I love DIY projects and I recently tried my hand at up-cycling some 2 liter plastic bottles.  Turns out it’s easier than I thought and decided to make these cute bird feeders.  Functional and pretty!

First, I ordered these plastic bottle bird feeder kits on Amazon, (see picture upper left), but you can probably get them at other online retailers, too.

Then, I collected empty 2 liter plastic bottles. (We go through lots of bottled sparkling water, so collecting several was easy-peasy.)

Once I had those items in hand, I dug into my crafting stash:

• I used painter’s tape to outline my decorative space around each plastic bottle.
• I painted each space with chalk paint using a roller brush; one coat did the trick and then I let the bottle dry overnight.
• I covered the painted space with a napkin design and decoupage, separating the napkin to 1 ply and using saran wrap to remove any bubbles. Note: Remember to turn the bottle upside down before adhering the napkin design.
• I let that dry, then covered the napkin design with a 2^nd coat of decoupage, which I let dry again over night
• I then coated the napkin design with varnish and let that dry overnight.
• I inserted the plastic bottle hangers by punching small holes into the sides of the bottles. I used sharp craft scissors for this step.
• Then I filled the bottle with a mixed blend of wild bird seed.
• I screwed on the plastic feeding perch and Voila!

The birds love my new feeder, and I quickly discovered that our squirrels do, too.  In fact, in our backyard, we’re inundated with a bunch of hungry baby squirrels.  They were able to jump onto the bird feeder and the plastic hanger wasn’t strong enough to hold their weight; it snapped and down went my feeder.  But the plastic bottle and feeding perch were durable enough for the fall.  So, I replaced the plastic hanger with a wire pant hanger and that did the trick!

Anyway, I loved this idea so much that I went back online and ordered 2 more sets of the plastic bottle bird feeder kits from Amazon.  Then I went crazy with my napkin collection, some of which I bought from the Dollar Store.  Nice!

Super easy to make, low cost, and really pretty.  Hmmm… these might just make the perfect Christmas presents for my birding friends and family-members and I have plenty of time to get started in collecting bottles and supplies.  Off I go…