My 3 Monsters: DIY Chandelier Bird Feeder

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Make a birdfeeder out of an old chandelier and thrifted tea cups! Tutorial at /

Hi guys! I am thrilled about the way my little porch update has been coming together. You've seen my new pillows, and I'll be sharing a few more fun projects throughout the summer. Today I am excited to show you my new bird feeder made out of an old pendant light fixture and some cool tea cups I picked up thrifting. Krazy Glue is the magical stuff that made this whole project possible. No doubt you've seen the commercials over the years -- the man bungee jumping or the construction worker hanging from his hard hat -- but if you're like me, you were the tiniest bit skeptical. Well, I'm a believer now!

Did you know Krazy Glue has a formula just for crafts? It's an extra-thick gel formula so it stays right where you put it and doesn't make a mess. I was amazed at how well it held all the pieces together as I built my new bird feeder!

You will need:

an old chandelier or pendant light fixture with arms {it doesn't have to be working}
tea cups and saucers {one of each for each arm of the light fixture}
Krazy Glue Craft formula
all-purpose putty
clear plastic beads and beading wire {optional}
decorative lamp finial {optional}

Start by gluing your tea cups to their saucers by running a small bead of Krazy Glue around the base of each cup and setting it down in the center of the saucer. When the glue is dry, you will be able to pick the cup and saucer up together as shown above. When you are out looking for cups and saucers, it is helpful to measure the distance between the arms of your chandelier where you will be attaching the saucers to make sure they will fit without too much overlap. It get's a little more crowded than you might expect!

While the Krazy Glue is drying, begin dismantling your chandelier. Usually all you will have to do is unscrew a little finial at the bottom and slide the pieces off the center post one at a time. Snip the electrical cords with scissors and pull them out as you go. Also, remove any cords and extra chain links from the top of the light fixture.

You will be left with the metal "skeleton of a chandelier. If you want to paint your light fixture, this is a good time to do it. Mine started out brass, but I painted it white a while back when I made it over for Sydney's room. She has a new light fixture now so this one was just begging to be repurposed!

NOTE: here is where I'm going to tell you to do as I say, not as I did. Trust me on this. I decided to add some strands of clear beads to gussy up my chandelier AFTER I had it all put together. If you want to add beads like I did, this is where you would do that. Using your beading wire, determine how long you want your strand of beads to be and cut the wire to that length PLUS a couple inches. Cut one wire for each open space between chandelier arms.

With the candelabra bulbs removed, there was not a good flat surface on each arm for attaching the saucers to. I used a little bit of all-purpose putty to fill in the fake "candles" and give me a solid place to glue the cups and saucers.

Work on one arm at a time, adding your beads in between {if you want to}. Before the putty sets up, poke the end of one of your wires into the putty, slide enough beads on the wire to fill it up and then poke the other end of the wire into the putty of the next candle. Make sure to keep all the beads below the surface of the candles so they will not get in the way of your saucers. Continue adding wires and beads all the way around the chandelier. I wish I had a an actual photo to show here, but I did it wrong and this will save you tons of pain.

Once the putty is dry, sand it flat so the saucers will sit level.

You may need to grab a friend to help you with this step to keep the chandelier base from tipping over as you glue the tea cups on! Squeeze a small amount of Krazy Glue onto the top of each candle. {Hint: In the picture I used too much. About half of that is all it takes.}

Rest a cup and saucer on each arm of the chandelier, making sure they are centered as you go. Once you have them all on there right where you want them, just walk away and don't touch it for several hours to allow the glue to set up. Once all the glue is set, you will be able to pick up the whole thing by the handle of one tea cup. It is amazing!

While you are waiting for the glue to dry on the chandelier, use a small dab of Krazy Glue to attach your decorative lamp finial to the small finial that you removed to take the chandelier apart.

Once all your glue is dry, get your friend to come help you again as you reassemble the chandelier. it helps to have one person hold the base with all the tea cups while the other person lines everything up and screws it back together.

All you have to do now is hang it! I screwed a plant hook into the wood pergola over my front porch and used a little bit of jute rope to make the fixture hang at a good height.

The cut glass and sparkly beads catch the light and look super pretty as you walk up to our front door.

Just put a little bird seed into each cup to attract pretty birds to your entryway all year long. It would also be fun to put a battery operated tea light in each cup and place the bird seed around in the saucers for outdoor evening entertaining.

My favorite part is this crystal finial at the bottom. This was such a fun project. It was cool to watch it all come together and make something beautiful out of someones old junk.