Beautiful Ombre Bird Feeder

A few years ago we moved into our house and noticed how many birds lived in our neighborhood.  My girls love to see animals, so we bought a bird feeder that they could fill and watch the birds.  After 2 1/2 years, I decided to give the bird feeder a much needed update.

I researched online what colors attract birds.  Most sites said that different birds were attracted to different colors and the only one to avoid was white because they associate that with danger.  I looked through my many paints and decided on a nice bright color that the birds would be attracted to and we would like to look at.  Let's get started!

Supplies needed:
Bird feeder of your choice
paint brush
paint
Mod Podge - Outdoor
sponge brush or other paint brush

Here is our plain wood bird feeder that we bought at Walmart for about $4.  The top lifts up and folds over so you can put the bird seed in the top.

To paint the bird feeder I used Americana Cadmium Orange and Anita's Sunflower paints. I had pictures of my process, but they seemed to have disappeared in this digital world.  I will describe my process though and you can ask questions if you need clarification.

I decided to paint this in an ombre fashion.  I started with the top 1 inch section of the "roof" and used plain Cadmium Orange.  For the second section down, I added just a bit of the Sunflower paint.  As I worked my way down, I added more of the Sunflower paint so it would be lighter as it went down.  For the bottom edge of the roof I used Sunflower by itself.

For the sides and bottom ledge of the bird feeder, I just mixed the two colors as I wanted and painted.  It isn't one certain color throughout.

We get quite a bit of rain and snow during the year, so I wanted to protect my project to make sure that the paint didn't get ruined from water. I went and bought Mod Podge Outdoor so it would seal the outside.

When working with Mod Podge, you need to make sure you are using a specific brush that you won't be using for painting.  The Mod Podge hardens the bristles quite a bit and I'm never able to get all of it out.  Maybe you have some tips to clean brushes after using Mod Podge you could share in the comment section.

Outdoor Mod Podge is much thicker than the regular kinds that I've used for my other projects.  It is almost as thick as paste, but it is easier to spread.  I used my paintbrush to paint a layer over the whole project.  It makes it nice and glossy and I love to look at it.

The hardest part was the sides.  I wanted to make sure to get the Mod Podge Outdoor in all the little creases where the wood meets.

I let it dry for two days before I put it outside.  I love how it turned out and want to buy a whole bunch more just so we can look at them!

I hope you liked this project.  It was so fun to work on and I love the end result.  I hope our bird friends like it too!