My grandfather loved doing woodwork, even while he suffered with dementia. His work gradually declined, but it gave him something to do, so we indulged him. My mom, my aunt, and I handled the funeral, and we decided to put some personal items in his casket. In his pocket were pictures of his two great-grandchildren, and a pencil he used to mark on the wood. He also loved pennies (no, we haven't gotten rid of them in the US because we're behind the rest of the world), and I went into my collection and found a 1951 (for the year my Mom was born) and a 1953 (for my aunt).
As for me, I want to be cremated. However, adding those things to Grandpa's casket meant a tremendous amount to me at the time, and it means even more today. I say you should do what you want. You only die once - in my opinion - so do it the way you want.
