Well bloggers, I've been busy just like everyone else but finally found some things I wanted to share with you. This is a gourd birdhouse I finished painting today. I grew the gourds in my garden about 5 years ago and haven't done a thing with them since other than store them in my garage.

Of course I had to eventually clean out my garage and I must say I have moved these from the garage to the house and back to the garage a few times. This time I decided to finally make a birdhouse for a very nice friend of mine who loves birds and has all kinds of feeders and drip bird baths (that he heats in the winter). You get the picture. Tomorrow is his birthday so I decided this would be a nice gift (provided he likes my design). I stained the top half and just varnished the bottom with polyurethane. Then added the paint and reapplied polyurethane to finish. I hope by keeping it natural looking (minus the paint of course) the birds might actually inhabit it.

If you have never done this I have to tell you that when I drilled the hole in it the edges were very rough and the inside was very dry, but it sanded very smooth with my dremel tool. Probably would be very easy with regular sandpaper too. The seeds when they came out also brought with it a very soft and silky membrane that I'm sure the birds would love to use as their nest. When I felt inside it was like a cushion, so soft and silky and dry. A wonderful nest. I shook out the seeds and left most of the membrane as their mattress. I thouroughly enjoyed this process and am happy with the results. Now, to see if we get any takers. I'll let you know.

Hope your holiday was wonderful and you have found time to do the things you love.