Oh FUDGE...and other holiday treats!

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Holiday Baking in the Brown home was always a monumental event! My Mom is a fabulous cook and even better baker! She would always make so many amazing treats around Christmas, I don't know how she managed to get it all done with 5 kids nagging her! Fudge is definitely one of my favorite holiday treats! My sister got this fudge recipe from a lady who used to own a candy shop! It's so dangerously delicous! I swear I could eat a whole pan by myself! I can't even wait for it to cool before I dig in!

Janice’s Fudge

12 oz. package Ghirardelli’s Semi-Sweet Choc. Chips

7 oz. Jar Marshmallow Cream

12 oz. Can Evaporated Milk

1/2 Cup Salted Butter

4 Cups Sugar

1/2 Tsp. Vanilla

Optional:

2 cups nuts

Or 1 Cup Chopped Candy Cane and Substitute Mint Extract for the Vanilla.

Prepare 9X13 pan by buttering bottom and sides.

Combine chocolate chips and marshmallow cream in LARGE bowl. Set aside.

Combine Butter, Sugar, and Milk in large heavy pan. Stir occasionally until it boils.

Boil, stirring constantly for 7 minutes. Add Vanilla and Pour over chocolate chip/marshmallow mixture. Beat with large spoon until creamy. Add nuts or candy cane.

Let cool at room temperature for 15 minutes. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate 6 hours. Keep refrigerated.

Here are some of my other very favorite Brown Family Classics that I made this year. Sorry, my kitchen was a GINORMOUS MESS so I didn't take pictures of my own, but lets just pretend they turned out as pretty as these ones! :)

photos courtesy of sunset, food network, hersheys and eagle brand

1. Buttery Lemon Squares: recipe here

2. English Toffee: recipe here, the only changes I make are putting the nuts on top of the chocolate instead of in the toffee itself.

3. Peanut Butter Blossoms: recipe here

4. Magic Cookie Bars: Recipe here instead of using 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips, I use 1 cup semi-sweet and 1 cup butterscotch chips.

My new favorite thing to use for dipping pretzels or other candies is Ghiradelli Candy Making and Dipping Bar. You can get a 2lb bar of it at Sam's club for like $5 or $6 and it tastes amazing and hardens beautiful and shiny! Seriously, the BEST stuff! I think Sam's only has it seasonally, so stock up!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

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Christmas Ideas, from Homework

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Carolyn is one of my Twitter friends and her site Homework is beautiful!

Take a look at some fun ideas she has for this holiday season:

This cute place card idea is made from cardboard and Kosher Salt- I love it! Find the How To HERE.

This Miniature Yule Log is darling!

Need a last-minute neighbor gift? I love this idea of nicely packaging all the ingredients for Snowman Soup!

You could personalize a gift card with these Gift Card Holders.

Her Snowy Gift Wrap is adorable!

I wish I would have found this Snowman Ornament in time to make with my preschool students!

And I love her advent calendar book!

I could list so many more projects that I love from Homework, but I will let you discover some holiday goodness for yourself!

To have your ideas featured on Crazy Domestic, click HERE

Faux Fireplace

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For the past 9 years, I haven't been able to hang my stockings with care, they've been on the wall or on a couch or chair! (I didn't mean for that to rhyme). I was on the phone with my sister the other day, and she was telling me about a fireplace she had just made for a church Christmas party she was in charge of. I was so excited and couldn't wait to make my own, I knew my kids would have so much fun with it! I went onto Family Fun to get the instructions, this seriously couldn't get any easier. I roped my husband into helping me, it only took us a couple of hours, including the time it took for the paint to dry!

Supplies:
•4-18x18x16 cardboard boxes (home depot .96¢ each)
•2-28x20x5 cardboard boxes (I just snagged similar size boxes from the stoker man at WalMart)
•1-2 rolls of brown craft paper (walmart for $3 and change)
•packaging tape
•acrylic paint (brick red or mix of red, brown and cream)
•sponge
•red, yellow and black card stock (dollar store, .50¢ each)

Get 'er Done:
Step 1: Tape all 4 18x18 boxes up, leaving one flap open, like this:


Step 2: Flip the boxes on their sides and stack them to make the base of the fireplace and tape the sides and back seams together like this:


Step 3: roll out 130" of the craft paper and start sponge painting your bricks, we found if your sponge isn't too saturated, it gave it a more realistic look! The craft paper wasn't quite tall enough to cover my boxes, so I cut 4 or 5 strips that were 7" tall and taped them to the larger 130" strip before painting (tape goes on the back side, not sure how well the paint would stick to it). Hope that makes sense!


Step 4: Once the paint has dried, lay your paper over the boxes and secure them with packaging tape, your base is now done.

Step 5: I totally spaced taking pictures of this part, but it's similar to the first part, just assemble your two 28x20x5 boxes and tape them together so the dimensions are 56x20x5. Cover the top and sides with craft paper. I chose not to paint my mantle, but you can paint it with mixed black and white paint, using a rag to get a marble look, see Family Fun for the technique. Then just set your mantle on top of your bricks, put the black card stock down for the "fireplace floor" and cut out red and yellow flames if you want a fire!

My sweet, sweet husband helped me with the flames, he cut them out and then made a crown shape with them so we could put flameless candles in the middle! I love the way they look!

If you already have a fireplace, you could easily do this on a smaller scale for a child's room, or a play house! My kids love it!

Linking up @ Under The Table and Dreaming, C.R.A.F.T, Skip To My Lou, Making The World Cuter, It's All In My Head, Somewhat Simple Winter Holiday Link Party, Sumo's Sweet Stuff, Sew Can Do, The Girl Creative, Today's Creative Blog, Topsy Turvy Tuesday, Sugar Bee Craft Edition, Vintage Pollyanna, Sew Chatty Blue Cricket Design's Show & Tell, My Backyard Eden, The Thrifty Home, Seven Thirty Three, Someday Crafts, Creations By Kara, Sew Much Ado, Somewhat Simple's Strut Your Stuff, Life As Lori, Fireflies and Jellybeans, House of Hepworths, Beyond The Picket Fence, Tales From Bloggeritaville

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Holiday Gift Ideas

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Good news! Crazy Domestic is now on FACEBOOK! Be our fan and get notified of special announcements and deals. Come on, all the crazy people are doing it!

Now on with our post! I don't know about you, but I scramble to figure out gift ideas that are original, thoughtful and AFFORDABLE, here are some fantastic ideas, some even from our readers!

These Pizzazy Post-Its from Maple & Vine would make a perfect teacher gift!

Love this adorable Snowman Hand Sanitizer from Crafts and Crap. I have a germ-a-phobic sister who could put this to good use!

I've always loved the cookies in a jar, but this Caramel & Apple Jar is such a good idea! Get the recipe @ Simple Mommy Secrets.

Brandy over @ Gluesticks is always full of fun ideas! Check out her Super Science Kit, a perfect gift for family of fun kids!

Cassie @ Primitive & Proper, shows how to put together a sweet Music Sheet Themed Gift Basket for the music teachers/lovers in our life!

Cleverly wrapped peppermint soap over @ Naptime Crafters would make a great neighbor gift!

This kids art bucket is GENIUS, and super cute too! See how to make your own @Laura Thoughts

Peanut Butter Doggy Biscuits for our animal lovers or our fur babies! Get the recipe at Dukes and Duchesses.

Eye Spy DIY has a great tutorial on how to make your own peppermint lip balm! YUMMY!

Check out these adorable bottle cap photo magnets @ Lemon Tree Creations!

This Greeting Card Gift Box over @ Delightful Order is SUCH a great idea! It would be so perfect for a Mother or Grandma!


Happy Holidays, and don't forget to go check us out on Facebook!

To have your ideas featured on Crazy Domestic, click HERE

Melted Snowman Cookies

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I saw a picture of these the other day on Allrecipes.com and thought it was such a cute idea, I had to try it. After googleing it, I found a good tutorial on Stacy's Sweet Shop. I modified a few things to make it more simple for me (less homemade more store bought). To see the original Melted Snowman Cookie, and meet the inventor herself, go check out Meaghan (great name) @ The Decorated Cookie!

Here's what I used:

•1 package Betty Crocker Sugar Cookie Mix
•10 large marshmallows
•Betty Crocker Cookie Icing (white and orange)
•Wilton Decorating Icing Tubes in Black, Red, Green, Blue and Pink
***it would have been a lot cheaper if I had just made the icing myself, see Stacy's tutorial for a good recipe)***

Here's what I did:

•Mix cookie mix according to directions, or prepare your favorite cut out sugar cookie recipe, then just grab a golf ball sized chunk and squish it down until it's about 1/4-1/2 inch thick. Do not worry about the shape or how lumpy it is, the more misshapen the better! Bake according to recipe directions.


•Once the cookies are cool, load them up with the cookie icing and spread it around with the back of a spoon, let some dribble over the edge for a "puddle" look.


•Spray a microwave safe plate with cooking spray, and place marshmallows on the plate. Set the microwave for 30 seconds, but watch the marshmallows as they cook. Stop the microwave as soon as the marshmallows start to get puffy, do not let them double in size.


•Spray your fingers with cooking spray or grease them up with shortening, and carefully pull the marshmallows off, by the base, and set them on top of the frosted cookies.

•Then just decorate as you'd like with the Wilton frosting, or your own homemade frosting! I was pleasantly surprised at how yummy the Betty Crocker cookie icing was!

Linked Up @: Under The Table & Dreaming, C.R.A.F.T, Skip To My Lou, Making The World Cuter, It's All In My Head, Somewhat Simple Winter Holiday Link Party, Sumo's Sweet Stuff, Sew Can Do, The Girl Creative, Today's Creative Blog, Topsy Turvy Tuesday, Sugar Bee Craft Edition, Vintage Pollyanna, Sew Chatty, Blue Cricket Design's Show & Tell, My Backyard Eden, The Thrifty Home, Seven Thirty Three, Someday Crafts, Creations By Kara, Sew Much Ado, CSI Handmade Holidays, Somewhat Simple's Strut Your Stuff, Life As Lori, Fireflies and Jellybeans, House of Hepworths, Beyond The Picket Fence, Tales From Bloggeritaville, Kojo Designs Friday Fun Finds, My Romantic Home, Thirty Handmade Days, 504 Main, Sassy Sites, A Little Knick Knack, Frou Frou Decor, Simply Designing, Fun To Craft, The Shabby Nest, Poppies At Play, Tatertots And Jello, Smile Monsters

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Christmas Christmas Time Is Here...

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Anyone else like the chipmonk song as much as me? I just love Christmastime and I'm loving all the fun ideas that I've seen lately, and there are A LOT! I wish I had another month so I could do them all! Here are some of my favorites from all around blogland!

Adorable Christmas sign made from CD's @ A Recovering Craft Horder

Gorgeous tissue paper trees @Spunky Junky

Game of Life Christmas card @A Little Bit Of This And That. So creative, LUVIT!

Pottery Barn knock-off advent calendar @ Second Time Furniture. You seriously need to go check out her post to see ALL the INSANELY ADORABLE pockets in detail!

Fun and festive Christmas Pillow by Diary of A Quilter ON Someday Crafts. I love the vintage feel to this pillow!

Love this Snowman Wreath @ Sew Many Ways, she also has a great no sew Tree Skirt!

Fingerprint Snoman Ornaments, what a super cute idea! Check them out @ Creative Mommas.

I'm so ready to clean off my fridge so I can make this! Get the how to @ Trying To "Craft" A Talent.

To have your ideas featured on Crazy Domestic, click HERE