How to Make an Ice Ring

Ice rings are a simple and elegant touch to any punch bowl.

You can use an ice ring pan or a bunt pan. I like bunt pans because they are deeper, which makes a thicker ring that will not melt as quickly.

Place fruit, pineapple, cherries, grapes, strawberries, edible flowers, mint leaves, etc... to fill about a third of the pan. Pour just enough punch or water to cover the fruit. Don't fill past the fruit, it will cause the fruit to float; you want it all to be settled in the bottom.

Place in freezer until frozen.

Add an inch of punch or water at a time and freeze. Repeat until pan is full. If you add too much punch/water at once it will cause the ring to float.

With this ring after the fruit and first layer were frozen in, I added a bunch of ice cubes and filled the rest with water.

Let the ring sit at room temperature for 20 minutes and it should slide right into the punch bowl. You can also set it in water for a few minutes.

One thick ice ring will last for about 2 hours.

You can make your rings weeks ahead of time and store them in bags in the freezer until party time.

Other things that can be added to an ice ring:
Mint Leaves
Orange Rind
Lemon Rind
Lime Rind
Kiwi
Violets
Pansies
Rose Petals

Think COLOR!

Evergreen Basket

Use a wet oasis in a basket or what ever you'd like, the more unique the better.

First fill in the lower outer edges with fuller greens.

Fill in open spaces with 2-3 different greens.

Use pine cones, berries, ornaments, twigs...anything to garnish your arrangement.

These are good for ourdoors-entryway arrangements, or anywhere in the house. Be sure to watch the little ones if you are using live berries! If you keep them watered they will last 2-3 weeks.

Bread and Butter

I love to make homemade wheat rolls.

Because they are wheat they are more dense than white rolls,
so having some herb butter or sweetened cream cheese on warm rolls is perfect!

Soften some cream cheese in the mixer and add a couple tablespoons of honey.
Yum, heavenly!

Soften REAL butter in mixer, add your favorite herb, dill or rosemary are both great choices.

Gingerbread House

Sausage Stuffing

These measurements are approximate, you can adjust to your taste. This batch of dressing was about 30 servings.

Brown about 2 pounds of bulk Italian Sausage, drain grease.

Chop 5-6 stalks of celery and a few onions.

Saute the onions and celery with a pound of mushrooms, just until slightly tender.

Add salt, pepper, ground sage, parsley and rosemary (sage is the key!).

Add the onion mixture to the sausage, stir well.


Melt a stick of butter and add turkey (or chicken) broth to the butter.

You can use store bought breadcrumbs, or make your own.
We had a BUNCH of hot dog buns left over from a get together,
so I chopped them up for the stuffing.
I used 3-4 packages for this batch.

Add the sausage mixture to the bread. Mix it up good.

Pour the broth/butter in slowly, mixing until all the bread is moist.
Don't add too much, you don't want soup.

Butter (or oil) your baking pan; pour stuffing in pan. You can also use a roasting bag (saves A LOT of clean up), or a crock pot. Bake on 300 for 1 hour, until hot all through.

Great with turkey or chicken!!!
This freezes well.
Make a double/triple batch and free some.

Bib/Burpie Tutorial

At our church we LOVE families and we LOVE BABIES! Babies are viewed as blessings, not burdens. So very rarely do we have times with no new babies being born, Praise the Lord!

I wish I could make a quilt or crochet a blanket for every baby born at our church and circle of friends, but that is impossible.

But I did come up with this idea! If you set aside an afternoon you could make several of these to have on hand for baby gifts.

You can buy terry cloth ($5-$7 a yard), or you can go to the thrift store and buy a bathrobe. I found this high quality robe that looked like new for less than $3. I was able to make seven sets of bibs and burpies out of one robe. All the fabric was what I had on hand. :o)

I used a bib that I already had,
to draw out a pattern on a piece of card stock.

Fold your fabric only wide enough for the pattern,
which is folded in half.
Place the fold of the pattern on the fold of the fabric.

After cutting your robe to get as much as you can from it;
repeat the above with the terrycloth (robe).

Cut a piece of ribbon about 8-10" long;
curl up one end and place it on the bib,
right side of fabric facing up.

Carefully place the smoother side of the terrycloth to the right side of the fabric;
pin the curled part of the ribbons and both layers together.
Starting at the bottom of the bib, sew around using about 1/4-1/2" seam allowance.
Be careful not to sew the curled part of the ribbon in your seam,
but do sew in the part of the ribbon that is hanging out.

Leave about 2" for an opening at the bottom.

Trim close to the seam.

Remove pins and turn right side out.
It may help to press the opening raw edges in.
Hand stitch together with a blind stitch.

Do the same thing with a rectangle piece of fabric and terrycloth.
The size can vary, you just want it big enough to go over a shoulder.
Trim corners before you turn right side out.

I used a stippling stitch to quilt them together.
You could even add batting if you wanted to make them thicker.
Have fun with it!

Joseph Cookies Tutorial

Tomorrow our favorite Liberian is being baptized!
Joseph's life has a beautiful story of God's love and redemption.

These are some cookies I made for after the service tomorrow.

You can see the tutorial HERE!

Children's Christmas Party

We don't do a whole lot of age segregation at our church, but this is one time of year we divide up for parties. Olivia, Emma and I took care of the under 12 children's party. We did a snowman theme and lots of fun. Oh, how I miss having little ones.

Snowmen

Use 2 large marshmallows and push them down on a large pretzel.

Using an orange fruit roll up cut some long triangles to make a nose,
these will stick on easily.

Then use another color fruit roll up to cut strips for the scarves.

Melt some white almond bark in a double boiler.
Dip one side of a fruit ring (like gummie bears),
this will be the 'glue' that holds the ring on the top of the snowman.

It helps to place them upside down to let them harden (about 5-10 minutes).

Using more almond bark do the same thing with a gumdrop.
You'll have to prop these upright until the 'glue' hardens.

Melt a small amount of semi sweet chocolate chips in a double boiler.
Using a toothpick dot on some eyes.

I used a large divided dish with extra marshmallows in it to help them
stand up for display and serving.

Olivia and Emma made snowman sandwiches using carrots, cranraisins, and raisins.
The insides were peanut butter and jelly.

Peanut butter dip for the apple slices.
Creamy peanut butter and honey.

I can't believe I forgot to get a picture of Olivia's Snowman Cheese ball.
Here is one she made last year.

The children made beaded snowflakes.
I explained to them how no two snowflakes are the same,
just as God created each of us differently.

We played Candy Cane Relay.

These are a great bunch of kids!