I wanted to do my home church for a gingerbread house competition. I used your church template, and made a few add ons.
The staircase I thought it would be easy( One of the ad ons),they were a bit more involved trying to get them to be right height at the doorways and landing. I had to change the height of the gingerbread house template so I could put in a stair case.
I used blue sparkle piping gel for my little pond. The bell tower I used gum paste and pastillage.
My inspiration church has a cross on the top of the steeple, but I had issues making a tall thin cross ( worried about breakage during the transporting), so I went with a good stand in, a fondant ball, lol. Poinsettias are potted in Reese cups, packages out of Starburst.
I got a lot of ideas from this site.This was my first competition, I did it for the practice. I am more of a caker person than a gingerbread person, but I think this just changed my mind! I have made only 3 houses; one was a graham cracker house, the second was a kit, and this one....never thought in a million years I would win the most difficult category...but I'll be darned I did..lol...
My advice would be to just enter a competition. It is good practice, you get new ideas,and its nice to be around other people who share your enthusiasm for gingerbread and who knows, you make shock yourself and win!
