How to Make Lint Fire Starters - Just In Time For Camping!

You already know I collect lint, despite how insane it feels to do so. I posted here about 10 uses for dryer lint.
Here's what I did with mine - make fire starters.  ... and just in time for camping season! :)  This frugal tip uses up three throw-away items: dryer lint, egg cartons and old candles / wax.

How to make lint fire starters:

1. Pack lint into paper egg carton. (not styrofoam). 
2. Drip candle wax (or Paraffin Wax) over until saturated and completely covered. It looks like lava when you're done.
3. To Use: rip off 1-4 pieces, light, and place in your fire place. The more 'starters' you use, the faster your fire should start. My friend (whose fingers are showcased in this lovely photo) uses 4 in her fire pit. 

Here's the finished, though unseparated, product. Not pretty, but it is free, frugal and apparently works well. I plan to use them in 2 weeks on our first camping trip of the year. 

I think I may separate mine ahead of time and store them that way. Last thing I imagine I'd want to do on a dreary camping morning is tear apart egg cartons with tired hands when all I want is a fire and a coffee. ... but maybe that's just me ;) 

.

Cheap Or Free Games and Toys

I love it when I can find or make games and toys for free. Here are some ways we've done that around our house. Some of these ideas lasted 5 minutes, some of them were a hit for days or weeks. It's impossible to predict what will thrill a child - the $40 toy backed by millions of dollars worth of research and planning, or the garbage it was wrapped in. Who knows :) 

Call it "Toy Color Match". I laid down colored sheets of construction paper, and had the kids race to their rooms to find toys that matched each color. We started with one color. Ready, set, GO! They ran, they sought, they found. It was great fun. 

-Good for color recognition, sorting skills, and physical activity

This is a house. No really. My crate shelving (which, as a side note, I got for free...) is turned to face inside the 'house', (works as walls and interior shelving), and I taped the cardboard door onto the side of my entertainment unit. (my boy loves doors) 

This house stood for months! They loved it. It was like having an extra room just for toys! 

Good for imaginative play, role play, sharing and relationship building. 

Guess we like playing in the living room ... this terrible mess is actually a maze. Couch cushions, dining room chairs, coffee table, shelving, you name it we used it. 

Sometimes it serves as an elaborate house with  many rooms. We even hide treasure in it sometimes. 

Great fun.

Good for team work, searching, imaginative play.

This Sewing Card is both a craft and an activity

Supplies:

Construction Paper

Pencil  crayons or markers

Pen (for poking holes)

Cardboard

String or shoelace for 'sewing'.

I drew this bee onto construction paper, glued it to a pre-cut piece of cardboard, trimmed the edges. Then I poked holes around the edge, widened them as needed and voila. 

This was a dud for us. Basically, the kids watched as I made it. My children were 2 and 3 at the time though ... I'm thinking this was just beyond them. Maybe when they're older it'll be a nice quiet time activity.

Good for fine motor skills, restful play.

I'd love to hear your ideas too!

Don't Toss Your Cookies ... Re-Use Them!

Ever have those last two dried-out cookies in the cookie jar that you end up throwing away? I sure do.

Ever ruin a batch of unbaked cookies and have to toss them?  Stop! Don't toss your cookies just yet ... we can re-use even those!

6 Uses for Cookie Crumbs:

1. ice cream topping
2. delicious addition to your trifle
3. use Unbaked Cookie crumbs as chocolate chips when baking cookies or cakes
4. birthday cake garnish (dirt on a construction cake, or sprinkle on sides and edges on a grown-up cake, stencil shapes ... )
5. cupcake topping
6. pudding / cake parfait - mix it in!

I'd have to experiment, but I think these could work with any number of cookies - ginger snaps, unbaked cookies, chocolate chip, oatmeal, jam cookies, Grandma's Icing cookies ...

I think I'll start a container of cookie crumbs in my freezer. Then I'll always (or more often) have cake garnish and ice cream toppings on hand!

I'd love to hear your ideas!

.

Re-Use Dryer Lint? Oh Yes, I'm Serious!

I've been secretly feeling insane as I collect dryer lint in my little baggy. I keep stuffing it in there thinking 'surely this must be good for SOMEthing!' I dared not tell anyone, for they would surely have me committed ...

But today I found 10 great ways to put that lint to use (proof - I'm not alone and I'm not insane! Yay!)

1. packing material
2. spin it like wool, and knit or crochet with it
3. nest building - leave chunks of lint in your yard and watch birds compete for their piece of prime nest building material
4. being highly flammable, lint is a great fire-starter. Check out how I made them. Keep it in your woodbox as kindling.
5. add to your compost pile
6. make clay out of it:
• 3 cups (packed) lint
• 2 cups                water
• 1 cup                  flour
• Blend and cook on low heat until thick like meringue. Pour onto wax paper and cool. Clay creations take a few days to dry, then paint away!
7. Kid's craft - use instead of cotton for clouds, snowmen, hair, fur, etc
8. Stuff an old tube sock and use as a draft-stopper at the base of your door
9. Homemade paper
• Put lint in blender with shredded paper. Soak with water for 15 min, then blend on med. speed. Pour onto screen and shape paper. Press out excess water. Dry.
10. Use as mulch to keep plants warm and moist in fall / winter

(I think I'm going to use my little bag-o-lint for fire starter on our camping trip. When I wake up on those chilly mornings, all alone, I'm the one that has to make a fire. Fire starter = good.)

So, if you've been secretly collecting lint too, you can breathe easy. You're not alone. It's okay to be frugal .. even with lint. And now you know what to do with your bag-o-lint. :)

9 Creative Uses for Ice Cream Cones

Wondering what to do with those ice cream cones? They're not just for ice cream ... imagine that! I was surprised to find so many ideas out there. Here are some of them:

1. Ice-cream Cone Muffins
• Here's a great video on how to make these - it's EASY!!
2. Decorating Element
• use on a birthday cake as a tree, castle, wizard hat ... whatever.
3. Fill With Popcorn
• I think I may just use caramel popcorn, wrap and give as gifts or party favors for a birthday party ...
4. Serve Cheesecake in It
• Pipe cheesecake filling into your waffle cone, garnish, and voila! Easy and unique cheesecake dessert - no pans, no forks, just yum.
5. Ice Cream Cone Pie
• Waffle cones can be crumbled and used instead of graham cracker crumbs to make the base for ice cream cake.
6. Chicken Tenders
• waffle cones can also be used to coat chicken. Huh. Who knew?
7. Pudding Parfaits
• in a waffle cone, layer pudding, cake, candy and whip cream (in any order) for a yummy treat
8. Christmas Trees
• Dip cone in melted white chocolate, invert on a plate, and decorate with your favorite candies. Sounds like a great christmas craft and treat.
• Or, make it with frosting - watch the utube video here (by the hungry housewife).
9. Trail Mix
• Break those cones into pieces and combine with trail mix

There we go! No more excuses for having that box of ice cream cones just getting old in the back of the cupboard ...

Re-Use Your Christmas Cards

Time to put away all those Christmas cards ... and I just don't want to throw them all away. I KNOW there's something I can do with them to give them new life, and maybe even make them into a gift.

Here are some ideas I found.

Luminaries

Zakka Life has a great crafting blog with all kinds of great ideas. The Luminary craft is a gooder. I'd like to try that one. Thanks, Zakka Life!

Activity Village has some neat ideas too:

• Scented Sachets
• use the whole card or whatever shape you choose to cut from your card. Glue edges (leave room to insert scent!) Fill with potpouri (or put a few drops of scented oil on a cotton ball and use that) Seal. Punch a hole, tie a string, hang and enjoy. Could make a neat gift too.
• Napkin Rings
• Why didn't I think of that? ... plus, cloth napkins are more economicaal than paper ones :)
• Candle Holder
• Cut strips from your favorite Christmas card, glue to a jar (leave room for the candle to sparkle through) and voila. Could get all fancy and creative with this one, and make another great gift.
• Christmas Confetti & Shapes
• shred it, punch it into a million little confetti pieces or stars, flowers etc, and use them for scrapbooking, centerpieces, gift bag filler (the shredded stuff, anyway!) .. not sure exactly what we're supposed to do with confetti ...
• Paper Nativity
• If you're lucky enough to have received a card with a nativity scene on it, you could cut them out and use them as an advent scene.
• Lacing Card
• Our everyday one has a bee on it. Great craft, great for motor skills. (Just glued paper to cardboard, poked holes and there we go)

These are just some ideas. I'd love to hear more.

I'd especially love to hear how to reuse pictures - photo Christmas cards are great, but then what? Who puts those in an album? I sure don't. I usually toss them. (sorry to those who expect me to keep them forever) I don't want to throw them out, but what can be done with them?? Ideas?

Free Tissue Paper

Never buy tissue paper again!  Wrap gifts and use it in crafts for free!

Where can you get free tissue paper?

1) from gifts you and your family receive. Be gentle with it, and you can reuse the tissue paper (and gift bag).

2) Christmas oranges.  I removed the tissue from our box of oranges, gently flattened them, and now have a pretty stack of tissue paper in my craft box.

Uses for Tissue Paper:

1. Gift wrap
2. Crafts
• stained glass window

• paper bag pinata
• lollipop angel

• papel cordado (like a paper snowflake idea)
• candy gift bowl
• tissue dyed easter eggs
• tissue flowers for hair
• tissue flower for vase
3. Packing Tissue - if mailing a package, for instance, use tissue paper as packing paper.
4. Shoe shaper - apparently if you're worried about shoes losing their shape in between wearings, you can stuff tissue paper in the toe so it will keep its shape. (like shoe stores do).
5. Scrapbooking Paper
6. Decoupage Bottles & Vases

Wow. Who knew tissue paper was so useful? Hello craft time, Hello free scrapbooking stuff.

Don't Need It!

My mental shopping list has contained several things, including
1) a coffee butler or carafe
2) bag clips (for chip bags, etc)

I attended an event recently where the party hostess, for lack of a coffee butler, used a THERMOS. Brilliant! I have one of those! Okay, it's not showy or glamorous, but it's a free coffee butler that keeps coffee or tea warm.

One of the guests received clothespins as a prize. Her response was "Oh good! Chip clips!" ... Brilliant!! I'd never thought of that! ... of course, when I expressed my excitement, people who'd used them this way for years looked at me like I'd been living under a rock. Maybe I have :)

I guess now I can take those items off of my shopping list! Thanks ladies, you saved me some money and helped me to become a little more thrifty!

.