Christmas Gifts 2013

I got a jump on this year's Christmas crafting as I decided what to make by Thanksgiving. Since that's usually the toughest part for me, I was very happy to have it figured out early.

For Sarah, I made this Christmas tree decoration. I milled all of the slats out of 2x4 hemlock left over from the barn project. Since that's an old project, the wood was suitably weathered.

The slats start out at 24" long and taper by 2" or so to the top; each layer has 5 slats. I drilled a hole in the middle of each slat so that they'll slide down a 3/8" aluminum rod that's anchored to two 14" 6x4 chunks that are lapped together in the middle. I got the rod at the hardware store and I think it's 48" long. The spacers are 2" pieces of maple with a hole drilled through the center. The whole thing is quite heavy and stable (25-30 lbs.?) It came out great.

The milling of all these slats made me realize that I really, really need a dust collection system in the shop. By the time I was done, the whole basement was coated in dust which will be very difficult, if not impossible, to clean.

For the girls, I made journaling accessories. We all love to journal on vacation, so I wanted to make something that'd make it easier to keep all our supplies together. I started by simply making bandoliers out of elastic for the journals and a few pencils, etc. This was fun and quick, but I didn't think it'd be enough.

I decided to head back to the shop and make the gifts a bit more useful and slightly more elaborate. What I ended up doing was making a box with a dado around the top that exactly fit the journal. By adding a (slightly bigger) bandolier, the journal becomes the box top and will keep everything all neat and tidy.

The whole thing is 2" deep which, when you take away the dados for the top and bottom, leaves about an inch inside for pencils, pens, post cards, etc. Overall dimensions are 8-3/4"x5-1/2"x2". The bottom dado is 1/4"x1/4" and the top dado is 3/8"x3/8". Basically, though, the size of the journal really drove the dimensions more than anything else.

The box is just 1/2" poplar from Home Depot and the bottom is a piece of hard board that's set into another dado on the bottom and glued. I use the Home Depot "craft wood" for a lot of projects: I just love that stuff. It's cheap, clear, and easy to work with. And since I don't have a planer, it's especially convenient.

This was a fun set of gifts to make this year and I didn't feel the pressure I've sometimes felt in years past which made it especially pleasant.