Handmade Gifts

This holiday season, give those you love the best gift of all: craft education.

Being asked to round up jewelry gift ideas is like being asked to collect beautiful needles from an endless haystack. It can be done, but, man, it's not easy.

So let's start with basics. Step One in jewelry gift giving is determining what kind of jewelry is best for your recipient. One woman's treasure is another woman's travesty. You want to get the style right.

Kevin DesPlanque's Sublime Rockers are really something. Each one is made from multiple pieces of wood, laminated together, and then carved, shaped, and sculpted into a perfectly comfortable form. Then, they're finished and buffed to a silky-smoothe shine that just begs to be touched. In addition to hardwoods and exotics, DesPlanques is also experimenting with "lesser" materials, like plywood, for his chairs, finishing them with a dark stain that allows the inviting shape stand out.

There are so many handmade gift options for children, where does one even begin? Here are just a few things for the youngsters on your list... some practical, some just plain fun.

Steve Baldwin owns Baldwin Toys and has been making handcrafted wooden toys for decades. His heirloom toys are a perfect first gift for kids, and safe and sturdy enough to last a lifetime. For older children (and kids at heart), Baldwin also makes classic cars, trains, and more that are built as puzzles and can be taken apart and reassembled.

My favorite part of the holidays, hands down, is sharing meals with friends and family. Nothing feels more festive - or fortunate - than a table stacked with wholesome (and sure, maybe a bit indulgent) foods. Every year I go a little more overboard, researching recipes and techniques, sourcing ingredients I'll need. But it's a time of year when making time for cooking - scratch cooking, craft cooking - feels effortless. And I'm certainly not alone here.