Egg Carton Fire-Starters

OK so this really doesn't fall into the crafty category... so sue me.

It's the time of year our wood stove is making the Michigan Winter a little more cozy and, let me tell you, getting that fire started some days is like pulling teeth...without anesthetic...and rusty a rusty pair of pliers. To make this task easier, I was told to make egg carton fire-starters.

They. Are. Awesome!

So, if you have a fireplace, like to go camping, or know someone this might make a fun gift for...

You Will Need:

• Recycled Material Egg Carton(not Styrofoam)
• Dryer Lint (you read that right)
• Cotton String
• Wax (old candles work well)

First, get your wax melting. You can place it in a sealed baggie in a pan of water heating on the stove or in a glass measuring cup in a pan.

Egg cartons are a little awkward to cut and I found a box cutter to simplify things. I cut the carton into strips of cups (otherwise they won't stand up) and placed them on an old cookie sheet. Then I put a piece of the cotton string in each one.

A piece of dryer lint goes on top...

When the wax is melted, pour a little in each cup, wetting the lint. If you want a more pleasant look you may also put a pine cone in the cup at this point.

Let the wax cool and you have your fire-starter.

Kids Thanksgiving Craft: Pine Cone Place Cards

Hopefully you have gathered your cones and are ready for an easy kid friendly craft.

I have a copy of the Better Homes and Gardens Holiday Crafts Kids Can Make from '87, and the boys wanted to use the place card craft found in the Thanksgiving Table section. Mine came from a family friend but they also have it at Amazon.















On to the craft...

1.) We took our cones outside, spray painted them, and used spray craft adhesive to add glitter.

2.) While they dried, we went inside and worked on our name cards. I had some pretty cardstock, so we kept it simple and used the fancy-schmancy sisscors  on the edges. The boys wrote the names of family members that are expected for our Thanksgiving/Christmas dinner.

(I'm especially proud of my youngest- he'll be 5 in December- and how well he wrote names)


3.) When you're setting the table, just slip the name card into the pine cones for an Earthy, harvest decoration.

In case you were wondering, THIS is what happens when you combine all this with three boys. LOL



Of course when they are not being used for place cards, the pine cones look great just in a basket.

***Options: You can use letter stickers for the names, and if course you can decorate the card stock anyway you like... beads, glitter, yarn, bric-a-brac, etc



HEADS UP FOR LATER: WE WILL BE USING MULTICOLOR CORN FOR SOME MORE THANKSGIVING PROJECTS