Best of 17 Apart in 2012

 

This past year seemed to fly right by and before we knew it, here we are again at the end of the year, looking back at all the projects we took on and memories we made. In keeping with last year, we thought it would be fun to post a roundup of the top 10 most popular posts we published over the past year.

The following posts are in order from most popular and we used a combination of Google Analytics and Blogger Stats to determine which posts had the highest page views. In doing so, we learned that once again, our How-To and DIY posts seem to be pretty popular — we even had a handful of them mentioned on sites we love like Apartment Therapy, The Huffington Post, A Beautiful Mess, CRAFT, Buzzfeed, and The Kitchn! So awesome.

We were equally excited to find our celery growing project featured in The Kitchn's top 15 money saving tips of 2012 and our DIY Stump Table featured in Apartment Therapy's Best of Before & Afters in 2012!

So without further ado, or in the event you missed a few of these popular posts or just want to stroll down memory lane with us a bit, listed below are the top 10 posts from 17 Apart in 2012:

1. How to re-grow celery over and over again. This was one of our first indoor urban growing projects — it turned out so successfully that it fueled us to start a series experimenting with what other plant scraps we could regenerate plants from. This little celery growing project was also featured this year on The Kitchn.

2. How to grow green onions indefinitely. Similar to the celery, we watched and learned all about how green onions can literally regrow themselves, virtually overnight, if placed in water near a windowsill. This little green onion growing project really took off and was featured this year on The Huffington Post.

3. DIY faux mercury glass finish anything. Once we learned how to achieve an incredible faux mercury glass finish using a spray bottle, vinegar, water and Krylon Looking Glass Spray, Mary wanted to give virtually everything in our house a mirrored glass update. This diy finish was so popular, it was featured on both CRAFT and A Beautiful Mess this year.

4. Plant and grow sweet potatoes indoors and in bags. Venturing into the world of growing sweet potatoes was new for us — you guys followed along as we sprouted stems, planted them in bags, and later harvested what were teeny tiny sweet potatoes! This is one project we are looking forward to trying our hands at with even better luck next year.

5. How to re-grow bok choy. Just like the celery growing project, we learned that bok choy can also completely regenerate itself from the base of the plant if placed in a bowl of water near a windowsill. It's almost like magic how well this experiment works, and it's a great one to try with children.

6. Homemade sweet potato dog chew treats. Once we learned how to make inexpensive versions of our favorite dehydrated sweet potato dog treats, we've never looked back. Not only are they natural and easy to make, they've saved us tons of money and Basil loves them. This treat recipe generated a lot of "buzz" when featured on Buzzfeed this year (pun intended).

Speaking of homemade natural dog treat recipes, our versions for carrot and banana treats were also among your favorites this year:

As were 2011's recipe for homemade natural apple dog treats:

7. Recipe: Inside Out Summer Mojitos. My twist on the traditional Mojito recipe by freezing mint leaves directly into giant ice cubes was a hit this summer — we are already looking forward to making these guys again when the weather warms up:

8. DIY Stump Table. Transforming the stump we found on the side of the street (headed for the landfill) into a table was among our own favorite diy undertakings this year. It was the first time either of us had attempted making furniture and we actually use this new little table every single day — it's the star of our living room. To our excitement, this little before and after project really took off and was featured over on Apartment Therapy this year!

9. Plant seeds in eggshells. This time last year we were already getting ready for early spring plantings and we began our little seedlings using eggshells instead of plastic planters. This method worked so well for us, we're looking forward to using it again in the coming weeks.

  
10. How to make homemade butter. This year we tried our hands at making homemade butter from scratch — it turns out you all found this surprisingly simple DIY recipe as amazing as we did!

And that's the 2012 roundup! We had a blast looking back through each of these projects and it's sparked a new fire under our bottoms to take on new gardening and diy undertakings in the new year. We took on many more recipes and projects throughout the past year other than what's been listed here, so keep up with all of our DIY projects we've got going on with this giant list on our DIY page.

Love recipes and want to see even more? Check out the top most popular recipes from my food blog, E.A.T., in a similar 2012 roundup right here.

...and in case you missed them or just want to look back through with us, here's a look at the top posts from 2011:

Thanks for helping us look back over the past 12 months and remembering all the fun things we've taken on. It means so much to us that you follow along and share in our journey. Here's wishing everyone a safe and happy New Year's Eve!