received any nice home made gifts?

My daughter received a really cute mirror made by one of her friends. I'm sure she got her supplies at Michael's. She framed a mirror and painted the frame black. Then she glued cute little wooden pieces to the frame and painted her name on it. She also made a real cute bow and glued that on there too. I'm sure it didn't cost much to make and it was adorable.

Any other ideas for making gifts this holiday season?

I made bulletin boards for all my neices and nephews one year. Kids love a personalized bulletin board. I just bought cheap, basic bulletin boards and then customized them.

I have a tad bit of artistic talent (say, maybe, 8th grade level?) and so I used magic markers to design each board. They each had the child's name on it, along with a colorful drawing/picture of what they were interested in. I remember doing one with tractors, one with a ballerina, etc. That was fun and cheap! And the kids loved having their own space to tack up their photos, artwork, etc.

I found a heavy, brightly colored string instead of yarn, and am making some pot holders with it. I will give these to my purple hat group od ladies. They cost me next to nothing, but are quite pretty and functional.