Gifts Made From Your Garden

By Phran Novelli

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Stores are full right now of lovely gifts made with natural materials which are very nice, but it's also nice to know you can make a lot of them yourself with things in your garden.

Decorative candles wrapped with bark or twigs are easy to make.

Collect sheets of fallen bark from a birch tree, give it a quick scrub, wrap it around a pillar candle and secure it with ribbon. Or cut twigs to size and stand them vertically around a pillar candle, then tie in place with twine. Because bark and twigs are so flammable, don't burn decorative candles - or even smarter, make your gifts with flameless LED candles to be safe.

Miniature pine cones are a great find you can use to make ornaments or add accents to gifts. You could frame a photo of a friend's garden or favorite flower, then add mini pinecones in the corners or in a pretty pattern along the edge to decorate the frame.