Materials and tools:
• Wood scraps
• Table saw
• Drill press (or handheld drill)
• 1.5-inch Forstner bit
• Router (optional)
• Band saw or jigsaw
• Pull saw
• Sandpaper

1. Candleholders. Thick stock (2 by 2 inches and up) is tough to get rid of, no matter how small a chunk it may be. Thankfully, tea lights are a fixture on most holiday dinner tables, and stock this size can easily host a candle. Preferably, you have appropriately sized blocks already lying around, but if not you may need to cut to size using a table saw and crosscut sled, or a chop saw as an alternative.

Other than that, the only tool that's really necessary is a big enough drill bit to bore out a hole large enough for a tea light. A drill press is preferred, but if that's not available, a hand drill will work. With the grain running vertically for aesthetics, find the center point and drill your hole to the desired depth. Like holiday magic, you've just made a candleholder.

Note: For these photos, I used a laminated block of various wood species and cut the shapes with a table saw. This is merely preference and not necessary; it requires more work than using solid stock lumber.

Another cool option for longer scraps is to drill multiple holes along the length of the piece. Pair either creation with some wood place card holders, and you'll have a well-matched table set.

2. Place card holders. Small end cuts can seem of little use, thus they're often destined for the kindling box. The holiday dinner table, however, is an opportunity to prove their worth.

This project takes only minutes, but the results can remain fixtures for years. Simply set your table saw to a 15-degree angle at a depth of 1/4 inch and run each block through.

The angled kerf (slot) provides a resting place for name cards to present themselves at a nice angle — no one needs to bend over to read the cards.

3. Gift tags. Oftentimes shaving a quarter inch off with a miter saw or milling a board to square will leave thin scrap pieces that can make handsome gift tags.

All this project requires is gently drilling a hole in a corner, threading a string through and writing on the tag. Lighter woods (maple, oak, ash) show pen and pencil better, but chalk on dark wood also makes for a good combination.

4. Ornaments. Maybe it's your first holiday with a new family member (furry or not), or there's a certain ornament you feel is missing from your tree that you can't find in a store.

If you know how to use a bandsaw or jigsaw, cut out shapes with quarter-inch plywood scraps (thick, solid wood will put a load on branches and could easily cause them to split).

Handmade ornaments are fun and easy to make, and they bear more significance than any store-bought decoration. Make a bunch of them and hang them at the homes of friends and family for a touch of DIY this holiday season.

5. Holiday light organizer. This is the least glamorous of these DIY holiday projects but perhaps the most useful. Using your most dilapidated piece of 1/4-inch plywood, drill two 1/8-inch holes about 1.5 inches from the edge on diagonal corners from each other as your beginning and end points.

Using a hand saw (my preference is a pull saw), cut a straight line wide enough for the electrical cord to slide through from hole to hole. Next, mark "V"s on alternating sides, which will keep the coiled cord from sliding.

As for determining how many cuts you'll need, the easiest method is to cut your board to a width of 1 foot, so if you have a 10-foot strand of lights, you'll need to make eight cuts in addition to the two designated as your two end points. For the time it takes to make this jig, you'll save at least twice as much time next year when you're pulling out untangled lights from your attic.