Christmas and holiday season

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Gifts for the Joyful Gardener

Gardeners are practical souls.  We don’t mind dirt under our nails, or bruises on tired knees.  We’ll get up early or stay out late, weeding, pruning, planting and generally enjoying our time in the garden.  We love sharing seeds and flowers fresh from the earth and enjoy swapping tips for keeping the garden pests at bay.

If you have a joyful gardener in your life, here are a few gift ideas to tuck under the tree.

Practical

Your gardener will never lose their gloves in the garden again.  Floral Gardening Gloves allow you to pull weeds in style.

Floral Garden Gloves

Floral Garden Gloves

Seed Keeper or Seed Keeper Deluxe. I’ve been using mine for several months. It’s an easy and efficient way to store and retrieve the seeds you save or buy. They come packed with all sorts of garden goodies as well.

Seed Keeper Deluxe

Seed Keeper Deluxe

Fanciful

Slipcovers: They’re not just for sofas!  Dress up your pots with a Patio Art Planter Slipcovers. You can change with the seasons, or simply cover up an ugly pot. It’s a nice way to wrap up a potted plant to gift as well.

plant slipcover

Slipcover Your Plants

Fair trade birdhouses attract birds to the garden. Keep those baby birds toasty warm till it’s time to leave the nest.

Felted birdhouse

Fair Trade Birdhouses

What a clever idea! It’s a card and a desktop garden all in one. It’s edible too. It’s a postcarden!  Click on the photo below and check out the time-lapse video on their site.

Postcarden

Astronomical

For the gardener with the travel bug: “Botanically themed cruises and garden tours of Europe are designed for gardening and gourmet enthusiasts who enjoy taking in ancient castles, magnificent châteaux and stunning landscaped gardens with iconic sites.”

Let’s all go! Who’s with me?

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Crafting Gifts: A Plan for the Holidays

Making cards and gifts for the holidays takes some planning. Since I’m organized at heart, I start thinking about it early in the year. When I was young and broke, I made all my holiday gifts. Life got busier and I fell out of the habit.  When my boys were young, I didn’t have the time or the energy.  I’ve come full circle this year (for the most part).  I’m trying to make my cards and a few small gifts. Alternatively, it’s fun to buy from craft fairs.  I enjoy supporting artisans in my community.

Mini Photo Fold-Out Album

Last spring I attended a mini-workshop lead by designer Karen Phillips. Karen is a paper crafter and Creative Memories consultant.  She designed a charming, pocket-sized photo album which she sells in kits. She lead us through the process of creating our own.

I’ve made two so far, one in pink with pearl accents, and the purple mini album pictured below (with a floral theme, of course!)

Mini photo album

We like to show our appreciation for the boy’s teachers at the holidays with a small gift.  I plan to make a few of these to include with a monetary gift card.

Mini album and sleeve

Inside viewphoto album open viewCosmo Seed Cards

Late summer, when the Cosmos were in full bloom, I collected seeds from the prolific flowers. Cosmos are easy to grow under many conditions. They brought me such pleasure. I wanted to share their beauty with others.  I made seed packets using glassine envelopes from The Paper Source. I designed a card using digital software, a cute little five-sided fold out.  It’s the perfect size. I’m waiting for the 20% off sale before placing my order. Stay tuned for the completed project.

So many of you are crafty souls.  Are you planning on making gifts for the upcoming holidays?

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