. My grandma’s friend said I could have the whole lot for $300—saved her from selling off the pieces one by one and saved me the trouble of collecting this and that from all over the area.

It was an amazing deal, really.

But the lamps…

They are so interesting! And…such an eyesore.

Three years passed since I took possession of the lamps and finally I had enough. I had talked about it for ages but finally I was ready to tackle the lamp problem.

The grooves, shiny bits, and inconsistent textures made me nervous to simply spray paint the lamps (although I desperately wanted to).

After asking around for a while I set out to grab some decorative stone from the home improvement store—I even took the time to shop around for new and/or used lamps and still came out thinking it was cheaper to re-cover the lamps, even if it took three layers of $50 faux stone to accomplish it.

But then! I stumbled upon spray paint, which gave a textured finish. And it was made for ceramics etc. For only $11 I had to give it a shot—what’s the worst that could happen? I’d have ugly lamps?

So, I taped up the parts I didn’t want to spray and started in.

The paint was thick and it didn’t run at all. I had a good feeling.

One lamp took three coats of paint, which is an entire can of spray paint. So in total my lamp experiment cost me $22 (plus tax) and I can’t say I’m disappointed.

I let the paint dry almost completely between coats (I’ve had some bad experiences with spray paint) so it took a few days to really finish the lamps, but it was well worth the extra effort!

Not only did I avoid the faux stone, which would have been much messier, but they look actually quite good. And the best part is I don’t hate my living room lamps anymore.

On a side note I did purchase some new lamp shades, which I thought would help even more but they looked awful. I’m not quite sure what sort of shade will look better than the ones I have…perhaps I’m not done with these lamps quite yet.

Although, they are growing on me.

Upcycling Nature: Sticks and Stones and Shells

STICKS

Over the summer the office I work in decided to update the lobby. While I was in favour of it and agreed with most of the decisions I had a small (big) problem with the decor—with one item in particular. Sticks. I see these things everywhere, and I know you can pick up a bundle for $10 or so at any number of local retailers.

My issue? The fact these same sticks could have all been collected outside and prettied up to look as good if not better than the store bought versions.

Here’s how:

Take a walk in a well treed area with a sturdy bag. While you’re out collect the longest, thinnest fallen branches you can find. I suggest trending towards birch branches but really any tree branch will do. When you’re finished collecting clean off any unwanted debris and spray with a glossy coat of polyurethane. Allow the branches to dry completely and style as desired, in a vase, against the wall, or however you envision it!

STONES

There is SO much you can do with stones to make your space beautiful. Take a turn on Pinterest for inspiration. You can paint designs on them, you can crochet little coats for them, you can pile them up in a vase or candy dish.

I always grab a few rocks from wherever I’m visiting and try to do something interesting with them…lately I’ve used them in my guest bath, trying to create a spa-like feel without any actual steam or massages.

SHELLS

If you live anywhere near an ocean you’ve undoubtedly collected your share of sea shells. But what do you do with them afterward? Once the shells are cleaned and sand-free they make amazing and beautiful decorations in any room.

You can put them in jars, glue them to picture frames, and even repurpose larger ones into soap dishes or bookends. Really, if you can dream it you can do it. Just make sure there’s nothing still occupying the shells or you will have a different problem on your hands.