How to Make Homemade Fire Starters: That Smell Amazing

Make these simple homemade fire starters for basically free, they are perfect for campfires, wood fireplaces, & gift ideas

I am calling it y’all, it’s officially winter time in Alabama.

Maybe not “officially officially” but it definitely feels like it!

There are always two types of people, those who love the cold & those who do not…

I definitely fall under the second category, but there is one thing I do enjoy about colder weather, cozy fires.

We have a natural wood burning fireplace in our home and I absolutely love starting a cozy fire and snuggling up with some hot cocoa.

For our indoor and outdoor fires we use real wood logs most of the time because they burn a whole lot longer than the store bought pre wrapped kind (plus those can be kind of expensive).

The only trouble is getting the fire started is a little tricker and also it can smell a little too “smokey” depending on what kind of wood we are using.

So I thought this season would be the perfect time to try my hand at making some homemade fire starters!

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Supplies:

• Pinecones
• Candle Wicks
• Candle Wax
• Cupcake Tray/Liners
• Orange/Lemon Peels
• Your Favorite Smelling Spices (I used cocoa powder/cinnamon/brown sugar)
• Essential Oils (optional)

DIY Pinecone Fire Starters

The first kind of fire starter I decided to make were out of pinecones.

Mainly because we have a million laying out in the yard & they double as decor.

I started by wrapping my wick around the pinecone, making sure to push it into the crevices so that it was nice and snug.

Next I melted down some candle wax blocks I had from when I was making these homemade candles.

You can also melt down old candles or votives to make “new” wax.

Once the wax was melted I simply dipped the pinecones into the wax.

While the wax was still wet I sprinkled the spices onto the pinecones and also added my favorite Christmas Time essential oils.

That’s it, the pinecone fire starters are finished!

If you like these you are going to love the next ones.

Homemade Fire Starters

Since I had extra candle wax I decided to make another kind of DIY fire starter using a cupcake tray.

For these I lined a tray with cupcake liners, you could get really fancy and use different theme or color liners.

Next I added some pretty greenery I found while I was collecting my pinecones.

I also added some orange peels to give it a wonderful scent!

Finally I sprinkled in some spice and some hardened candle wax pieces, because why not.

For this batch I stirred the essential oil directly into the wax but that’s totally optional.

Apparently I was getting too excited about these because I almost poured the wax in without adding the wicks…

After the wax was dry I removed the liners and cut the wicks down to size.

How cute are these little homemade fire starters!

Firestarter DIY

The only thing that gets me even more excited about this little project is that I made all of these for FREE!

They all smell absolutely amazing when they are being burned and make it so much easier to lite the logs and keep the fire burning.

We have even used them at campfire and everyone is always impressed with how good they smell.

They would also be a super cute hostess or teacher gift that you would whip up in no time.

(Check out this simple homemade Cookie Mix & Tea Towel gift idea)

I think next I will see how adding lavender and lemon peels work.

Let me know what you think about these super simple homemade fire starters and what you would add!

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