I am on the Relief Society Activity committee at my church.  Relief Society is the Women's Organization and we try to have uplifting, self-improvement type activities throughout the year on one weeknight per month (give or take).  I am blessed to work with some wonderful women on this committee and it is so much fun to sit and plan these activities together.  We peruse the internet for ideas, we pray about what the women in our group may need, we bounce ideas around and get goosebumps when we come up with a really good plan. 
      I generally share ideas for our activities with you after the fact, such as this Alice in Wonderland themed activity, but since we are getting so close to Valentine's Day, I figured someone out there might need an idea in a pinch, so here is one that I think will be really good. 
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Our 6 year old daughter is really into arts and crafts. I can always guarantee the toys she is going to play with everyday are her Legos and her arts and crafts bin. If she has a spare moment she will pull out paper and pen and draw. So when she had a Daddy Daughter Date night they decided to pick out a craft project they could do together. She got really excited about ​Perler Beads, and so did her creative dad. 

They spent the night making cute scenes of unicorns and rainbows to decorate her new room with!
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We've found other sources of ideas for Perler Earrings, too! Check these out: 
​Maker Mama
The Thinking Closet

Here are some great Perler Kits to help you with designs:
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     I haven't really delved into the world of freezer jam before, but let me tell you how this recipe evolved! 

     For the past week or so , I've been experimenting in the world of pomegranates!  In the midst of that, I picked up a couple of containers of blackberries at the grocery store.  (You all know how much I love blackberries!)  I hadn't decided what I was going to do with them and I even considered making a pomegranate-blackberry jam combo.  As good as that sounded, I ended up needing all of the pomegranate juice for my regular pomegranate jelly, so the marriage of blackberries and pomegranates never happened.  
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      Then, there was a great deal on blueberries and I thought to myself that I hadn't ever made a jam with a combination of blackberries and blueberries! I started looking through Pinterest to see how much it had been done.  (Not too much)  And, I also came across a lot of freezer jam recipes as I scrolled.  I decided that now might be the time to try a freezer jam.  

     I have EATEN freezer jam before and I liked it very much!  But, one of the cons of freezer jam to me is that I don't have a ton of freezer space to devote to jam.  Somehow, this seemed like the right moment to give it a try.  
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     Speaking of the Pros and Cons of freezer jam versus canned jam, here is a list that I have come up with:

     Of course, the pros and cons for me personally may vary for you.  If you have a huge freezer, your space in there may not be a factor like it is for me.  If you have solar energy, the cost of running appliance to keep your food cold may not matter to you like it does to me.  I mean, I have to run my freezer anyway and a full freezer is more efficient than an empty one, so that point is actually kind of silly now that I think about it.  But anyway, you get the picture.  I feel like there is room in my life for both methods of jam making, especially now that I've tasted this great Black and Blueberry Jam! (I thought I was pretty clever coming up with that name, but then I saw that others have used it before me :/

     Lets get to the tips on how to make this particular freezer jam recipe! 

•      While I love blackberries, I don't love to get the seeds stuck in my teeth.  I decided  that the fastest method to get rid of those seeds was to juice my blackberries in my centrifugal juicer, which happens to be on sale for a very good price, by the way!   If you don't have a centrifugal juicer, you can mash the berries through a sieve or food mill.  It may take you more than the 2 cups of berries that I used to get about 1/2 a cup of juice.  The reason I love the blackberry juice mixed with the blueberries is because the blueberries have a very delicate flavor and the blackberries add just the punch that they need! That half a cup doesn't sound like a lot, but it was thick and really made a difference.
• I mashed my blueberries in a large bowl using  a potato masher.  I considered using my food processor, but decided not to go to the trouble.  The potato masher worked just fine and there was less to clean-up! 
• Pour the blackberry juice in with the blueberries and mix it all together.  Then add the lemon juice and the sugar and mix those together with the berries.  In cooked jam, the lemon juice actually helps with the gelling process.  I don't know if that is the case in this uncooked jam, but I didn't want to take the chance and leave it out.  Also, the lemon juice brightens the flavor of the berries. 
• Next I stirred in some cinnamon for a little variety.  You can leave it out if you would like to, but I kind of love the depth it gives to the flavor.  Also add the sugar and stir it in very well to dissolve it in with the berries and their juice.
• Now you must let the berry mixture sit awhile while you prepare the pectin.  
• In a small saucepan, mix the pectin into the water and heat to a boil.  Allow the pectin water to boil for 1 minute.  It will begin to thicken as it boils. 
• Take the pectin water mixture to your berries and pour it in!  Stir it very well! 
• Allow your jam to sit for a few minutes while you get your containers ready.  I used one glass canning jar just to show you that you can use those.  But, mainly I used my Tupperware bowls like this and this, plus some smaller Zip-Lock containers that would be a great gift size if I want to share some of this jam. 
• When you fill your containers,  be sure to leave an inch of headspace because when things freeze, they expand.
• After filling your containers, let them sit out on the counter for 24 hours to give the pectin time to gel.  
• Be sure to print some of the labels that I made and use them to date your jam.  It should last up to a year in the freezer.  I was running out of round labels, so I used Avery #18160 address labels this time.  I certainly didn't want to write on my Tupperware, so labels were a must! 

And now, here is the fast and easy recipe for Black and Blueberry Freezer Jam! I hope you enjoy it!  Remember, if it doesn't set as much as you would like, it will make a delicious sauce for pancakes, waffles or ice cream! 

      I recently wrote a post about my experience with juicing pomegranates.  You can read it here if you missed it. Of course, the reason I was juicing pomegranates was to end up with the beautiful product of pomegranate jelly! 
      If you follow this blog, you know that I love making jams and jellies.  But, I had never made pomegranate jelly before, so this was a learning experience for me!