Fire it up!

I found a project on Better Homes and Gardens about building your own tabletop fire pit. You won't believe the amount of time I have spent scouring Spokane for the 13-ounce cans of clean-burning gel-alcohol fuel. Home Depot-nope, Lowes-nope; General Store, Big R and Cabela's I also struck out with. I then called Ace Hardware and I thought that I had found my match but when I got there they only had 7 oz cans and I needed 13 oz; this was proving to be a lot harder than I had anticipated. You can easily order this stuff, in the correct size, online at like Amazon but I certainly do not need to buy in bulk and besides I like instant gratification. You know, the kind you get from actually going to the store, seeing the product live and touching it while debating if it will actually work.

What you will need for this project:

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  a 10 inch pot; you can go as simple or extravagant as you want

ha ha, my little helper, Maude, is close by in case something goes tiddlywinks. I see you Maude, well your foot anyway!

• 
  
  a can of gel fuel

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  Rock, although I am sure you can use sea glass (that would be gorg!) or sand

First I emptied 2 of the 6 bags of Dollar Store rock into the pot. Then I placed the can of gel fuel on top. I was hoping this was going to work and the can would be stable enough in the pot. This stuff, the gel fuel, is highly flammable and stuff you just don't want to fuss with a whole lot. Once I thought the can was "centered" in the pot, I held it in place and started grabbing handfuls of rock and placed them around the can until it reached the rim. I actually only used 4 1/2 bags of my rock, leaving me rock for something else; maybe an accessory inside a bowl or a glass hurricane vase.

I lit the fuel and it worked but because it was so incredibly sunshine-y and beautiful outside (praise the lord-we need a little happy) you can't really see the flame. The Hubs and I are going to test it again later tonight; maybe a romantic dinner for 3 (yes 3-Maude, our Saint Bernard, will be included) on the deck.

This project was super-duper easy (aside from finding gel fuel) and it only took about 10 minutes to assemble and about $28.00 put of pocket. I'm looking forward to many dinners on the deck with our new "fire pit".

Added Note: I knew that ya'll would want to see this lit so I took a couple pic's last night to show you. It's pretty cool. The Hubs and I sat on our deck, with this lit, and watched the lightening storm. It was a great ending to a great day! *sorry the pics are so dark; it was difficult at best trying to shoot this at 10:30pm with no light.