If you’re an artist or artisan, your own arts will come to mind... Or will they? There are crafts listed elsewhere too - with these, I’m focusing on some other endeavors that may otherwise be overlooked. ...Some taking more inventiveness and talent, some less.

I’ll list a diverse bunch of creations that come to mind - you never know what someone will forget about ("oh yeah, I do create that!"). Just a few in Instructions this time (look for the asterisks).

• Pressed flower/leaf pictures

• A flower press**

• Artistically repainted metal lunch boxes or food tins

• Paintings or drawings, of course

• Paint your own picture over that of a jigsaw puzzle that no longer holds fascination (and if there’s a piece missing, create one from cardboard of a similar thickness - using your trusty Exacto knife and the surrounding pieces as a pattern... yes, you have to put it together again! - and adding as many layers of paint as needed to make it look like the others)

• Sandpaper wax prints (rub crayons and/or sprinkle grated crayons or other colored wax onto sandpaper, perhaps using cut shapes to block the color; then iron over paper placed on top of the sandpaper to transfer the colors)

• Photocopied or hand-stamped stationery

• Potato- (or rubber-)stamped wrapping paper (perhaps over-layered with misty waves of spray paint)
    
• Shell magnets/nightlights

• Beads/necklaces**

• Button and charm pins

• Critter-shaped bean(/grain) bags

• Batiked Easter eggs ("pysanky")**

• Cassette tapes of you reading great children’s books

• Your poetry, short stories, or musical compositions

• A photo-and-word story of a beloved pet’s life (real or imagined!) - or a multi-media web version?

• Chessmen made from silhouette-cut flat metal "men" glued into a slot cut in a round wooden base (paint, or perhaps just steel-brush the metal); or chessmen made from stacked buttons

• Horn/bone/antler crafts (carved; tool handles, drawer pulls, buttons, etc.)

• Carved or vine-twined (while the wood dries) hiking staffs

• Rustic wooden door handles (made from curvy branches, or antler pieces)

• Jigsaw puzzle piece-tiled boxes (how about a tissue box cover? - you can get plain wooden ones in craft stores)**

• Simple vests trimmed with wonderful braid

• Vests with a few inches of quilt-pieced or fabric-painted checkerboard squares around the neck opening... and embellished with assorted buttons inside many of the squares

• Rings made of old buttons or pins (or pins made of buttons or earrings)

• Bookmarks**

• Marbleized-paper-covered blank books

• Rag rugs (or potholders), hooked rugs (see "T-shirt Rag Rugs"** in Instructions)

• Painted floorcloths**

• Small artistically-painted whatnot tables

• Knitted couch slipcovers

• Pillow covers with designs quilt-stitched onto a single fabric ground

• Crocheted rope beads

• Ceiling light covers made from paint-stripped round, shallow biscuit tins with hole-punched designs (with one of those metal light bulb grabbers screwed or welded to the center inside)

• Woven grass or palm leaf mats

• Woven or coiled corn husk baskets

• Pine needle baskets or coasters

• Picture frames with unusual mats... feather-framed, made of (tooled?) leather, wallpaper, fabric, lace, etc.

• Formed and decorated leather or papier mâché (etc.) masks (line papier mâché with cheesecloth or mosquito netting if they’re to be worn)

• Crocheted or coiled twine/rope/braided- or twisted-paper/whatever baskets (perhaps with dried seaweed added to the rim?)

• Stitched or riveted canvas "boxes" (use very heavy canvas, fold into box shapes; you can even create similar lids)

• Crocheted netting kitchen scrubbers (cut long strips of netting to use as "yarn", crochet into a bun shape)

• Crocheted hefty twine cat basket (a snuggly bed shaped like a large straight-sided bowl, with a roll-over top); or crochet a bright yarn cover for a store-bought cat basket

• Crocheted cat toys (bright stuffed yarn shapes - with a bell inside? with a tail?)

• Potholder critters, sock puppets

• Hand-spun yarn (mmm, angora!)

• Braided horsetail hair bracelets (or coiled as coasters or baskets?)

• Strung button or exquisite bead bracelets

• Tree burl bowls

• Triangular corner shelves (with a row of little drawers under them?)

• Felt lampshades with felt appliqués blanket-stitched to them

• Lamps with a birdcage/bird house, covered basket, or antique tin box base (hmm... or a musical instrument, or a silver teapot?)

• Door mats made of wooden slats with spacers in between (rectangular, or even long triangles fanned into an arch - to echo a fanlight in a door?)

• Mirrors framed with old multiple-paned window frames

• Fabric pouches (useful for all sorts of things, large and small, hefty and delicate)

• Woven cloth potholders (fold cloth strips under on both sides, keep the edges hidden as you weave them together and bind around the edges)

• Woven ribbon eyeglass cases (sew the ribbon to a piece of lining fabric)

• Hats trimmed with ribbon flowers (can be wire-edged or not)

• Felt appliqué-pieced rugs

• Plain woven cotton rugs stenciled with fabric paint

• Pillows, in oh so many formats (quilted, painted, trimmed, batiked, smocked, needlepointed, embroidered, woven, fabric painted, etc. - consider the impact of a single appliquéed bird on a solid ground; how about a family crest pillow? - formal-looking metallic tassels and braid might be included); or framed cloth pictures, instead of stuffed

• Classily-trimmed guest towels, or dish towels (and matching potholders?) trimmed with tiny quilt-pieced and/or appliquéed bands

• Table cloths stenciled in quilt patterns... with fabric paint over self-adhesive paper

• Spiced hot mats

• Christmas ornaments (see the section devoted to them! - Ornaments; and you'll find a number of them detailed in the Instructions section)

• Candles**

• Beaded eggs, pins, fruit shapes, ornaments, etc.**

• Scherenschnitte or Polish cut-out paper design pictures

• Fabric jewelry pouches or rolls

• Videotape of someone’s family outing/party/reunion, or a child’s performance or winning game
    
• Advent calendars

• A crazy quilt make from opened-up neckties

• A bed headboard made out of a section of attractive iron or wooden fencing

• Padded fabric-covered hangers (sachet-filled?)
    

And then there are the gifts that allow others to be creative!...

• Artist’s easel case - made from an old pair of jeans (sew legs shut, add a long strap from the bottom of one leg to the opposite waist... hangs over the shoulder when the artist’s on the go - easel legs fit into pant legs, other gear into pockets and top area of jeans)

• Old barn wood for an artist’s frames

• Gessoed canvases for a painter

• Craft supplies and/or tools (e.g., a hot glue gun)

• A file of idea clippings from craft magazines

• Craft kits (you can make them up yourself too)

• Musical instruments

• Stencils (for use on fabric, walls, wooden objects, etc.)

• Origami instructions and paper

• Sketchpad and an assortment of drawing implements

• Construction paper, glue, glitter, etc.

• Fabric paints

• Fabric scraps for a quilter/appliqueéist/dollmaker

• A quilt frame - made of 4 boards... except for the last half-foot of the ends, each board is wrapped in fabric (perhaps slightly padded) tightly stapled all along one side, and clamped with large C-clamps at the corners; set all on top of 4 chairs, pin the quilt "sandwich" to the fabric