Rather than offering the birds in your neighborhood a feeder that looks like a little house, craft one that stays on theme. This bird feeder DIY is a true original in that it’s fashioned from plastic Easter eggs and detailed with charming tassels.
You don’t have to be a crafting ninja to master this DIY, but the payoff is big, especially for your feathered friends. The cute seed dispenser would look equally at home hanging from a rustic porch ceiling or on the patio of a mid-century rancher. Best of all, the birds will know which bird lover is also the most style-conscious.
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Materials
- Spool of thin yarn
- Cutting tool
- Sewing needle
- Scissors
- 3 hollow plastic Easter eggs that come apart at the center
- Bent-nosed jewelry pliers
- Sharpie marker
- 3 small silver jump rings for jewelry making
- Flat-nosed pliers
- Spool of thin yarn
- Cutting tool
- Sewing needle
- Scissors
- 3 hollow plastic Easter eggs that come apart at the center
- Bent-nosed jewelry pliers
- Sharpie marker
- 3 small silver jump rings for jewelry making
- Flat-nosed pliers
DIY Everywhere
Instructions
1. Unravel some yarn, and wrap it around your four fingers.
1. Unravel some yarn, and wrap it around your four fingers.
2. Encircle your fingers with the yarn about 25 more times.
3. Cut it from the spool with the cutting tool, so the end piece is near your hand.
4. Cut a 6-inch length of yarn from the spool.
5. Remove the wrapped layers of yarn from your hand. They will form an oval.
6. Take the single length of yarn, and tie it once around one end of the layered yarn oval. You don’t need to knot it.
7. Cut another 6-inch piece of yarn from the spool, and tie it about ½ inch underneath where you tied the first piece, but bring the two sides of the yarn oval together. Again, you don’t need to knot it.
8. Wrap the lower tail of yarn around the yarn loop four or five more times. Wrap it around by bringing it under and around the back of the loop, and then down in front of it.
9. Tie the two end pieces in a knot.
10. Trim the bottom end so it’s about 3 inches long.
11. Put this end through the eye of the sewing needle.
12. Now thread the needle with the other end of the piece of yarn.
13. Bring the needle and the ends underneath the four or five bands of yarn that you circled the larger loop with.
14. Pull them through gently.
15. Release the needle from the end, and put it aside.
16. Gently pull the ends a bit more with your fingers, so they blend in with the layered yarn oval.
17. Use the scissors to cut the center portion of the bottom of the yarn loop (the portion farthest away from where you tied the single yarn pieces to bring the points of the yarn oval together).
18. Trim the yarn ends a bit more with the scissors to make them all the same length. You have just created a tassel.
19. Get the plastic Easter egg, and separate the two halves.
20. Take the larger shell half, and puncture its bottom with the sewing needle.
21. Bring the sewing needle all the way through the end of the shell so it exits through the interior of the shell.
22. Repeat step 21, and place the second hole right next to the first one. There should be just a tiny bit of space between the two.
23. Place the pierced egg half on the work surface with the pierced end facing upward.
24. Get the yarn tassel, and remove the piece of yarn at the end — the first piece you tied around the yarn loop.
25. Thread the needle with it, and bring it through one of the holes in the egg, starting from the inside of the egg.
26. If you have trouble getting the threaded needle through completely, pull the needle using the jewelry pliers.
27. Take the needle off the thread.
28. About 3 inches of yarn will be protruding from the hole outside the egg.
29. Thread the other end of the yarn through the sewing needle, and bring it through the other hole at the end of the egg, starting on the inside as you did before.
30. Don’t hesitate to use the jewelry pliers if you need to in order to bring the needle and yarn fully through the hole.
31. Keep this piece of yarn threaded through the needle.
32. The two yarn ends will hang from the bottom outer portion of the egg and should be equal in length.
33. Bring the needle and threaded yarn end through the top loop of the tassel.
34. Separate the needle from the yarn.
35. Thread the needle with the other hanging yarn end.
36. Bring that threaded end through the top portion of the tassel in the opposite direction of the first hanging yarn end.
37. Each yarn end will go through the top tassel loop in a different direction.
38. Tie a knot with the ends. The knot should be close to the tassel top.
39. Trim the knotted ends with the cutting tool.
40. Use the Sharpie marker to make a small dot about 1/8 inch from the open edge of the egg.
41. Make another mark directly across from the first one, on the other side of the open edge of the egg.
42. Make holes at these points with the needle. Put the needle through the egg, starting from outside of it.
43. If needed, use the jewelry pliers to finishing pulling the needle through the egg.
44. Mark one more dot with the Sharpie halfway between the first two.
45. Make a hole in the egg with the needle at this spot, also starting from the outside, and use the jewelry pliers to finish bringing the needle through the egg.
46. Repeat steps 1-45 two more times so you have three egg halves with holes on their rims and yarn tassels hanging from their bottoms.
47. Separate the two ends of one of the jump rings with both the jewelry and flat-nosed pliers so it opens. Open it while holding the jewelry pliers in one hand and the flat-nosed pliers in the other.
48. Place the jump ring through a hole on the upper edge of one of the eggs.
49. Get another egg, open another jump ring as before, and put it through one of the egg's holes.
50. Bring the jump ring ends back together again by holding one end with the jewelry pliers and the other with the flat-nosed pliers.
51. Now the two egg halves will be connected.
52. Place these eggs on the work surface.
53. Open another jump ring with the jewelry pliers, and put it through the connected egg on the left.
54. Get the third egg, and put the open jump ring through one of its holes, connecting these two eggs.
55. Repeat step 50 to close this jump ring.
56. Separate the ends of another jump ring with both sets of pliers, and insert the jump ring into the hole that’s right next to the one on the second egg that was used to connect it with the first egg.
57. Put that jump ring through the hole in the first egg, which should be directly opposite the jump ring.
58. Repeat step 50 to close this jump ring and attach the third egg to the first one.
59. The eggs will be connected at three points.
60. Cut a 12-inch long piece of yarn from the spool, and thread the needle with it.
61. Bring the needle and yarn through the open hole on one of the eggs, starting on the outside of the egg, and use the jewelry pliers to get it all the way through if necessary.
62. Once the needle is fully through on the inside of the egg, separate it from the yarn, and put it aside.
63. Make a knot at the end of the piece of yarn that’s on the inside of the egg.
64. Trim the excess yarn on the end with the cutting tool.
65. Pull the other end of the yarn so the knot sits up against the interior of the egg.
66. Repeat steps 60-65 twice more, placing knotted pieces of yarn in the other two eggs. You can bring the needle and thread through from inside to outside, or vice versa.
67. Bring the yarn ends together above the egg bird feeder, and tie a knot with all of them so you can hang it.
68. Fill each egg half with birdseed, hang the feeder outside, and wait for hungry feathered friends to visit.
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