I have a friend (in fact, several) who is big into Pokémon. So much so that when we’re away with friends, we’ll often pause on walks for some sort of game interaction. There have also been trips abroad for various Pokémon events. So when it came time to wrap a birthday present, I raided my ‘to be altered’ stash, selected a papier-mâché suitcase and customised it:

Prepping the case

The papier-mâché case came complete with the handle and fastener. I added the brown straps using cardstock and then liberally applied blended brown-coloured distress inks. The ink didn’t stay put, so the whole case needed spraying with matt spray sealer before I moved on.

Prepping the labels

I wanted to reference the various places that the recipient had attended Pokémon events, so I designed the travel labels in Photoshop and Illustrator. Without copyright permission, I have used the Pokémon branding for the sticker on the other side. I hope that one non-commercial use won’t end with me in trouble… By using Illustrator, I was able to do an offset cut line for my Silhouette cutting machine and its print and cut options. Scrunching up and applying distress ink makes for a great battered and worn look. I, again, sealed the labels with matte spray sealer (DecoArt Americana Decor).

Final touches

The gift needed a gift tag – and what better to use than a Pokeball design? Again, a bit of Illustrator jiggery-pokery and I made a cut file to create a paper-pieced tag. Shading was added with distress inks again.

And the gift?

I know, you’re probably intrigued as to what went inside this gift box? By request, some AirTag keyring holders. For a surprise, I customised these too with some travel-related quips using my xTool F1 Ultra engraving. There were to be five, but the settings I was using didn’t go well for one particular colour. Flaming silicone is not a desired look.