How to make a sock mouse for display . . .

       Church mice are considered collectible by some people who purchase them at charity auctions. Although I am one that generally believes all toys should be played with, I will share with visitors how to make these small dolls for display so that they might be auctioned or sold for ministry fund raising.    

Left, sock mice ready to be dressed in costumes and have their stands finished.
Center, I used the cotton covered chenille stems to help balance the mice on the stands.
Right, these mice have eyes made from pom-poms, beads and pink felt circles.

  

      To make sock mice that will stand or sit permanently, the mouse should be attached to a stand. This stand should keep the mouse in whatever position is originally intended to flatter it's clothing or animation. Sock mice are very soft, flexible and light weight - so the stand need not be made out of heavy material. The examples I show on this post are made from a cardboard, molded orange crate that I found at a local market. It was clean and I liked it's interesting texture. If you can't find one of these, use a small box. Little boxes may be weighted down to make the stand heavier if needed, so there is an advantage to using them instead of molded cardboard. I used the wire tails of my sock mice to balance them as I wished in this case; so there was no need of weighting the stands.

 Supply List:

• cotton batting fiber for stuffing the mouse or mice
• baby socks in colors of mic: white, brown, grey and black
• needle and threads to match the sock fabric
• pale pink pom-poms for the mouse nose
• pink felt for the inner lining of the mouse ear
• white chenille stems for the wire arms and legs of the mouse
• small beads for the eyes
• a base to support the mouse in a standing position if you wish
• thread or fishing line for the mouse whiskers

Left, pulp crate used to transport oranges recycled into stands for my sock mice.
Center, close-up view of stand. Right, see details of sock mouse face, ears, eyes and nose.

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. I decided to cut the infant socks in half lengthwise. This made is easier to stuff their bodies into slender shapes, thus making their costumes more attractive in my own opinion. Remember that knitted socks do stretch a great deal and you will always need less material from them than anticipated in the beginning. I also wanted to ensure that I would have leftover sock scraps for the ears of the mice.
2. When I stitched down the length of the sock, I turned the rough sides together instead of the smooth. Most church mice made from socks present the smooth knitting as the skin but I found the rougher, inside parts of the socks to be more like fur, so I stitched the material in the reverse.
3. While sewing the seam, you want to make sure that the toe of the sock is sewn shut in the shape of a gradually narrow point. This will form the structure of the mouse's snout.
4. Turn the sewn parts inside out to hide the seam.
5. Stuff the main body with soft cotton batting, not polyester, cotton only. Polyester will collapse over time. If the mouse is intended for display, the cotton batting will help the body of the mouse to remain upright and stiff.
6. Do not sew the bottom part of the sock after sewing the sides just yet. You can, however, tack the opening shut in the center with thread at the point. 
7. Shape the small rodent's head and snout while stuffing the body. You may wish to tie a bit of thread to form the neck of the mouse permanently. 
8. Cut from the remaining sock scraps two round shapes for the ears. You can trace around a coin for the ear shapes. Do the same on top of a bit of pink felt.
9. Now stitch together and around the felt and sock ear pieces, leaving a small hole to turn them inside out. 
10. Pinch the ear pieces together and tack these with a stitch.
11. Now sew the tiny ears to the mouse head, one on either side.
12. You can sew or hot glue a tiny pink pom-pom to the tip of the mouse snout for it's nose.
13. Thread a needle with fishing line and sew whiskers securely in and out of the snout. Clip the whiskers leaving some of the thread to stick out as you go.
14. Sew on beads for eyes.
15. Take a chenille stem and thread it inside the bottom of the mouse torso to form the legs of the mouse. Sew the remaining sock material firmly around the wire to make the legs stiff. Shape the knit around the top of the legs with the needle and thread. (see photo)
16. Bend the tiny chenille feet of the mouse and then hot glue these to the stand. 
17. Not take a second chenille stem and twist cotton batting around it to form the tail of the mouse. Roll the stem between the palms of your hands vigorously to adhere the white glue, batting and chenille stem together.
18. Using a needle and matching thread attach a generous length of the wire tail to the back side of the mouse. 
19. Shape the tail as you like with loops and turns. Hot glue the end or some curve of the tail to the base in order to give the display mouse balance. (see photos)
20. Attach a length of the chenille stem to the mouse across it's back to form arms. You can roll this stem in batting or cover it with knit sock or leave it plain. In any case, the costume of the mouse will be permanent so some of these attachments will not be fully seen after you have finished dressing the church mouse in the end. So, make your choices according to the costume you select to dress the mouse in.

How to make a sock mouse for play, 

by Brave Mouse Books

• See our mouse art studio over at the Doll Coloring Book!

Organize and Sell Pumpkins

        In St. Louis, the biggest sellers of pumpkins are church charities. It was not always so, but over time the local pumpkin patch just outside the city limits became too crowded for the number of families who loved to visit there, cart their children around in red wagons, get their faces painted, eat hot dogs and celebrate the season with some kind of wholesome activity. Eventually, the owners of this large pumpkin farm retired and closed up shop. Now, several congregations that have large lawns and plenty of retired folks who love to carry on similar Fall traditions, host annual pumpkin patches for charity.

• Farmers who sell pumpkins wholesale nationwide
• How to make money selling pumpkins 
  

Journalist and reporter, Marino Monterio 

Bake Apple Pies for Charity

         I have decided to include posts about the recipes that I prepare for either my own family or to serve for a larger gathering. I am not famous for my cooking but I have been asked quite often in my lifetime to share my recipes for baking pies.
       My grandmother taught me at a very young age how to make pie crusts. She was an expert baker. So I will attempt to share all that she passed on to me through my blog here with clarity. It is important to remember that making pie crusts is a bit of an art form; it takes practice to get these just right. If you bake a pie once a week for a whole year, you should be an expert by the end of that year and it will taste so good to practice your skills!
       To make a standard pie crust you will need a 9inch diameter, glass pie dish. The type of pie dish that one bakes in is actually important. Sometimes I bake in tin pie pans, the dough seems to respond differently in these by baking quicker. However, it is never my intention to bake desserts quickly, only that I haven't the money or storage space to invest in more than a few glass pie plates that don't always travel as well as the tin and are expensive to replace if someone forgets to return them. In any case, I think it is important for a young baker to begin cooking his or her pies in Pyrex dish ware because it seems to tell a more accurate story about the way heat is dispersed in your oven.
       Memorize the recipe for a one pie crust with a top and bottom: 1 1/2 cup of flour, 1/3 cup of Crisco brand shortening, and one teaspoon of salt. You will need extra flour to prepare the countertop for rolling out the pie dough.
       Put all three of the ingredients into a mixing bowl. Use either a pastry cutter or the backside of a fork to combine these ingredients until they look like crumbs. Add cold water slowly in a trickle just until all of these crumbs stick together. Flour a clean surface generously, roll out the dough, lay it inside the pie plate and trim off the edges with a knife. Then repeat these same steps after adding the fruit for the top. In order to get the top to stick properly to the bottom of the pie crust, you must also dab on water around the rim of the dough at the plates' edge. When the top pie crust overlaps this area, press it down gently with your finger tips. The dough will seal the fruit into a kind of pocket. Always prick the top of the crust with the tips of a fork or knife so that steam from the baking fruit can escape during the baking process.
       Juices will leak from these holes during baking so it is important to place a cookie sheet or tin foil underneath the pie while it is baking so that you won't need to clean the entire oven afterwards! Bake the apple pie at 350 degrees for an hour in the center of your oven. After 45 minutes in the oven, pierce the surface with a knife to see if the apples are soft and cooked. I like my apple pies to have a little bit of a crunch. So I always check the pie to make sure that the apples are not overcooked. I like an apple pie, not an applesauce pie.

Baking a pie crust is an art form. Remember a few tips to make a flakey pie crust: don't handle the dough to often while rolling it out, the oil from your hands can toughen the dough. Also, the humidity in a kitchen does affect the way a pie dough bakes so, it's best to work fast during warmer seasons. Left, pie dough crumbles. Center, adding small portions of cold water to get the crumbles to stick together. Right, flour your clean counter before rolling out the dough!

      All ovens have a personality is seems. What I mean by this is some of them cook unevenly and others seem to never truely heat up properly. I have an excellent oven but I know it's little quirks and bake in accordance to them. My oven does not bake fast so I often need to make an extra allowance for time while I work with it. As you learn to bake pies in specific, you will discover interesting things to watch out for with your own oven temperatures. My grandmother used to say, "If you want to figure out how heat is distributed in an oven, bake a pie in it." What she meant was that farmer's pies reflect uneven temperatures and cooking because you can not only taste it but also see how these cook by looking at the crust.
       What is a farmer's pie? A farmer's pie differs from many other types in that the cooking of it happens only inside of the oven, not on the stove top and when it comes to baking apple pies, I cook them no other way.

Left, I have shaved off the skins of my Jonathan apples with a carrot peeler, You may leave a few skins on this adds texture to your pie. Center, the apples are roughly chopped and the cores discarded on the lawn for the birds and squirrels. Right, the apples tossed into the crust lined pie plate. Don't forget sprinkle in the sugar, flour, and cinnamon. The dabs of butter are very necessary too; distribute these evenly on top. Remember, farmer's pies are not cooked on stove tops. All of the ingredients must be included for baking before layering the top crust on to seal the pie!

       I use Jonathan apples for my homemade pies. This is because they are tart and sweet. They hold their shape and flavor during a bake, therefore making them the perfect variety for pies. I will cut up approximately 9 to 13 Jonathan apples per pie, depending upon the size. I shave the skins off using a carrot peeler and chop up the apples (discarding the cores) in medium sized chunks. Do not over chop the apples, if you use smaller slices to bake inside a pie, you will end up with mush! Sprinkle 3/4 cup of white sugar evenly over the top of the apples after piling them inside the pie crust. Don't add too much sugar! If you need your serving to be sweeter, eat that slice with vanilla ice cream. Sprinkle also two Tablespoons of flour evenly across the top and 5 to 6 cut teaspoons of butter on top of the flour. Sprinkle cinnamon over the top of the apples if you prefer. After this, roll out the pie crust top and wet down the edges before sealing it with either a fork or with your fingers. I make a sun shape with the point of my fingertips to seal the crust together, just as my grandmother taught me to do so many years ago. Bake 350 degree oven 45 minutes to one hour if needed.

Left, the apple pie is ready to bake in the oven. See the pricks made with a fork to give a place for the steam to go during bake time. The juice will also escape from these holes, so put a protective cookie sheet underneath the pie in the oven. Right, what my apple pies look like just after I remove them from the oven.

Church of the Crucifixion annual fundraiser

Talent Show by Teens

       Gather your restless tweens and Smart Aleck teens to put on a performance night fundraiser in the church theater. Be sure to also include a few children in very brief, sweet recitations between skits in order to motivate younger parents and relations to attend the performance night as well.
        Talent shows can be a very tricky business. Sometimes congregations don't have enough talent to "show off" to begin with! So here are just a few suggestions to help stretch that talent out a bit. These skits are written for people to perform according to musical score and the characters have only a few lines and actions to perform. The successfulness of the following skits is based upon timing or charm and are in general, crowd pleasers.

Skits for Two, Three or More..

• If Bible Characters had iPhones
• onetimeblind - Trash
• The Good-O-Meter

Fun skits for big groups of Teens or College Students demonstrated at YouTube: Consider doing four or five of these between talent acts to keep the audience entertained and don't forget to invest in the costuming as this is just as important for effect!

• Variety Show 2011 - Funny Talent Skit
• Swimming Skit at Oak Grove Lutheran School's Variety Show
• The Doctor's Office Skit
• The Silent Monks Sing the Hallelujah Chorus
• "Carol of the Bells" Shepherd Boomwhacker Style
• The Official Hot Scots drum line in costume
• The Invisible Bench Skit
• The Lawn Chair Drill Team
• Tap Dogs Guadalajara (For some talented dancers, of course!)

Ribbons or Lead Me to the Cross pantomime

performed by teens at Assembly of God Singapore

original choreography by Amanda Ong