A little contest from Averly at Glowforge

[averly]

Hi there! I’m Averly and I’m on the marketing team here at Glowforge.

I see so many folks on the forum who share amazing prints, so I got permission to run a little contest to give away a $50 Glowforge gift certificate!

All you have to do is post about your favorite gift you’ve made with your Glowforge in the thread below. The most liked post by 2/28 wins!

I’m not allowed to win, but I want to share my favorite gift I’ve given, too!

What’s your favorite dinosaur?

A few years ago, my then 4-year-old niece, Tori, was obsessed with dinosaurs. I was floored when she named off all of the different types when she showed me her little figurines over video chat. Yep, video chat. She lives a plane ride away, and keeping a kid’s attention on the phone is hard but luckily, she was in her “show and tell” phase.

Stegosaurus… Velociraptor… and our favorite, Brontosaurus!

Fast forward to the night before my flight out to attend her birthday party. I had put off buying a present because nothing seemed cool enough to be gifted from Tori’s “cool-out-of-state” aunt. But I remembered the plastic container she was pulling her dinosaur toys out of-–they needed a home.

I looked up dollhouse designs online and landed on a simple one that I could customize. After all, I wanted to print something special that she would appreciate even as she gets older, while also commemorating her key interest at the time– dinosaurs!

I printed all of the parts and kept it flat to pack in my suitcase, which was perfect because I like to travel light.

We built the custom Dino-House together on the morning of the big day and she took no time introducing her dino friends to their new home!

I can’t wait to see your best gifts - stories and/or photos welcome!

-Averly

Edit: This contest is now closed but because y’all loved this so much, I’m going to get to this again for you. Keep an eye out!

[cynd11]

Awesome idea to make a flat pack dollhouse!

I think my favorite of my projects has been the faux letterpress cards. Here’s the first one I did:

Faux Letterpress

I was working on this project when I saw the posting on this subject by @j_d_hastings, and he inspired me to continue this project using the Draftboard that I had initially cut it out of as a prototype (was going to use maple ply). It took me so long to weed all the little bits that I was dreading doing it again! [LP1] The design is one I purchased from the Silhouette Design store by Kolette Hall. I figured it’s getting close to time to crank out my Christmas cards. I usually make them by h…

I hope that qualifies as a gift. I did give away 40 of them!

[timjedwards]

One of my first projects was a birthday gift that was fun to create and even more fun to deliver! Wood and acrylic with battery operated lighting.

[bailey]

Wowww this is gorgeous!

[wenning08]

I made my own version of our homes away from home set for my Mother, she loved it. It’s all of our family members houses and my fathers business. I tried to make them as close to the real thing as possible.
The original version/file came from another Glowforge member Nick who provided it in the Glowforge at home Facebook group ( Glowforge At Home | Facebook ), the original is even cooler with 3d base, I just wanted mine to be made with one sheet of material only so I made some edits.

[annmarie45279]

My favorite so far is this engraved pencil cup that I made for my daughter as a going-to-college gift. Each panel has a different phrase translated into Galifreyan which is translated on the inside.

[annmarie45279]

Sorry about the rotated photos. I’m not sure how to fix it.

[pubultrastar]

A gift for a Disney fanatic, an edge lit Disney polyhedral.

[bill.m.davis]

I think my favorite gift was the custom Settlers of Catan board I made for friends we play with!

[melissacarvalho]

My favourite item ive made on my glowforge is my kids name puzzles ! Love the colours and wood colour options by far my best seller and enjoy making them so much!

[odzicari]

So many beautiful creations from the community, this thread is going to be amazing by the time we’re done! I suppose I’ll throw my name in the hat…

I think I’m going to have to say my personal favorite (of the gifts I’ve made for someone else, that is) is my Star Trek “chest” with magnetic isolinear chip key/lock, partly because of the coloring, but also the mechanics of the internal locking mechanism I designed and it actually worked (push chip in to open, pull chip out to lock it).

[Deleted]

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[shop]

for me, it was a christmas gift this past christmas. i didn’t design it, i purchased the files (made some small edits). one of the most involved things i’ve done on the glowforge. Harry Potter Monopoly.

Harry Potter Monopoly (picture heavy)

After seeing @ahvaness’s board, I knew it would be a good gift for my Harry Potter fan MiL. I bought the files a while back, then I got her in our Christmas gift lottery and knew it was time to make it. @ahvaness said it was a lot of engraving, especially with all the coins, but you can’t really appreciate it until you’re knee deep in it. Thankfully my GF is on my “work-from-home” desk and I could engrave in short bursts between calls while I was working, which made it less painful. Finally …

[Xabbess]

I think this is mine;

Box for a Nativity

Possibly 50+ years ago, my aunt and uncle brought a nativity set back from Spain as a gift to my parents. I have no exact date, so must guess. My mother put this set out every Christmas……and then it came to me, and I did the same. My youngest daughter has always loved it and I decided it was time for it to go to her. [IMG_2370] [IMG_2367] [IMG_2365] After many years of being put away unceremoniously in a different box every year, I decided the time was nigh for it have its own box and a spec…

And, while I’m on here I’m throwing out a huge mass LIKE to all of you who have posted your choices…I’m not going to click my way through and like all of them individually because I’m being lazy.

[kittski]

What a nice little contest!

I made two hare-head sculptures that sit on stands made of a large nail set in layers of acrylic. (The heads can spin and be lifted off the nail.) One I donated to a dog club charity auction, and the other I gifted to a dear friend who was retiring from the club.

[dwardio]

Quite a few gifts began on my Basic over the past 5 years, but I think my all-time favorite is this Lichterbaum (lighted tree in German) I made for my nephew and his fiancé in 2020.

This design is based on a German jigsaw pattern (purchased and licensed!) that I modified to be printable on my GF Basic (this project made me wish I had purchased the Pro!).

I forgot to take a picture, but I also cut a silhouette template out of cheap BB and used it with a hotwire cutter to carve custom-fit packing from EPS foam sheets. Shipped cross-country with zero damage. Whew!

[kittski]

This has always been one of my favorite projects. It’s just gorgeous.

[PrintToLaser]

Great idea for a showcase thread Averly! So many fine crafts on display here.

Over the years there have been a great many gifts so it’s difficult to choose, but a favorite of mine exhibits a wonderful capability of the glowforge - 3D engraving. That extra dimension opens the door to an intoxicating, creative rabbit hole!

It should actually be lying around in a box somewhere there in the Seattle office, along with all of the others from that collaborative effort - a gift from us to the company.

Pictured here after cleaning and before staining, with half of the piece I cut it from.
I love this tool.

There are many here more deserving of the certificate, so I respectfully remove myself from consideration.

Again, great idea, easy to see why you are on the marketing team!

[LauraZM]

My favorite gift is the paper cut shadowbox I made for my dad for Father’s Day. It’s based on a photo of him my brother took years ago.

[PrintToLaser]

Yeah, the depth in that is wonderful!