In Case You Weren't a Girl Scout. Or Even If You Were. Or Even If You Just Like To Burn Stuff...

When I was a young Girl Scout, our troop would go camping every year. We'd stay in permanent tents, which were canvas tents built on a platform wood floor and framed out with a wood frame. They had 2 cots inside (or was it 4? Can't remember) which we'd put our sleeping bags on. I was never a big fan of camping. I endured the same treatment at sleepover camp that I endured at slumber parties. And, no, I don't want to discuss the time that my fellow Scouts filled my slumber pad with cicada locust shells. Let's not go there. (gives me the heebie jeebies just typing it.)

Anyway, one area I did excel at was building campfires. To make fire starters, we would make "candle kisses" where we would take old birthday candles or crayons and roll them up in strips of wax paper, twisting them at the ends, to look like a Tootsie Roll.

A few years back, I acquired some paper ketchup cups from a Hardee's that was closing its doors. I considered what to do with them, and I thought of making fire starters for our charcoal grill, fireplace, outdoor fire circle, etc. So here's how I made them.

Step 1: line a baking pan with foil. Place the paper cups in the pan. If you don't have those little paper cups, you could probably use mini-cupcake papers.


Step 2: fill each cup with a wad of lint from the dryer. I mean, what else are you going to use it for anyway?


Step 3: take some old crayons and remove the paper from them (by using a sharp knive - like an Exacto knife or utility knife) and cut into small bits. Put the bits on top of the lint in each cup and press down.



Step 4: bake the cups at 300-325 degrees. Keep an eye on them to watch until the crayons melt.


Let them cool and VOILA you have some groovy fire starters. We used them in our fireplace this winter and the fire got hot enough so that the wax just burned up and it never left any spots on the concrete floor of our fireplace. I guess you could use them for bonfires in the summer or to start your charcoal grill. Or, like I said, if you just like to burn stuff.

Go visit Texan Mama at www.texanmama.com/ and see what other stuff she's got goin' on!