A woman's jewelry is often her most prized possession, but sometimes storing the pieces becomes a problem as her collection grows over time. Here are several ways to make your own jewelry box to keep your precious items safe. They also make a cute, personalized gift!

1. Measure and cut the wood for the top, bottom, and sides of the jewelry box. For this step, you'll need twelve pieces of wood that are cut to 240 mm and six pieces of wood cut to 248 mm, all about 1 inch wide and 1/4 inch for the height. Use a handsaw to cut the pieces.

Make sure that the width and height of all 18 pieces of wood are exactly the same.

Try to purchase wood sticks that are already pre-cut to be 1 inch wide and 1/4 inch high. That way you'll only need to worry about cutting the length.

2. Measure and cut the wood for the ends of the jewelry box. 

You'll need to cut 12 pieces at 50 mm each, with the same other dimensions as the other pieces (1 inch wide and 1/4 inch high).

3. Sand the cut edges. 

In order to removed the jagged edges left from cutting the wood, you'll need to lightly sand the edges with some sandpaper.

4. Stain the wood. 

To achieve the beautiful two-tone look, you'll need to stain half of the pieces of wood (of all sizes). So, separate each size of the wood pieces into two sections and apply wood stain to one group.

Choose any wood stain color you like, as long as it contrasts with the existing wood color. Apply the stain generously and wipe off the excess with a paper towel or rag. You need to cover the surface area of both sides and the ends, but don't worry about getting all of the 1/4 inch side because these sides will be glued together.

Let the stain dry completely (at least 4 hours) until you move on to the next step.

5. Make the sides. 

Take the six pieces of wood that were cut to 248 mm and line them up. Each side of the jewelry box will be made out of three of the six pieces.

Use wood glue to glue the pieces together lengthwise into two three-piece sections, making sure you alternate between the stained and unstained pieces to achieve the two-tone look.

Wipe off any excess glue that leaks up between the cracks.

Make sure the ends are lined up perfectly and then let the glue dry. You can clamp the pieces into place for a more secure, tight seal if you would like.

To avoid gluing the wood to whatever surface you're working on, it might be helpful to lay down a piece of clear Saran wrap to work on.

6. Make the base. 

Alternating between stained and unstained pieces, line up six of the 240 mm pieces of wood on the Saran wrap to make the base. Glue the pieces together, but instead of lining up the ends, alternate them by 1/4 inch (so that the end pieces will fit inside the gaps).

7. Make the ends. 

Line up the short end pieces that you cut (the 50 mm pieces), alternating stained and unstained pieces, on each end of the base. Each end will be six pieces long.

Because of how you off-set the edges of the base, one piece will sit on the table and be flush with the base, while the next piece will sit on top of the base, and so on.

8. Attach the sides. 

Glue the sides of the jewelry box to the frame that you've made (out of the base and the ends). Let the frame dry fully before you move on.

You can use some pieces of wood cut to fit the inside of the box to help the frame maintain its shape while it's drying.

9. Use Vaseline to keep the lid from sticking. 

Apply a small coat of Vaseline to the off-set end pieces (the 50 mm pieces) to keep the lid from sticking to the frame with the excess glue when you glue it together.

10. Make the top lid. 

Glue the remaining six 240 mm pieces of wood to each other in place on top of the frame. As before, make sure to alternate between stained and unstained pieces. The pieces will fit into the existing slots made by the alternating off-set end pieces.

Once all pieces are in place, you will have a perfect rectangular box.

11. Clamp the box to dry. 

To help the jewelry box dry in the right shape, clamp the box on two sides with two hand clamps. Once the glue is dry, your jewelry box is finished.