:: recycled fire starters

The days are getting colder and colder here, giving us more opportunities to have a nice cozy fire. For my family that means pressing a button on a remote, but for some { the lucky ones in my opinion } it means starting a fire from scratch. Oh there is nothing more wonderful than the smells and sounds of a warm crackling fire. I really miss having a real fireplace, even if it is a little more work. It would be nice to have a reason to keep all the fire starting goodies & tools by the fireplace...for gas logs it just seems silly. The basket above however is for my fire pit outside, everything needed to start a nice blazing fire. 

I saw an image on pinterest that uses your dryer lint and empty toilet paper tubes to make recycled fire starters. Which in my opinion is a brilliant use for all of the dryer lint and unused toilet paper tubes. I was so excited to give it a try. The image on pinterest looked like this one below, though try as I might I cannot find it now.

Though functional enough, this just didn't appeal to my aesthetic sensibilities so I decided to take it just a step further by wrapping mine in newspaper. I grabbed my scissors and cut a sheet of newspaper in half, and with the tube at the bottom I rolled it up.

First I just twisted the newspaper on the ends which worked fine, but after a few using that method I decided instead that it would be much easier and quicker to just pinch & push the newspaper ends into the tube. This is the method I stuck to to make the rest of my tubes. You could always go a step further even and tie them with some twine, I thought about it but found it a little unnecessary since mine were purely functional & I like to use my twine for other things.

In the past I've used mostly pinecones to start my outdoor fires, but I think these are going to work great. I'll put one underneath a little pile of pinecones with some kindling on top & I'll have a blazing fire in no time. I'm also really excited to find a great use for all of the toilet paper tubes & dryer lint....just one less thing to have to throw in the recycle bin or the trash. I think they look pretty cute to boot, and that's always a plus in my book.

{ peace, love & hugs }

Carrie

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:: newspaper logs

Happy Friday Everyone...

I can't believe the weekend is already here...

but I'm oh so glad.

It's another rainy & gloomy day here today,

I guess I should start getting used to this...it is that time of year after all.

The rain just makes it a perfect day to catch up on chores, and just laze around a little.

I've been spending this morning searching the web for some interesting things,

and I'm excited to share them with you very soon.

Today though I thought I would share with you what I do with my newspapers.

Formerly my newspapers {which we receive every day for Papa Wren},

would accumulate in a chair in our kitchen until recycling day rolled around.

I became very tired of looking at this messy stack of newspapers all week,

and decided to come up with a solution for this ever growing stack of paper.

Now mind you, I didn't cancel the paper on Papa {which would be ideal}

Instead I decided on a different way to organize them and reuse them.

I decided to start rolling them up & tying them with twine to make newspaper logs.

This creates a neater look for the papers while they are in a holding pattern,

 and I actually spare them from recycling by sharing them with my parents 

who will be using them to start their wood burning stove very soon.

I also keep a few for myself for starting fires in our fire pit outdoors.

I found a basket I had sitting around and decided to use this to coral the paper logs.

I keep the twine and a little pair of scissors inside the basket, and each day

when Papa leaves for work, I roll up the paper, tie it with a piece of twine and add it to the rest.

No more pile of papers sliding out of the chair, and I actually don't mind looking at this.

As simple as it is, I think it looks kinda cool...I guess I could also hide it away,

but somehow this has become the newspaper chair...isn't it funny how those things happen.

If I ever do get tired of it I can simply move it into the pantry or out into the garage...easy peasy.

So, what do you think?

Is it still an eyesore?

Would you hide it or try it?

Hope you have a wonderful DRY weekend ; )

{peace, love & hugs}

Carrie

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