Backtracking to Christmas presents, last year I made my niece a small jewelery box. Not having children, I have no idea what age is appropriate for jewelry. I figured if I was too early, I could just hold onto it till next year, but the back up plan proved unnecessary.
The box is small, being approximately a 1.5″ cube made of 1/4″ thick hardwood. The materials were:
-1/4″ x 1.5″ wide red oak. You need a little under a foot.
-1.5″x1.5″ velvet
-1.5″x1.5″ cardstock
-1 mm diameter ~15″ length leather cord
-Wood Glue
-Lacquer (I use the paint on variety.)
-Double sided carpet tape
-Clamps
-Miter Saw
-Optional silver inlay wire
All the steps, minus the silver inlay, are below. One day in the not too distant future I’ll have to do a wire inlay post. This took quite a while to do, maybe 2-3 weeks start to finish working at night, mostly due to day long breaks for glue and lacquer to dry, but I am very happy with the results.

Using your miter saw, cut 4 equal pieces out with 45 deg ends. The easiest way to make them equal is to clamp a block down for the wood to sit against

Sand down the whole box; the inside edges are much easier to sand before you add a bottom. I used a chisel as a sharp edge to sand the corners.

Cut out a square and glue it into the bottom. Try to get a snug fit for looks, then sand it down flush.

Cut out two caps, one that fits in slightly tightly and one that is slightly larger than the box. Line up the grains and glue together

I wanted to keep the cap attached to the base so I braided together 3 leather cords and added a wall&crown knot at the end with some lacquer to hold fast.

Drill a matching hole through the top and 1/2″ deep into the base and glue the cord in with 5 minute epoxy. Ensure the cap is on the cord before gluing.