Don’t you wish YOU had one?!?

Just before Christmas I wrote about “5 Homemade Ornament Ideas for Outdoor Trees.”  Most of the ideas also doubled as a holiday treat for the birds and squirrels (or in our case…deer.)  One of the ideas listed was a Birdseed Wreath, and at the time I posted we hadn’t had a chance to make one yet.  Well, eventually we got around to it, and after a lot of trial and error experimenting with various online “recipes,” we ended up with a beautiful wreath that was too awesome not to share!  In fact, it was so simple (once we figured it out…), that we made several, all to give away as gifts! 

The original recipe I posted was from Martha Stewart, and while the concept seemed sound, the idea of rendering suet in a saucepan seemed overcomplicated and not toddler-friendly.  We tried some other simpler ones involving just gelatin, water, and birdseed, but those all ended up far too crumbly to use.   But after fattening up all the squirrels in our neighborhood with our crunchy failed attempts, we finally found simple perfection from this website. 

Here’s all you need:
3/4 cup flour
1/2 cup warm water
3 T light corn syrup
1 pkg unflavored gelatin
Crisco (for sides of bundt pan)
4 cups bird seed

Apparently my neighbor’s cats went crazy with the flurry of activity around her wreath!

Combine all the ingredients except the bird seed  and stir until you have a paste. Then mix in the bird seed, making sure to coat it thoroughly, and press it all firmly into the bundt pan.  Let it harden overnight, and tada!  When you wake up, you’ll find a seedy surprise just waiting to be devoured by your feathered (and furry) friends. 

Since our gifts were intended for Christmas, we finished ours off with a wide satin ribbon and a bright red bow.  But the nice thing about these wreaths is that you can accent them any number of ways, making them suitable for just about any gift-giving occasion.  Think pink ribbon with felted hearts for Valentine’s day, raffia with an orange bow in the fall, or a red, white, and blue patriotic fabric in July! 

It was fun hearing reports from our wreath recievers over the next few weeks after Christmas.  Our neighbor got a great picture of a squirrel munching away on her wreath, and my mom enjoyed watching a woodpecker go to town on hers like clock work every morning.  It’s definitely a project that was fun for both me and Cragbaby, and we will most certainly be making these wreaths again!  Did anyone else try any “seedy” crafts over the holidays?