Dairy Free Fudge

Yep dairy free fudge, there's a few ways to make this.  The one I tried was with dairy free frosting and dairy free chocolate chips

To me it was good but tasted more like frosting than fudge.  The other way would be using a dairy free replacement for the sweetened condensed milk.  There is sweentened condensed soy milk, which is a little harder to find, than the other option which is cream of coconut, not to be confused with coconut cream.  I have no reason to make it unless my sister and her family are visiting.  My eldest niece is allergic to dairy.

other fudge

Cinnamon Bear Fudge
•1 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
•2½ c. semi sweet chocolate chips
•dash salt
•1 c. chopped cinnamon bears...
•¼ c. crushed red hots
1.Line a 9" x 9" pan with aluminum foil. Spray with nonstick baking spray.
2.Cut cinnamon bears into small pieces. I cut one bear into 8 pieces.
3.In a 1 quart microwaveable bowl, mix together sweetened condensed milk and chocolate chips. Microwave on high for 3 minutes, stirring after 1½ minutes.
4.Add a dash of salt. Stir.
5.Fold cinnamon bear pieces into fudge.
6.Pour fudge into prepared pan.
7.Sprinkle crushed red hot candies on top of fudge. Press so the candies stick to the fudge.
8.Chill until firm. Cut into pieces.

Peppermint
2 cups peppermint bits
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate
1 14 oz sweetened condensed milk
microwave in 30 second increments, pour in pan and refrigerate

Cinnamon Fudge
2 cups cinnamon chips
1 cup semi-sweet chips
1 14 oz sweetened condensed milk
microwave in 30 second increments, pour in pan and refrigerate

Cherry Fudge
2 cups cherry chips
1 cup white chips
1 14 oz sweetened condensed milk
microwave in 30 second increments, pour in pan and refrigerate

Rainbow Chip Fudge
1 bag (12 oz) white vanilla baking chips
1 container Betty Crocker™ Rich & Creamy rainbow chip frosting
1. Grease 8-inch square pan.
2. In medium microwavable bowl, microwave white vanilla baking chips uncovered on High in 30-second intervals, stirring after each interval, until smooth. Do not overheat; it’s okay if a few lumps remain. Keep stirring, and they should melt co...mpletely.
3. In another microwavable bowl, microwave frosting uncovered on High 20 to 30 seconds or until melted.
4. Mix melted chips and frosting together; pour into pan. Refrigerate until set, about 1 hour. Cut into 6 rows by 6 rows.
5. This fudge is slightly soft at room temperature. If desired, store in refrigerator.

Pumpkin Spice Fudge
•1 teaspoon butter or cooking spray
•1 (16 ounce) can vanilla frosting
•3 cups white chocolate chips
•¼ cup canned pumpkin puree (unsweetened)
•1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
•¼ teaspoon salt
•½ cup (3 ounces) cinnamon chips (or you can use additional white chocolate chips)

1. Line an 8-inch square pan with foil and grease the foil with butter or cooking spray; set aside.
2. In a large microwave-safe bowl, combine frosting, white chocolate chips, pumpkin, pumpkin pie spice, and salt. Cook in microwave until melted and smooth. Microwaves vary, but I cooked mine for about 1 minute, 30 seconds total (stirring every 30 seconds).
3. Cool for about 5-10 minutes.
4. Stir in cinnamon chips.
5. Transfer to prepared pan.
6. Cover and refrigerate until firm.
7. Using foil, lift fudge out of pan. Discard foil, cut into 1-inch squares. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

What?

I don't just craft I try my hand at baking as well.  My latest that I've gotten into is been microwave fudge, just a little easier for me to try and do with two young kids under 2.  I'll list all the fudge I've made to date but my latest that I tried tonight was fudge made with Kool-Aid.  I had white chocolate chips that I had to figure out what to make with them.  The Pumpkin Cinnamon fudge wasn't a big hit with some people but one of my co-workers said it took care of his inner white girl.  I'll take it as a compliment.  So here it is:

KOOL-AID FUDGE

12 oz. bag of white baking chips (or 1.5 cups)

14 oz can of sweetened condensed milk

1 packet of Kool Aid, whatever flavor you like

now the site I got the recipe from (https://happyhodgepodgehome.wordpress.com/2012/02/17/kool-aid-fudge-an-easy-colorful-treat/) suggests cherry, I tried tropical punch (it was the only flavor I had)  I also mixed the chips and the sweetened condensed milk together instead of separately.  I don't know if it'll make a difference, but I'll try it both ways I have enough chips.  I mixed in the Kool-Aid at the end.  It's setting right now and I'll do an update with how it turned out.

Bank 3 & 4 finished

Well I'll start with #4.  I found some dragon stickers to put on the bank, I used a clear glaze to seal them so less chance of them peeling off.  I only found 3 dragon stickers so I put a dream catcher on the 4th side.

Not sure if this is still made I bought it about 15 years ago

Bank 3- It still needs a little touch up, but its done

Bank 3 & 4

So I'm working on my wonder woman bank and I went with the opaque look.  I went with Anita's Acrylic paint from Hobby Lobby (77 cents for a 2 oz bottle)

  I did two coats of the blue and red.  I'm waiting for them to dry before doing the yellow belt and figuring out the stars.  Than gluing on the applique and it's done!

Bank 4 is for my friend's mom. I painted it all over with the translucent shimmer pain in blue.

Bank 4 painted in translucent blue, Bank 3 with yellow

I just have to figure out the rest of the bank. She likes dragons and gnomes.  There's a small gnome cross stitch that I thought of doing and gluing to the jar, but don't think it'll look right.  once again I'll figure it out!

Bank 3

So was testing some glass paint that I have and decided I liked the opaque instead of translucent. 

I might have to do the gold separately, tape it off as best I can, do the red and blue, than paint the gold/yellow.  The yellow would work better with the applique, than the gold...Plus need to figure out stars.  Paint the whole thing white, put on star stickers, paint blue peel off stickers....yep I'll figure it out

Mason Jar Potpourri-Take one Finished

Just need to add some ribbon around but here is the finished product.  I glued the doily to the mason jar ring so that the scent goes through the top of the doily.  Take 2 will be with completely dehydrated beads.  I also need to get a strainer for easier separation from beads and liquid potpourri, there is a little liquid at the bottom of the jar because I used a spoon.  Lesson learned.

Pedi in a Jar update

So this is something that I added to the jars.  It has a file, glue and glitter to add to the nails.  The box didn't fit in the regular mouth jar that I'm using so I took it out of the box.

Mason Jar Potpourri-take one update

So the aqua beads from the Dollar Tree did hydrate more from the liquid potpourri.  I moved them to a big jar so I could hydrate them all, it should be ready to go for the most part in the morning.  Just no fancy top. Which I can pick up tomorrow after work.  So I will give the jar to my sitter in the morning when I drop off the kids along with the extra liquid potpourri so she can rehydrate as she needs to.  I might have to find a way to do more with the jar as well so it's more decorative, though I think my sitter would be okay with it plain.

I still want to try it with the deco beads from Hobby Lobby and see how they work, I'll have to buy more liquid potpourri to try with them, so maybe I'll hold on to what I have and get the sitter a fresh one.  I'll add a picture when it's all done!

Mason Jar Potpourri-take 1

So as a gift to my sitter, I wanted to make her an air freshener for her bathroom, she puts my kids dirty diapers in a plastic bag on the handle.  So I saw this on Pinterest where you take a mason jar...

 Along with liquid potpourri and aqua beads

Found at Dollar Tree

You put the aqua beads and liquid potpourri in the mason jar and wait for the beads to expand with the liquid potpourri, which replaces water that would normally be used.  The ones I bought to try this with I got at Dollar Tree, they were already hydrated, so I don't know how well it will work or if I need to wait for the beads to dehydrate and than rehydrate with the liquid potpourri.  I might pick up some beads after work tomorrow, I know Hobby Lobby cares them, use a 40% coupon and it'll be under $3 I believe.

Will update with which I found worked better.

Pedi in a Jar

These pedi in a jar are for a dear friend's daughters, Stacy and Carolyn.  They have been great in helping with my son when I need a sitter, because my normal sitter went to MI to help her daughter.  So my friend helped me pick out that which is in the jars at the moment.

Once again using jars from my 12 pack, I bought the pedi kit and the nail polishes from Dollar Tree, so it was around $11.  The flowers on top are His and Hers wedding picks from Hobby Lobby $2 a piece.  I can fit some more in I just haven't quite figured out what. (Will update the post when I figure it out.  Need to before Christmas)

Mason Jar Bank 3-part 1

So I haven't quite gotten my third bank done...okay it's not started but my idea is there.  This one is for one of the "wonder" women in my life, Maija.   She loves wonder woman and actually just got a tattoo of wonder woman.

So I bought a wonder woman applique from Hobby Lobby and used my 40% off coupon so it ended up being under $4.  I just have to decided if I want to paint the mason jar blue and red like wonder woman's outfit or just straight black to go with the applique.

Mason Jar Bank 2

So this was my second mason jar bank, again a gift.  This was part of a Christmas gift for my niece, and I'll admit, I don't really know what my niece likes, so I hope she likes this bank.  I used one of the mason jars from my 12 pack from Walmart (under $10), one of the bank lid replacements from the 4 pack from Hobby Lobby (under $5), larger fence from Hobby Lobby (My Garden Friends, in the floral department, under $5), 4 floral picks from Hobby Lobby (His and Hers wedding picks in the floral department under $5 a piece, also His and Hers does go on sale at 50% off), and a piece of scrap ribbon.

My Garden Friends fence

Using hot glue, I glued the ribbon to the bank lid and than trimmed of the extra ribbon. 

ribbon on bank lid

I measured to see where I need to cut the fence to make sure it was the right length, just pull out one of the stakes and use a wire cutter to cut the wire.  I used hot glue to glue the fence on the mason jar (I unfortunately I had fabric hot glue in my gun so it's dried white not clear) .

After the fence was on I went to gluing on the floral picks.  I made two shorter so the flowers weren't all the same height. 

finished bank

So over all I like the look, this was one that was my own brain child.  I might try with smaller flowers on the next one I make.  Time will tell

Mason Jar Bank 1

Yoda sticker

So my first bank that I made with a mason jar was one for my nephew for his birthday. I bought a 12 pack of smooth mason jars at Walmart for under $10, 2 star wars stickers at Target for under $5, and a 4 pack of mason jar bank tops from Hobby Lobby for under $5. I decided to leave the mason jar clear, only because I thought my nephew might enjoy seeing the money accumulate.  Just make sure not to get air bubbles under the stickers

Darth Vader Sticker

12 pack smooth mason jars

Bank tops

Hey ya'll

So I decided to keep track of my creations. I know, I may not have much to begin with but I try and hope that I can help someone else with making a gift for family and friends. I have a couple I can put up and those will be my next posts!

A disclosure I shop a lot at Hobby Lobby I know there are people who boycott the Hob Lob, just because I bought it there doesn't mean Michael's, JoAnn's or even Walmart doesn't carry it, they might.  Hobby Lobby is my craft store of choice, but you go where the product is.  So please let me know if you do find it somewhere else.