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April 23, 2008

Birdhouses in the Making!





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This last Sunday , I had the opportunity to go visit one of my favorite antique malls , "Sherwood Antiques". I just love browsing and always come home inspired. This time it was all about making birdhouses from old things! If you ever come through Princeton, Illinois on I 80, you are not far from Sherwoods. This vendor has a great booth and worth the stop for a shopping trip there!
There is a booth there where this very talented gal makes some affordable old birdhouses from old collectibles. (Now I say gal...but it could be a guy with all this talent!) They used an old mailbox , distressed painted it black , added an entry hole to the front, embellished it a bit and had one cute bird house! Guess who has a mailbox on a post by her front door??I am now on a mission!!! On it presently, I have a wonderful hand painted snowman mailbox wrap by artist Beverly Atkins .Before beginning the springtime project, I will remove this and put it back on next winter. Another idea they were selling was birdhouses made from old pails, tin chick feeders, old coffee cans with pan cover roofs, brooders, enamel ware with lids, old boxes and small drawers with roofs of old lids, punched tin, license plates, etc.. and may others. You can imagine the things you can use. I came up with this washboard and hat birdhouse idea..it will be hanging under our Sunsetter awning on the back patio, so it will be protected more. I hope this inspires you to find a special old container to make yourself an unusual birdhouse as well! Don't you just love coming across booths like this one! I only wish I could have taken pictures to show what this booth was like..awesome! Of course they had old tools , yard ornaments and other garden themed collectibles. FYI...I was reading the other day about birds and their nesting habits . Every year I throw out pieces of raffia, string, or yarn to help the birds out. The writer warned that we use very short pieces as they could get their legs tangled or hurt themselves from too large of pieces... recommending no longer than one inch pieces.

11 comments:

  1. You can come up with the best ideas. With all the farming around you it seems like the birds should have a ton of stuff to make nests!Now in town here, they could probably use a little help!

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  2. Thanks Karen..I asked Bob make the hole in the mailbox this afternoon..he is such a good sport about my whims..LOL

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  3. Thanks for visiting my blogspot....and for the GREAT ideas.....

    I love birdhouses..birds...wild things and LIlacs....
    Hugs
    Heartsister/Aka Laurel

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  4. These turned out so pretty Cindy. You should win the "Miss Creativity" contest! :)

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  5. thank you kindly Miz Angie! I was just wondering , do you have a blog for your business?...I love the cards you make!

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  6. also angie...I was thinking of you when I posted the picture of that player piano...bet you could really make that piano sing! Isn't it the coolest piano though!!

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  7. Hi Cindy! Thanks for the nice email. I like your blog, too. I'm adding you to my blogroll, maybe you will return the favor? Great ideas about birdhouses. I know where I can get my hands on a couple of old mailboxes and I have some granite lids that I can use with coffee cans. I am going to use the rest of the granite lids to make towel hangers. Put a large ring through the lid handle and hang lid on wall, loop towel through ring and there you have it! Come back and visit me again. Hope some day you will come down state and pay me a visit in person. God Bless, Celene

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  8. thanks Celene...that sure would be nice to come down there...thanks for stopping by!!

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  9. I didn't even notice that it was a piano at first ~ I thought it was a beautiful piece of furniture. It would be so much fun to play on a piano like that!

    I do have a blog for my business, but there is nothing fun on it right now. Just a bunch of my retired stamp sets that I'm trying to sell off.

    Do you need cards? If so, I could package some together for you and send them your way. If there is one thing I have tons of...it's hand-stamped cards! :)

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  10. Did you know I have another family blog as well? One of my friends challenged me to do a "Photo-A-Day" blog for 2008 (what a friend, huh?!) You can find that blog here: www.arthurs2008.blogspot.com

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  11. yes...found it yesterdy and made a comment ( I think) anyway..it was of will playing soccer..my her has grown!! I signed up for the blogarithm.com so I know when new things get added...thanks! i enjoy the pictures and comments.

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