I was benched for a few months some years ago and had lots of shop time on my hands. It was great except for the little money thing.
One of my granddaughters was born during that period and I was able to spend many happy hours making her a cradle. I had just refurbished some handplanes–an Ulmia smoother, a Stanley #4 and a Stanley #48. Not only did I refurb the planes, I also made blades and cutters for them. Both of them came in handy for this project. The cradle was based on a New Yankee Workshop book by Norm. I deviated a bit during construction and made it a little beefier. The bottom was T&G, compliments of the #48 and the runners were attached using a sliding dovetail joint. I thought that would add strength and allow the bottom to float a bit. In addition, I added an arched crossmember between the two runners. It strengthened them considerably.
I chose walnut for the project because I like walnut and I had some on hand. For a little bling, I made the bonnet top arch from a nice piece of birdseye maple. The project came together well and was well received. Nice thing is that after baby it works well as a doll bed and then a magazine rack.