I made my Dad a birthday cake (a sort of Simnel cake decorated with real crystallized primroses from our garden here) and my Mum an Easter egg basket.

The eggs were raw ones – I inserted the point of a sharp knife in the small end – just sufficient to lift out a tiny piece of shell. Then I broke away more tiny pieces to make a hole the size of a five pence piece and drained the contents (for consumption). I washed them out, filled them with mini chocolate eggs and then sealed the hole up with a disk of waxed paper. Half of them I painted blue and stuck gold stars on, the other half I painted gold. The little box in the centre had originally had chocolates on it, so I painted it, decorated it with shells and refilled with chocolates. Finally I gave everything a coat of varnish, put it all in a basket and topped it with a couple of M&S decorated eggs. Quite pretty…