In way over my head

My brother-in-law is getting married in late April and I want to make a shaker blanket chest for them. I'm pretty sure that I won't have the skill set to build this by then, but I'm going to give it the old college try. Additionally, while I haven't bought the plans yet, I'm pretty sure they are going to be oriented towards power tools and I will need to modify the steps/techniques for hand tools.

Maybe I'll stick to a cutting board.