How to Make a 'Break Front' Box for Christmas

The start of the project

These bits of wood don't look very exciting, do they? Over the next few weeks I'll be transforming them into a 'break front' box with a Christmas theme. The finished box with lid will look like a wrapped Christmas present tied with ribbon. But when you lift off the lid, the front will 'break' away and fold down so you can see the scene inside. (That's the theory!)
  We started this project at Minis club this month. The pieces to make the 8 inch square boxes  had been cut out for us and we glued them together with wood glue to make the box with three sides, the arched insert and the lid. One side (the break away side) was left to be dealt with at our next meeting.
  Once the glue had dried and the joints were stable, we painted the box and lid with undercoat.

The box and lid are made, glued and painted

  I decided not to use an archway like this. I want to make my box look like a German Christmas market stall, so cut the insert piece up to make the counter and display area.
   From my 'stash' I took a piece of wallpaper that looks like wood panelling and will use that to paper the interior. I also found a couple of little boxes I covered in the wood effect paper to make display stands.

Using paper that looks like wooden boards

  My Christmas market stall will sell Santa Claus ornaments. I've been collecting them on my travels for several years so it will be great to have a place to display them.

Some of the Santa ornaments for the Christmas market stall

I'm looking forward to doing more work on the box at our next Minis club meeting. I'll keep you posted on how it's progressing.