Jewelry boxes

[tandem-.livejournal.com]

I figured this might be the best place to start with a few questions. Does anyone out there make their own jewelry boxes, etcetera? I want to make one for my friend for Christmas, but I'm new to the crafty world and I'm not entirely sure where to start. I'm going to go shopping for boxes probably this weekend because I figured that was a good starting point, but after that - I think I'm lost.

I know there are a few people out there who make beautiful boxes for photos, perfumes, etcetera and I imagine this wouldn't be too different from that. I do have a few ideas that I want to do, such as using oriental designs and shiny-ness - I imagine decoupage would be the easiest way to decorate it, but I'm not sure.

Any suggestions, thoughts, ideas that you can offer me from experience?