Every year I try to wrap my Christmas presents with a little handmade touch. A couple of years ago I opted for stamping brown paper with a sponge to create a lovely Christmas tree effect. Last year I was a little more limited, being in Australia and due to go traveling on New Years Day. So I chose a simple brown paper wrap, and created bows to match.

This year I've taken inspiration from my recent obsession with making fluffy pom-poms. You may remember this homewares DIY I posted a little while ago. I used the exact same technique, but chose bright green and royal red balls of wool, and wrapped them around my presents. This is a really simple but effective way of gift wrapping - and much cheaper than buying a pack of ribbon and bows. Brown paper is also much cheaper than wrapping paper. It's crazy how expensive gift wrap is! You could also tie a candy cane on as an extra little gift.

I also love this time of year for all of the wonderful Christmas markets there are. Christmas is by far my favourite time of the year. I love nothing more than wrapping up and exploring all the little wooden huts, listening to carol singers, browsing all of the homemade produce, with a cup of hot mulled wine in hand! It's a great place to purchase Christmas gifts, and also treat yourself.

Christmas markets are full of all the classic gift ideas - scented candles, cosy mittens and bobble hats, handmade fudge, hot chocolate and scrummy biscuits.

Stew and I have a set of cute blue and white enamel mugs that we use for our tea and coffee. To spruce them up for Christmas day, I had the idea of tying some Christmas ribbon around them with a couple of jingle bells attached. I can't wait to fill them with delicious hot chocolate, topped with mountains of marshmallows, and tuck into these Christmas pudding flavoured biscuits. Do I have to wait until Christmas?!