“Cole Erickson, left, amd Brandy Winn bend wicker in and out of a frame as they build a basket at the Intermediate School.Matt Johnson/staff photosIf it is the thought that counts when it comes to gift giving, holiday presents created by third, fourth, and fifth graders at the South Whidbey Intermediate School craft exchange last week must count for quite a bit.For two hours on two days, the students used construction paper, wire, yarn, sticks, glue, and a few dozen other materials to create everything from holiday table centerpieces to wicker baskets for moms, dads and grandparents.The exchange started the Thursday of the power outage a week-and-a-half ago that darkened South Whidbey for more than a day. Pam Muncey, a teacher at the Intermediate School and the organizer of the exchange, said students were worried the following Monday that they might not get to have a second day of craft making. They were concerned, she said. This is the 10th year Muncey has organized the exchange. The event mixes students from classrooms in each grade level and sends them from teacher to teacher to learn different crafts. With a definite holiday theme, the exchange is aimed at sending a few homespun gifts home with every student in the school. In Muncey’s classroom, the students got a good start. Muncey’s mother — who was one of more than a dozen volunteers to help with the exchange — sewed plain red and white Christmas stockings, to which the students stitched and glued sequins and other decorations. Down the hall in another classroom, third graders Paul Storm and Marcus Faucher-Fisher found green construction paper to be more interesting. They threaded and looped strips of the stuff onto a stiff wire to create Christmas tree centerpieces. Storm said the task was more difficult than it looked.This is hard, he said.Third grader Chad Woodard was one of a very few students who spent more than one day concentrating on one craft. He made a god’s eye in Marguerite Hauberg’s classroom on the first day of the craft exchange, and had been looking forward to moving on to a different craft. But when he got home with his creation, Woodard’s dog, Niky, ruined that plan. The dog got hold of the god’s eye and chomped down.He chewed it up, Woodard said.Woodard made a new god’s eye on the exchange’s second day and vowed to keep it out of Niky’s reach.Parents of students who do not move on to Langley Middle School next fall can look forward to receiving more handmade gifts next December when the craft exchange returns. “