I never realized until recently that the dollar store carries the glasses chains, and when I saw a display of them my mind went wild.  There are so many possibilities with these, especially since the entire thing is beaded.  That means lots of inexpensive beads you can use for all kinds of projects!  I had already put a set of paper plate holders in my cart and thought, “what can I do with these two items together?”  Then I was struck with the idea to turn them into a bird feeder!

Project estimate:

• 3 beaded eye glass chains, $3
• Floral wire, on hand or $1
• Paper plate holders, $1
• Plate, on hand or $1
• Bird seed, on hand or $1 and up

Total: $4.00 and up

This project was so easy that my 10-year-old daughter did it with me.  First I had her take two plate holders and line up the holes on the sides.  Using two plate holders stacked together will make is a little more sturdy.  Once they were lined up she fed the chains through the holes around the edges of the plate holders.

Next she secured the two rubber ends together with the wire.  She wired in two locations to make it stronger.  Repeat this with the other two chains so that all three are attached to the paper plate holders.

Gather the chains together and hang. You may choose to wire them together.

Place a plate of bird seed in the holder and it’s all done!  Since the plate is easily removable, you can take it out to wash it as needed without having to take down the entire feeder.  Now you have a fun bird feeder that looks awesome when the sun hits it.  (I took this picture real quick and with the rain yesterday mine appears to be a bird bath, hehe!)