Christmas gifts from your garden - flowerpot candles
If you're completely broke, and stuffed for ideas for Christmas presents, flowerpot candles are cheap, but they look expensive, and people will always appreciate the effort you've put into making something truly personal.
You Need
- Clay or terracotta flower pots - don't hesitate to buy them second-hand, they look beautifully 'vintage' if you do!
- A candle-making kit (or paraffin wax, wicks, colouring if you are buying separately)
- Scented oils
- Cooking thermometer
- Plasticine or clay
- Seeds saved from your garden over the summer (try to match the plants that will result to the circumstances and personality of the person whose gift they will be - nasturtium seeds for kiddies, love-in-a-mist for a young couple etc)
- Small envelopes or origami folding paper
- Coarse garden twine
- Put the seeds in their envelopes or fold the paper to contain them, and write sowing instructions on the front.
Use the clay or plasticine to block the drainage hole in the pot. Melt the wax according to instructions, using the thermometer to make sure you get it to the right temperature so it doesn't either burn or granulise as it sets and adding any colours that appeal to you and appropriate scent in the form of aromatherapy oils. Tie the wick to a pencil and lay it across the pot. Pour the candle into the pot and leave it to set.
Once it is cold and set, tie the seeds to the front of the pot with the twine.
Now the recipient can burn the candle, take out the plug in the drainage hole and use the pot to grow the seeds you've given them!
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