Happy New Year - Top 10 Posts for 2020

Happy New Year!

I know I’m just a few days late and I hope you can forgive me.  Here in New Zealand summer coincides with Christmas so I took a little break. I didn’t actually go to the beach as it’s been quite cold, but I thought you would enjoy the picture.

Wow! What a year 2020 was! For the most part, here in NZ, life was pretty normal after we came out of lockdown.

I know that’s not the case for a lot of people around the World.  Every day I feel gratitude for where I am and what I have. 2020 seems to have made that very clear.

I thought, as my first post for the 2021, I would ease back into it by reviewing what happened on the blog in 2020.  

Big Changes

I couldn't post about 2020 without talking about the thing that changed my life.

In June, we purchased Affordable Jewellery Supplies.  It’s been so much fun (and quite a bit of hard work) getting the store to where it is today.  

The best part for me, is the tutorials.  Obviously, I really enjoy making jewellery, but I absolutely love creating the tutorials for you. If you haven’t seen all of these check  out my create section where you can see all the tutorials. Here's a peak of some jewellery tutorials I created.

Countdown

So, let the countdown begin!

Number 10

Gluten Free Lemon Curd Layer Cake

This cake recipe just took off!  It’s such an amazing cake and the texture is divine so I can understand why.  It’s also super easy to make. Honestly, whether you are gluten free or not, you really need to try this recipe.

Number 9

Wool Tassels – What Fun

This wool tassel caused a big stir – it was such a fun project and it really reminded me of my childhood.

Number 8

No 1 Fashion Trend For 2020– Face Mask

We saw ourselves having to cover our faces, many for the first time.  So, we got creative and made this a fashion.  I think it’s amazing how the creative ones among us took this and turned it into a positive – a way to express your creativity.

Number 7

Lockwood Renovation Part 8 – Tiny Master Bedroom Makeover

We finally got to reveal a couple of rooms in our house. Our tiny master bedroom picked up quite a bit of interest. I think this was for two reasons:

1. It’s a tiny bedroom and, while lots of people have tiny bedrooms, you often see beautiful makeovers of dream bedrooms that are huge.  It’s very hard to translate a dream bedroom into the reality of a small space.
2. The second reason is that this is a Lockwood home.  In New Zealand there are plenty of them and lots of people are just starting to think about renovating them.  Until now, and maybe because shiplap is the trend, people have not really tried to paint the walls. Lockwoods are renowned for their dark wooden walls.  We showed them!

Number 6

Lockwood Renovation Part 9 – Insulating Cathedral Ceilings

This post was very popular – maybe for the same reason as above. I had lots of people contacting me asking about this post. I can tell you, we are so happy that we did this – it has made a huge difference to our home, not only the warmth but also cutting down on the noise. We have only done half the house – the second half is on the list for 2021.

Number 5

Bubblegum Necklace Tutorial

This was by far my hottest necklace tutorial. I just loved those bubblegum beads, and I can tell you now that this was made as a gift for my niece for Christmas (I couldn’t tell you before Christmas – she may have figured it out!).  I loved making this necklace and I’ve had people contact me from all over the World asking if I would ship them kits.

Number 4

Gnome Cushion

In the lead up to Christmas I became fascinated by gnomes! Who knew these funny little guys would invade our Christmas (there were more than just the pillows!).  So, I made these Christmas Gnome Cushions.

Number 3

Four Christmas Charms

One thing I’ve learned since taking over Affordable Jewellery Supplies is that people love charms!  I would never have thought that these tiny little treasures would be my best seller.  So, I created a tutorial for these four cute Christmas charms. There are still a couple of kits left if you would like to make some for next year!

Number 2

How to Clean Your Kitchen in Under 15 Minutes

I think the reason this post was incredibly popular is that we are all so stretched for time these days. Some of us are homeschooling, some are working from home. Our lives are so busy. This is such an easy thing to do and it makes such a difference to your life.  If you haven’t ready, check this one out.

Number 1

How to Clean an Oven

I hate cleaning the oven and I assumed that everyone else did too – I was right.  This was my number one post for the year! I posted it on Hometalk and it had over 49,000 views and still counting! Do you believe it?

If you struggle, like me, with a forever dirty oven, why not see what oven cleaning tips and tricks I used.  That reminds me, I need to clean mine again. I’ll be using this method every time I clean my oven from now on.

There you have it! My top 10 posts for 2020.  I’m looking forward to bringing you some great new posts in 2021 – over my break I haven’t been idle – I’ve been thinking of lots of things I can show you.

I hope that you have had a great start to 2021 and that things are looking up.

Please feel free to leave me a comment below and let me know which post was your favourite. I’d love to hear how your year has started too.

Remember, to pin if you think you’ll want to refer back to these posts at a later date.

Thank you for joining me on my real life journey. I look forward to talking soon.