Shower hanger make over

I love my new bathroom it looks so amazing! 

I just love being in there!

I love having all my prettys in the shower with me. 

I hung up my hemp bath sponge and wooden brush on the shower door bar with one of John's plastic toy hangers. 

This provides great drainage for the items so they dry out completely 

and will slow down the rotting process.

I love that I have reused an item within my home but I always thought the red looked silly. Useful yes, but childish. So...

Out came the white spray can and...

 check out what a difference a little white paint can make. 

Much more sophisticated! 

Madeleine x

Washing organization

Washing; love it or hate it; there's no getting around it; 
it has to be done. 

I love hanging out washing and seeing it drying in the sun; 

happily flapping in the breeze.   

I don't mind folding it but at times I have all my washing baskets full of clean folded washing. What I don't like is putting all the washing away.   

So when I'm feeling especially organized (and have empty washing baskets) I bring out three washing baskets to fold and sort my washing as soon as I take it off the line.
I have a washing basket for our room, 
one for little John and 
one for kitchen/ bathroom/ sheets/ other stuff.
I find when I am super organized and sort my washing it makes it so much easier to put things away as I can just put it in the draws rather than just leaving it in a messy pile in the washing baskets.
This takes a little bit of organizing but it is totally worth it.   
Madeleine x   

New SodaStream machine

I love SodaStream; I love the company’s ideology, I love the machines, I love the flavours, I just love SodaStream. Imagine how happy I was when SodaStream emailed me to say they wanted to send me some yummy flavours to say thanks for the review I did a few years ago. They also sent me one of their super fancy new Fizz machines to try.

Why I love SodaStream the company; SodaStream has been around since 1903! I love that SodaStream is a genuinely green company and tries hard to reduce the amount of waste going into landfills; 1500 bottles and cans (per family/per year) are kept out of the landfill by owning a machine.

Why I love Sodastream machines; One SodaStream gas bottle makes 30 litres which is the equivalent of 85 cans of fizz. Once the gas bottle is empty simply take it to a store and exchange it for a new one. SodaStream recyclable bottles are BPA-free and made without any polycarbonate materials or phthalates producing substances or PCBs. SodaStream machines are very durable and almost completely recyclable. 

Why I love SodaStream flavours: One bottle of syrup makes 12 litres of yummy fizzy goodness; keeping waste out of the landfills and saving you lots of money. Even the normal syrups have half the sugar content of the store bought branded counterpart. Half the sugar that's a win/win.   
You can buy 25 different flavours in New Zealand; some are sugar free, some are sparkling and some are syrupy goodness.  

I am very happy with my new super stylish Fizz machine. 

I’ve had it for a few months now and I love the new FizzChip that is on top of the machine. The FizzChip displays how much gas is left in the gas bottle and also how much fizz is in your drink. 

I think the gas bottle usage gauge is really useful; no more worrying about when the bottle will run out 

(it pays to own two gas bottles to exchange in time of need). 

I found that the 3 cup fizz strength is not enough for me I am an extra fizzy drink kind of girl so my fizz is off the scale! 

SodaStream also kindly sent me some new flavours to try. They sent me sugarfree cranberry/ raspberry, sugar free lemonade, sugarfree cola, summer lemon and my favourite ginger beer. We love the sugarfree cola and lemonade they left no nasty aftertaste that sugarfree drinks often have. They were smoother than the sugar ones and I could happily buy the sugarfree ones rather than the normal ones. Sugarfree cranberry/ raspberry was tasty too but I prefer the ordinary raspberry flavour. Sumer lemon and ginger were as amazing as all ways.

 Thanks SodaStream. 

Madeleine x

The BEST chocolate sauce

This is the most AMAZING chocolate sauce you will ever eat!!! 

Even better it is super easy to make and cheap too!!

This recipe is from food.com with a huge thanks to Steve G! 

You rock!! 

What you'll need: 
(this makes about a jar full (c400g))

2/3 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup Dutch cocoa 

pinch of salt

1/2 cup water

1 tsp vanilla essence

Glass jar/ bottle

In a heavy pan whisk together the sugar, cocoa and salt.

 Whisk the water through until completely combined. 

Whisk over a medium heat until it starts to boil.

Boil for 3 minutes, stirring frequently.

Turn down if it boils over (mine didn't).

Take off the heat.

Add the vanilla essence. 

Pour into your chosen jar. 

(Ignore my ugly plastic funnel I'm having serious issues buying metals ones! 
I bought one but am still looking for more).

Once cold. Store in the fridge. 

Pour over ice cream, fruit or cake, eat straight from the bottle, 
add to my yummy mocha frappuccinos 
or pour over anything and everything!

Warning: this sauce is so super yummy you'll need to make sure you have a constant supply of Dutch cocoa!! 

Madeleine x

Linked to tip junkie, our delightful home, toot your horn tuesday,

Homemade Starbucks Mocha Frappuccino

I just love mocha frappuccinos but they are so super expensive and a real treat. You can imagine how super excited I was when I found this recipe; thanks heaps women living well. I have made this recipe several times and have modified the original recipe to suit us. Enjoy.

What you'll need:

Coffee - 3tsps coffee in 1/4 cup hot water, add 1/2 cup cold water

3 T raw sugar

1 cup low fat milk

3 cups ice

3 T chocolate sauce 

Put all ingredients in a blender.

Blend until the ice is broken up.   

Pour into a glass add a straw and enjoy.

I LOVE this recipe and will be making more and more and of it! 

Madeleine x

p.s. Add half a cup of Baileys!!! Careful VERY addictive! 

Or leave out the coffee for the kiddies. 

Kitchen drawer organization

I've been doing some more organizing around the house. Slowly I'm getting satisfied with the state of organization in our home. Two drawers in my kitchen got the cut this week. Looking at the state of my draws I'm almost embarrassed to put these photos on my blog but at least the after photos look so much better and also wow it's so much easier to find what we're looking for. 

I went through the drawers and got rid of things we didn't use anymore. I'm impressed to say that the only things I got rid of (gave away on freecycle) were some cheap steak knives (vegetarians really don't have much use for these!)   

I sorted out the utensils that were in the drawer. The large ones I put in the utensil organizer on the bench. 

I found some old butter containers in our recycling bin that were going to go out the next day. They fit nicely next to the utensil tray. I sorted everything so that like was kept with like. I love the new drawer SO easy to find what I'm looking for  

With the unused steak knives gone there was room to move the remaining items around. The bottom console is now filled with John's spoons. Mr Ecochick loves that the garlic press now lives in the second drawer rather than trying to find it in the mess of the third drawer. 

A week on and the drawers are still organized, look good, are easy to work with and makes life faster and easier in general.    

Potting potting mix

My girlfriend came up with a very simple but clever idea of recycling an old pot to take potting mix out of the bag. Sounds so simple but boy it makes filling pots with potting mix so much quicker and also you don't waste any mix.  

Brownie in a jar

I saw this fantastic idea on Maisy and Grace (fantastic shop as well as blog) and have wanted to make this gift for ages so when it was a friend's birthday a few weeks ago I just knew what to give her. 

What you'll need:
A very large jar - about 1L I used an Agee jar
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
3/4 cup plain flour
3/4 cup cocoa
1/2 cup chocolate chunks
1/4 cup walnuts/ pecans - I added extra chocolate
Cloth, twine and label

Layer the ingredients into the jar with a large spoon. 

Very carefully pat down the ingredients in between each layer. 

Add a lid and cover with come cloth. I cut around the lid of the jar allowing  enough fabric to wrap around the jar as well as the lid. 

Use twine or ribbon to wrap around the cloth. Add a label. 

To make a label I cut out some cardboard I had.  

On the label write:

Preheat oven to 160C

Empty jar into a bowl. Add 3 lightly beaten eggs and 1 cup (225g) of softened butter.

Spread into a baking tray and bake for 30-35 minutes. 

Your friends will be amazed with this wonderfully beautiful gift. 

Linked to homestead barn hop, everything under the moon, romance on a dime, tip junkie, the shady porch, our delightful home, frugal tuesday tip, pinch a little save a lot, Here the bells, your green resource,  

Homemade mod podge

I’ve been doing lots of crafting lately but I never knew about the secret weapon of mod podge. Actually I never knew about mod podge at all!! Mod podge is basically watered down PVA (polyvinyl acetate) glue. 

I wondered why I would need to use mod podge rather than ordinary glue but I think due to the watered down nature of the mod podge it stops the crustiness you can get with using PVA also this seams to be the thing to use when you are decopaging. 

I found out about mod podge and this recipe on Do it yourself divas. 

Basically you take a 50/50 mixture of water and PVA glue and shake.

50/50 water/ PVA

What a I used to make my pod podge:

35ml PVA glue

35ml water

A glass jar 

Shake well until it is mixed. 
I guess it'll need shaking each time before use. 

French inspired pots

I saw this amazing tutorial on Market Nine home and just knew I just HAD to transform the terracotta pots I’ve had sitting in the garage for about a year. I bought these pots knowing that I wanted to paint them in a French style but no idea what or how I was going to achieve this until I stumbled on Market nine home’s fabulous post. I made four of these wonderful French inspired pots for my plants and one for our kitchen utensils.

Don't my French lavenders look fancy?

What you’ll need:

Terracotta pots

Paint 

Printed mirrored images I got mine from The Graphics Fairy

Mod Podge 

Paint brush

I painted my pots three times to give a nice white finish. Since I was going for a French country look I wasn’t too careful about brushstrokes actually I pretty much just slapped the paint on. Was heaps of fun not being careful. 

I used left over ceiling paint, though this is water-based so I'm not sure how this is going to last in time, but I guess the more aged and country they look the better(?!). 

Print out and cut out whatever image you want to have on your pot. I got my amazing images from The Graphics Fairy; I will definitely be using this site again. 

Cut close to the edges of the image to reduce the amount of mod podge on the pot. Apply a coat of mod podge to the inked side of the paper.

Centre the image on your pot mod podge side down. Gently press the image onto the pot. Smooth out any bumps or creases and make sure that the whole image is touching the pot. 

Now leave the image on the pot overnight! I took mine off after about 5 hours and it wasn't long enough - some of the images came off but it makes the pots look older. Next time I will leave well enough alone!  

The next day get a bowl of water and a flannel/ cloth and gently wet the paper until it is completely soaked through. Gently, very gently, rub the paper off with your finger or cloth I found a combination works well. 

There you have it some beautiful pots. These are so easy to make and look amazing! I will definitely make these again but I WILL leave them to dry overnight!  

My very own French pots.  

My wonderful kitchen utensils pot (yes it says kitchen utensils in French!) 

My happy anthurium

Linked to romance on a dime, homestead barn hop, tip junkie, sugar bee crafts, natural mothers network, everything under the moon, graphics fairy, crafty scrappy happy,

Kitchen utensil organiser

Some more organising has been going down at my place. My latest victim (I mean achievement) has been my kitchen utensils. I sorted out the large kitchen utensils and gave away what we didn’t need. 

Even with my utensil cull there were still too many to go on the metal storage rack so time to get creative. I had some terracotta pots that I bought ages ago and have always intended to paint and do something with so today was their day.

I can't resist sharing my completed pot. I just love how the pot came out (tomorrow I’ll do a how to tutorial). These are super easy and look really beautiful.