Christmas presents for a 60th birthday

I have a very good friend who recently turned 60.  She loves collecting Xmas decorations.  A group of us put in to get her some presents but I also wanted to make her something so made this Santa from Embroidery Garden.

And I added a personalised tag, a freebie from Kreative Kiwi

One of the other items we bought her was a milliefiore bracelet, she collects antique jewellery.  The box it came in was a bit battered, so I made her a little purse from Kreative Kiwi that we could put the bracelet in.

I've also been getting some work done on the house.  I'm tired of sheers and blinds obstructing my view outside, so got my windows tinted.  The beauty of these is I can see out perfectly clearly but no one can see in.

The windows are reflective from the outside.  If you look carefully you can see my cat Sandy, he somehow manages to sneak into just about every photo I take around the house.

The other thing is I've been getting subsoil drainage put in.  During winter I ended up with a pool of water in my back garden.  This is what it looked like mid way through the work.

Since this photo was taken they've removed the extra soil, added topsoil and grass seed.  Unfortunately I've lost part of my garden bed and edging.  Will have to have a think about what to do with this.  It was a tricky part of the garden anyway as it is in shadow most of the day, I had a few plant pots with things in but nothing really thrived there.  Maybe time to rethink and plan a plantless garden.

Below is a close up of the new drain they've put in.