Hey Hewy,
The hinge is just a piece of thin linen or similar glued down with Elmer's glue.
On the lettering, I found a few images that I wanted to use, printed them out to match the size of the box and used a photo transfer process to transfer the image to the box. In places you can see where it didn't stick very well and I rubbed it too hard and actually that probably helps it not look "too good".
One trick I did learn - if you get the partitions between the holes too thin (easy to do without a drill press), you can take a product called JB Kwik Wood (a two part epoxy that comes in a tube kind of like putty) and slide a little piece down in the hole and then take a dowel or something and smooth into the area that's a little too thin. It fills the area well, bites into the wood and is hard as a rock in a matter of hours.
Just another fun BP project...
Whip