Christmas 2009 has come at the end of a year of falling income, as for many of us. I was looking for something for my nephews, aged 6 and 4, that wouldn't cost a fortune, but would be used. (They have a wealth of toys from adoring relatives.)

These moneyboxes were just the thing I was looking for. I found the blank money boxes at a craft fair, offered by the MDFMan, and the patterns in a book by Plum Purdy, called "Warm 'n Wooly Friends". To finish the boxes I painted the boys' names in candy cane writing following instructions in the Christmas 2009 edition of PaintWorks Decorative Painting magazine. Final touch was a £2 coin in each box.

I'm told most sincerely that the boys loved them!