the presents of christmas past

Christmas is over.  Boo.  But don't bah humbug too heartily because... that means I can share some pictures of the lovely presents I purchased/made for others without ruining any surprises!  Hooray!

The plate above was made (improved? upcycled? repurposed?) by Kitty and Dude who are based in Edinburgh.  I bought it at Made In The Shade and have been coveting it secretly.  I think the plate was originally very pretty and with the addition of silver lettering...  Sigh...  In the end, I did manage to find enough Christmas spirit to part with it and gave it to my friend, Bernadette.  It did make me think of her as soon as I saw it after all.  I know I did the right thing... so why does it hurt so bad?  Hee hee!

This is not the greatest ever picture of the greatest ever printed canvas bag.  I got this (in blue and in purple) for a friend in London and for my sister in France.  If you've ever lived in Scotland, you will certainly recognise our national fare!  The girl who made these was so lovely and searched through the whole pile of bags to find the two most perfect prints for me.  I was torn between these prints and her Tunnocks tea cake prints (some of the tea cakes were sparkly red and were very hard to leave behind) but I thought these ones were a shade more perfect for those who might be missing Scotland.  On my way up to Elgin for Christmas this week, I spied someone with one of her teacake bags all the way up in Arbroath so I get the feeling we'll be seeing more of her work in the future.  Hooray!  As far as I can see, there is no website for this talented lady but her name is Gillian Kyle and she works under the name of Weird Wild Dog.  I found her at a Glasgow Craft Mafia market.

These notebooks came in very handy as presents for boys (a.k.a. those creatures who are so hard to find gifts for).  These were made by Madness of Many and were a top bargain!

Stumped with what to get for one last boy (my godson, Rudi) I whipped up this last minute monkey from a pair of socks that were going spare.  With his skulls and crossbones he's perfect for a boy.  He's the shortest sock monkey I've ever made (usually I use knee high socks which stretch to a five foot monkey once stuffed!) but I was surprised how much I liked the way he turned out.  Unfortunately, Rudi is too small for button eyes but the felt ones are quite cute. 

Last but not least, Graham and I went all domesticated and started making chutney.  Our first batch (which was quite delicious if we do say so ourselves) was pear.  This week we aim to make some apple and tomato (if we can find enough empty jars).  We kept some of the chutney for ourselves and gave some away.

This is the label we designed.

Watch this space for a chutney related competition/giveaway!  More details to follow...