Handmade Christmas presents

This is what I came up with for my four young siblings this year. They're all enjoying gardening, so I found four tin watering cans and personalised each one with a name and stickers. Then I tucked a packet of seeds inside each one.

They were super excited to get those seeds in and start watering!

Close up of Anya's watering can. (To see the rest, check out my Flickr page)

For a couple more garden-themed gifts, I took some cuttings from various herb plants I had growing (I love this bit cause it's free!). I saved up some cans (also free!) and painted them white, and decorated them with ribbon. I also punched some holes in the bottom for drainage.

To finish it off, I made wooden plant labels for each herb.

Each one was decorated a bit differently.

About 4 days before Christmas I had a brilliant idea. People are always asking me for lemon recipes (usually while raiding our giant lemon tree), so I thought I could compile some of my favourites into a cookbook.

So, as well as the hustle and bustle of organising menus and work dinners and all the last minute things, I was also typing this up and copying and binding it...

Got there in the end though. Who knows, I might even make another edition next year.

This quilted mat wasn't made by me, but by my auntie many years ago.

Goal for next Christmas: start the presents early, finish them early, wrap them and put them away! I was getting really sick of thinking about them towards the end. Anyway, that's all over now. I have another week's holiday and I'm aiming to spend some quality time with the garden, a book and some crochet.