Merry Christmas!

This month we had only one troop meeting due to Christmas break starting mid month. We started our meeting with our regular Girl Scout protocol of snacks followed by the Girl Scout Promise. For this meeting, as a celebration of the Christmas season, the girls worked on Christmas projects. We broke the girls into 4 groups by having them draw pieces of paper out of a bag with a sticker on each paper (there were 4 different stickers on the papers). The particular sticker each girl drew indicated what project table they would start at.

The 4 projects:

• a Christmas "cup cake"


• a Jingle Bell Wreath Ornament


• "Warm Fuzzies"


• and decorating Gingerbread Man Cookies

23 girls in our multi-level troop (Daisy, Brownie, & Junior), spent approximately 15-20 minutes at each project table in what felt like semi-organized chaos. They all seemed to have fun and that's what today was all about. Christmas music played in the back ground as the girls created their masterpieces. As each project was completed, the girls set them aside next to their specified Christmas gift bag. At the end of the troop meeting, the girls filled their gift bag with their projects to transport them home.

Thank you volunteer parents~ Amy, Irma, & Cyndi, and Girl Scout Leaders~ Novia, Lisa, Stephanie, and Kristi for all your help and supervision on these projects!

"Cup Cakes" in a Mug

These fun projects are basically making an individual size serving cake in a coffee mug. Each girl scout was given a Christmas mug for their project with verbal instructions on what to do and adult supervision at the microwave. After the girls made their cake, they got to eat it!

"Cup Cake" Instructions~

• 1/3 cup cake mix of your choice


• 4 tablespoons milk

Combine cake mix and milk. Stir 15 seconds. Microwave on High for 2 minutes.

"Jingle Bell Wreath" Ornament

As easy as this project seemed, this project table was the one that had the most challenges. The girls had trouble getting the bells to easily slide down the pipe cleaner; perhaps we should have used bigger jingle bells. After they got the hang of it and had their patience tested, each girl scout created a new ornament!

Instructions~

• 1 green pipe cleaner


• silver and gold jingle bells (we used 11 of each color)


• red plastic pony beads (we used 9 per project)


• green ribbon


• red ribbon

Thread the jingle bells and beads on the pipe cleaner in a pattern of 1 gold, 1 silver, 1 red bead, then repeat. Once you have covered your pipe cleaner, form a circle and secure. Complete your wreath by tying a green ribbon where you just secured the pipe cleaner, then finish by tying a decorative red bow at the base of the green ribbon.

Warm Fuzzies

A simple, fun idea to create little "warm fuzzy" critters. The girls were even naming them!

"Warm Fuzzy" Instructions~

• Small Piece of Any Furry Fabric
  
• Wiggle Eyes
  
• Pom-Poms
  
• Craft Glue

Glue a couple of wiggle eyes and a pom-pom nose onto a scrap of furry fabric of any work.

These projects can be kept to enjoy yourself, but warm fuzzies are much more enjoyable if you share them with others.

Decorating Gingerbread Men!

This project table was "finger lick'in" good! Girl Scout Leader, Teri, made the cookies the morning of the troop meeting, so the girls would be set to dress them. Each girl scout had access to a variety of colored icing, sprinkles, and candy decoration.

Gingerbread Cookie Recipe~

1/2 cup shortening

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground cloves

1/2 cup molasses

1 egg

1 TBS vinegar

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

In a mixing bowl, beat shortening with an electric mixer on medium to high 30 seconds. Add sugar, baking powder, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, and cloves. Beat until combined, scraping bowl. Beat in molasses, egg, and vinegar until combined. Beat in as much flour as you can with your mixer; then stir in remaining flour by hand. Wrap dough in wax paper, folding ends secure. Chill for 3 hours or until easy to handle. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease cookie sheet; set aside. On a lightly floured surface, roll half of the dough at a time to a 1/4 inch thickness. Cut into cookie using a 5" - 7 1/2" cookie cutter. (I used a copper one I bought from WalMart). Place 1" apart on prepared cookie sheet. Bake 5 " cookies for 6-8 minutes, 8 " cookies for 10-12 minutes. Let cool before decorating.

To decorate~ Our Girl Scout troop used all pre-made icing bought at the store, but if you want to make your own, here is a basic icing recipe:

Icing Recipe~

1 cup confectioner's sugar

2 teaspoons milk

2 teaspoons corn syrup

1/4 teaspoon vanilla flavoring (almond flavoring is also good)

Stir sugar and milk together in a bowl until icing mixture is smooth; beat in corn syrup and vanilla until icing mixture is smooth and glossy in appearance. Add food coloring to desired shade. To thicken add confectioner's sugar to desired thickness. To achieve a piping effect, use a cake decorating bag. Ice cookie and set aside for the icing to harden. Enjoy!