He said:

A while back on our Facebook page, we asked what project we should do next. One person picked this and that person’s birthday happened to be coming up; so guess what that person got for a birthday present!? The boards are from the blue stain pine stash and the pine branch is from the backyard, ha! I’ve had a little handheld dowel jig for like a year and this is the first project I’ve used it on. The branch wasn’t perfectly straight and though that was kind of a cool look, it was challenging to get the angles cut correctly and the dowel holes drilled perpendicularly. I really need (yeah, need) a drill press.

She said:

I was super excited when Dustin suggested making this as a gift! I knew she’d love it. The pine just makes it a great homage to the Black Hills here. I love these projects, mostly because we get to give them to the people we love most!