Our Homemade Birdbath

I look at Pinterest occasionally ....(cough, cough).. and I saw cute terracotta bird baths.  I ended up combining several examples to complete a project completely our own. 

We used three terracotta planters....10 inch, 12 inch and 14 inch.  The base is 14 inches.

 Any craft or home paint will work for this project because you seal it with a spray on sealant.

Colorful jewels, dry grout and Liquid Nails finishes this project. 

 Laura and Kimberly were happy to paint.  Luke brushed a few strokes of paint on the base and then was done with this step. 

 We dotted our red pots with blue paint and foam "dot" brushes.  These were only about a dollar. 

 Our craft paint was MOSTLY washable!

 All stacked up...but not yet finished.

We sealed each pot with a spray on outdoor sealant. We used about three coats of sealant. 

This step is best done outdoors.  I had various "jewels" in our craft supplies, using Goop glue, I placed a bit of glue onto the base and then the kids put a jewel on the base with a Popsicle stick.  The glue has a very strong smell, so do this step outside or in a very well ventilated area.   

Continue gluing down jewels until the

 base is covered as much as you wish. 

We left the base to dry for 2 days, making sure the glue was totally set. 

 Mix grout in a throw away container. 

 Smush it between the jewels.  We had a container of fast drying grout so we had to move pretty fast. 

 After completely covered, using a sponge, gently wipe away the excess grout.  

We then allowed the grout to set for 2 days.

 Kim and Luke enjoyed polishing the jewels.  

 They used a paper towel, a tiny bit of water and a lot of elbow grease. 

 Daddy taught the kids to use Liquid Nails and a caulk gun.

 This was also allowed to dry for a couple hours. 

 Filling the birdbath!

 I planned on having it out back with the bird feeders, but it came out so cute, the big kids insisted it remain in the front yard. 

Ready for the birds to take a dip!

It's all about birds....

 We have been learning all about the birds this past week.  We have studied the art of Audubon and we have been on the lookout for our own native birds. 

The origami passenger pigeon above is made with a template from "Fold The Flock" This site tells all about the extinction of the passenger pigeon and also has some very cool videos. 

 I made the kids a chart of all the birds we see in this area....I found the original printout at Jimmie's Collage.   I have since added many, many  more birds to our list. I simply look up images of the particular birds on google images, cut and paste them to a document and then print them out.

I have to say, the kids are becoming experts in identifying birds.  

We have many resources that we are using...I will get to them in the next few days. 

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Pinterest has been my go to guide for all things crafty and birdy!

I found a few different terracotta diy birdbath.  I'm combining two different birdbaths.  One  idea is from My-CreativiT.  The other element...a jeweled and grouted bowl....if from Happiness is Homemade.

Laura and Kimberly did the most work on our project....

They painted yesterday and Kimmy is almost clean today.  

We sealed the whole project with a heavy duty outdoor sealant. 

We used Goop heavyduty glue outside to keep the fumes at bay. We need to leave about 48 hours to set completely, and then we will be using grout to finish it off.