DIY: chicken feeder turned planter

while cleaning up the backyard a few days back, i ran across the feeder we always use when we buy our baby chicks in the spring. now that our 'ladies' are older, it's not longer in use... and i instantly thought of this beautiful photo i pinned several months back. 

 here's our 'ladies'... 

they LOVE getting their pictures taken!

 

the 'man' of the roost.... he's a playa'

there's another kind of hen around these parts...and i wanted to transplant them into the cutie chicken feeder i found laying around. i happened to have some leftover potting soil from the spring, so i grabbed it and set out to transplant all my 'baby chicks' into the feeder. you see those little chicks hanging down from the strawberry pot? there's a lot more of those on the back side.

 

hen-and-chicks are amazing little plants. my mother grew them all the time when i was young. it's the perfect plant for me cause you can't really kill them. i am NOT a plant person. i have never been able to keep a plant alive. even the mum my sweets bought me a few weeks ago is now dying. i snapped this picture with my new camera the day after he gave it to me; while it was still alive. that little green bug is trying to steal the show. silly guy.

i'm sure you could certainly figure out how to do this yourself without the help of this little tutorial. maybe i just wanted to write it so that it would inspire you to find something interesting to use as a planter, and try raising your own, non-pecking, hen-and-chicks. although i would highly encourage you to try raising chickens of your own if you can. they are super easy to take care of, AND you get thee best eggs ever. like this one my son Avery is holding; the first of the season:

 

 ok... so back to this planter. i just filled up the feeder with potting soil. i made a mess trying to get it full, but that's what brooms are for. 

 

 i then began plucking the chicks off the main plant. the root isn't very deep and is easily removed, so just start pulling. each chick has one main root. every so often i found one with lots of tiny roots, but for the most part, just one main sturdy root. even my kiddos got in on the action... pulling and fighting over who was going to poke theirs into which hole. ugh. when i got the chicks' root poked into the hole, i just stuck my fingers in from another hole to push dirt up against the root tightly. you'll feel that there is a point where it stops feeling like it's going to fall out... just make sure to get enough dirt around it so that when you water it, you don't have to pick it back up off the ground and start over. eh ehmm. i had to add quite a bit of extra dirt to get all the roots packed in tightly. you don't want them all loosey goosey.

 

just keep going until you have it filled up the way you'd like. i had JUST the exact amount of chicks; one per hole. i would LOVE to add more as i get more... fill it up nice and full. 

now just brush off that extra dirt. use your hands... makes you feel so 'gardener-ish'. sprinkle on a titch of water and place on a chippy-paint chair that your neighbor salvaged for you... and enjoy the scenery. see those teeny-tiny chicks? li'l newborns... so cute.

that's it. these guys live through anything. 

then, if your kiddos insist, let them dig some worms to add to the dirt. they found this one, and it was ''the biggest earthworm they'd ever seen!" (it was a monster!) it never did make it into the soil- my 2 year old wouldn't let it go. 

 

  so that's it! it took about 20 minutes from start to finish. if you would like to try and make a chick feeder full or green chicks, but don't have an extra feeder laying in your backyard, you can purchase one at Tractor Supply Company. see? and it's ONLY $6.29! i know you may have never guessed it... but i LOVE that store! i was raised in a farm family... maybe that's why. 

thanks for stopping by! leave me a comment and let me know what interesting things you have planted or planted 'in' this year! 

tutorial: instagram frame

HELLO! thanks for stopping by to check out my very first tutorial! you'll have to bear with me... i still haven't found the charger cord for my camera... so all these photos were taken with my phone. (gasp) if you know me, i'm sort of a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants kind of girl- so when i was making this last week, i just decided it would be a good place to start doing tutorials no matter what i was using for pictures. SO... i hope you are inspired to make one of your own- it was easy-peasy, mac-n-cheesy... (that's what my kids say ;) if you do, make sure to link pics in the comment section at the end of the post! i'd love to see what you are making!

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remember seeing the post on my facebook page when i got this in the mail?

these are the instagram prints i ordered from persnicketyprints.com! you can download their app and upload your instagram pics right to the website to order. i chose the 3"x3" prints, but they come in more sizes... even little 2"x2''s! i needed a great way to be able to display them, but i wanted to change them often... so this is what i came up with-

what you'll need:

-your favorite instagram prints

-an empty picture frame

-hammer

-heavy duty staples

-craft wire

-mini clothespins 

-a cute baby helper

1. find a frame you like... it can be something you already have, or just go grab one at a thrift store and throw a coat of craft or spray paint on it- the pics will take center stage on this, so no need to be picky, or spend too much money. i found this frame on clearance at hobby lobby... was $53 (insane) and i got it for $4.50ish. (who would pay $53 for a small stinkin picture frame anyway?) lay it down on something soft so you don't scratch the frame up when you're hammering on the backside. mine's laying on a kitchen towel... my favorite martha stewart bandana ones joel bought me years ago.

 2. flip the frame over so you can work on hammering the staples into the back side.

3. you kind of have to eyeball how many rows of prints you think will fit into your frame space and from there decide on how many staples to place in the back. for mine, it would fit 3 rows, so i made sure to put enough staples in so that i could stretch the wire across each row and have enough wires to fit my pictures on. make sense? i used 6 staples total, 3 in each side. now pound away! here you can see, i hammered the staples in just enough to grasp the wood... too far and, well... you'll see later in the post. they don't have to be perfect since you wont see them anyway. i also staggered mine so that i would have wires that weren't straight across. i decided to just start on one side and weave my wire across and back- using one long wire. if you wanted to have them hanging straight across, use make sure your staples are directly across from each other and use three shorter wires. hmmm... sorry to confuse you if i did.

* if you look closely... you can see the word 'clearance' written in pen on the back of the frame. seriously ... i by pretty much buy NOTHING (except most food) unless it's clearance or from a thrift store! told'ya.

here's my Amara... had to 'help' ;)

5. now gather your supplies...

* um. see these super sale clothespins? score!

6. cut a length of wire that will be plenty long to weave back and forth across your frame, or three for straight wires. now start by 'threading' your wire through the bottom staple and twisting it on itself so it's stays put.

  

 

 7. now continue across the frame to the other side, catching the staple, then back across and so on until all the staples are used. 

-you can even see in the next photo that i didn't estimate right on the amount of wire i would need. no problem! i just cut an extra length and twisted them together where i knew a photo would hide it. progress NOT perfection, people :)

8. now flip the frame over and examine your work... then notice that you didn't know your own strength and hammered your staple through the front side, chipping the nice finish. oopsy. glad i didn't pay full price. hee.

 -however, nothing a black sharpie wont fix, right? the cuteness of the photos will mask the blemishes anyway ;)

  

9. now pic out your photos and 'begin' to arrange them to your liking. this will change several times, just so you know.

10. don't forget to use your adorable getting in the way baby helper as you're carefully clipping your photos to the wires~

11. i pounded two nails in the wall to hang the frame on... it's really light so i wasn't worried about not getting them in a stud.

-here's the final product... with a late-night-had-to-use-a-flash photo. eh.. it's cuter in person... the pics are sitting at different levels so it creates great shadows, even though you can't see them here.

- here it is again with one of my most prized possessions... the 3 boys were outside one day, and they kept coming in and asking for stuff... a saw, (i said no) a rag, paint and brushes... it was cute and i wondered what they were up to... they came in with this ADORBS sign they had made! all of them had a hand in it... they even broke the wood by jumping on it since they were sans saw. i LOVE how it turned out- i display it proudly... my sons <3 me.

- also in this pic is the light-switch cover i took some fabric and mod-podge to. love how that turned out too!

.....i hope you like my first little tutorial, phone pics and all!.....

if you leave a comment, be sure to tell me what you would like to see in the next tutorial~ thank you- peace!

stay tuned! 

my first tutorial is being posted really soon-

stop back and check it out!

thank you.