2011 a year in links

Betsy from the wonderful Romance on a dime did a top 10 posts for 2011 which I thought was a fab idea so I wanted to do one too. This is my first full year of blogging and I have just been loving it especially the two months of a blog a day that I did in October and November.  December is the crazy month of the year and I have missed writing regularly I’ve found I’m even having withdrawals! So below are some of my favourite posts, special memories, projects I’ve made and some of my most popular posts of the year. Enjoy.

Roll up chalk mat

Christmas gifts

My love of cloth

Clothes rack veggie trellis

Green first birthday party

Memory board

My  brother and sister in law's wonderful wedding

Bamboo

My garden

Any post on my little man who I love so dearly

Thank you so much everyone for linking up to my party. I'm really enjoying reading all your blogs and feel so special that you have chosen to link up. All the best for 2012. 

Pizza

Super yummy dinner tonight - home made pizza. My pizza was so yummy that I wanted to share what we had.

Homemade pizza base

$1.50 pasta sauce – fresh herbs from the garden

Cheese and more cheese!

Spinach from the garden

Beetroot – first fry in olive oil

Courgette – my first from the garden ever!

Mushrooms

Avocado

Homemade feta – I even met the cow the milk came from!

Pineapple – a total must (Mr Ecochick does not agree)

Pinenuts

Capers

Hickory sauce

Must be the healthiest yummiest pizza ever! What do you like to put on your pizza?

Floppy disk notebook

When I saw this floppy disk notepad on instructables I just knew I HAD to make one of these for Mr Ecochick. It’s the ultimate geekbook. The geek in your life will just love these. Mum had some old floppy disks taking up space so was more than happy for them to leave her house and move to mine.

What you’ll need:

2 floppy disks

Note paper

Guillotine (or scissors)

Holepunch

2 cable ties

Instructions:

Open the read/ write lock tabs on the floppy disks so that you have two holes in the disks. If you don’t have the two tabs maybe you could hole punch the disks.

Measure around the floppy disks on the notepaper and cut to size with the guillotine/ scissors. I used some map paper that mum had at home but any paper you have at home will do.

Put the floppy disk on the notepaper and mark where the holes are to be punched. Hole punch on the marks.

Gather the floppy disks and paper all together then cable tie. I placed my floppy disks both facing outward so the notebook looks the same from both side. 

Mr Ecochick just loved the notebooks and is going to use them at work. These notebooks were fun to make and also cost nothing as they were materials that were just lying around the home. I love upcycled gifts.  






















Linked to pinteresting link party, tip junkie, crafty scrappy happy,

 

Chalk gift labels

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. We had not one but two wonderful Christmas days where we all got very spoilt! Over the next week or so I’ll write some tutorials for the Christmas gifts I made everyone. I had so much fun making most of my own gifts this year I do so love making and receiving home made gifts. My very talented sister in law made us some amazing gifts; I got two beautiful headbands that I’ve been wearing ever since, she made John a super cute pillow with his name and an aeroplane on it and a cute apron. 

Once all my gifts were made I wanted to wrap them up as I still think that presents should be wrapped so that they are a surprise. In the past I’ve used scarves to wrap gifts or I’ve made my own cloth wrapping paper. This Christmas I wrapped all my gifts in old scarves that mum no longer needed, scarves I had and also some fabric off cuts. Then I tied these together with ribbon I had lying around.

For labels I intended to use some of the chalk cloth I had left over from my niece’s  birthday gift and sew some pretty fabric around them and add a tag but this just didn’t happen. So I cut the chalk cloth into pieces and hole punched one side then threaded some ribbon through the hole. I used chalk to write on everyone’s names and now have reusable chalk labels.

Kitty Christmas crackers

This post is the first in a series of craft posts that are going to be made and written by the very crafty Mrs S. Mrs S is a good friend of mine who is very talented and super clever. She makes all sorts of wonderful and amazing crafty things including incredible cakes. Mrs S made John some amazing bunny outfits when he was born; there were four of them in all different sizes he has only just grown out of the last one. Not to mention the lovely bunny soft toy and wombat pillow she just made him for Christmas. Mrs S doesn't have her own blog (though I think she should) so I convinced her to do a monthly guest post for NZ Ecochick. I’m sure you’ll love her as much as I do. Thank you so much. Can't wait to see what you'll make next month. 

 

Kitty Christmas crackers

You will need:

bendable cardboard

sellotape

scissors

ribbon

wrapping paper - papery not foil

tasty treats

toys

 

Roll the card into a cylinder shape and tape in place - it's going to be hidden so strength is more important that appearance

Insert toys and tasty treats - strong smelling is better as we want to get the pet's attention.

Roll in wrapping paper and tape in place (or use festive stickers if you want them to look good, I figured my cat's wouldn't mind).

Check that the treats are still in place - they have a habit of rolling out.

Tie ribbon around the ends really tightly so nothing will fall out.

When ready, give to your pet and watch them doing the three things they love most - rip something up, play and eat.

If you are doing human crackers you can buy the snaps from spotlight - the ones I got were $4 for a bag of I think 10 - or you can buy cheap crackers from the warehouse, supermarket etc and cannibalise them for parts. I bought little bits and pieces for the ones I made in place of the plastic toys; things like kitchen items (mini spice grater), toys (lego set) and oddments (a packet of seeds to plant in the garden). The benefit to making your own 'tube' is the prize doesn't have to fit a certain size. I got the obligatory hat and joke out of a cheap set of crackers I bought but in previous years I have found suitably terrible jokes and hand-written them for the crackers. I'm sure you can get hats from supermarkets or party supply stores but it was late in the day and I couldn't be bothered looking.

Merry christmas

A friend of the family (who also happens to be a professional photographer) takes photos of his boys under the Christmas tree and has done this since they were babies. I think this is such a great idea so I’m going to do this every year now too. Last year I got a cute photo of a tiny baby John under the tree this year the photo is every cuter! John loves the ears and has been wearing them all day and most nights.  

Merry Christmas from the whole NZ Ecochick family. It’s been a wonderful year. Have an amazing Christmas everyone and may all your dreams come true.

Memory board

I made a very cool memory board for my niece for Christmas I still a have to make another one for my other niece. These boards are really easy to make, they take about an afternoon and cost less than $10 so a great gift all round. I bought the fabric especially for this board but if you have left over curtain or any other fabric lying around that would make this project even cheaper. This board is designed to slip photos or pictures or other treasures in between the ribbons it is NOT designed to pin items to and is not a cork board.

What you’ll need:

A fat quarter of fabric (more or less depends on how big your backing is)

Some kind of backing – this needs to be quite stiff

Filling – quilters filling if you like

Sewing machine – if you want but you could just glue it

Glue

Thread and a needle (I used embroidery thread)

Nail and hammer or whatever you like to make holes with

Ribbon

Paper fasteners

Pliers

Clear nylon thread for hanging the board up (or some other way to hang the board)

Paper

To make the board:

Measure the fabric and filling so that they are bigger than your chosen backing. I used canvas panels as these were super cheap but you could use picture frame backing or thin wood – but it can’t be too heavy.

I sewed the fabric and filling together but you don’t need too you could glue them together but I think sewing them makes it easier to work with. 

Turn the board over and glue the fabric to the backing and add some weights to help the glue stick. Get a needle and thread and crisscross the thread while stretching the fabric over the backing to keep tension in the fabric. 

Flip your board the right way round. Place your ribbon on the front to decide where you want it. Make sure your ribbon is long enough to wrap around the back of the board.

Take your hammer and nail (or punching device) and make a small hole right through the fabric and board. Push your paper fastener through the ribbon, fabric and backing. 

Turn your board over and use pliers to pull the paper fasteners tight so that the fabric is indented. Repeat until all your ribbon is attached.

 

Glue the edges of the ribbon to the back of the board. I also stuck mine down with duck tape to help the glue dry.

 

Attached clear nylon to the back of the board to hang the board.

Cover the back of the board with paper to make it look all pretty. You could write a message on the back if you wanted to.

Admire your work.