Grand Theft Auto gift wrap sleeve

Image credits: Koenigsegg, Ferrari and my sister for taking the picture of my brother 😀

This is a gift wrap sleeve that I made for my brother’s birthday in January. He is really into games, such as Grand Theft Auto (GTA). The PC edition will be released in March and he’s looking forward to it. Since my brother prefers to get money as a birthday present, my family & I decided to grant his wish 😉 Money alone doesn’t look very festive. Therefore we made it decorative by designing a gift wrap sleeve for him.
 

Downloads

• Font type (PriceDown)

Craft supplies

• Photoshop / similar (free) software such as GIMP
• City background image
• Expensive car image
• Palm tree image
• Image of the birthday boy/girl
• Free font type Pricedown
• Printer
• White sheet of paper
• Scissors
• Glue / double-sided adhesive tape

Instructions – step by step

Step 1: Create a Photoshop file. Its measurements should be slightly larger than the money bills you’re planning to give to the birthday boy/girl.

Step 2: Search the web for a nice city background, expensive car and palm tree image and import them in the Photoshop file.

Step 3: Resize the three layers (background, car, palm tree) and erase the areas which you don’t need. You can duplicate the palm tree if there’s enough space.

Step 4: Import an image of the birthday boy/girl. Resize the image so it looks like the birthday boy/girl is really standing next to the car. Then erase the area around him/her.

Step 5: Write a birthday text in the font type Pricedown. Your text should be white colored. Decrease the line-height between your sentences to create that real GTA font effect.

Step 6: Adjust the brightness, contrast and vibrance of all Photoshop file layers (except the text one) if needed, so it looks really colorful.

Step 7: Give the car, palm tree, birthday boy/girl and text layer a black border of 2 pixels thick. You can also create some extra black borders in the city background layer itself. That’s what I did to the railing.

Step 8: Your gift wrap sleeve is ready. You can print it now. I wanted the print to be visible from both sides (front & back). Here’s an image of how I did it:

Step 9: Once you’ve printed the sleeve, cut it out with a scissors and fold it.

Step 10: Put glue or double-sided adhesive tape on the white areas (which can be seen in the image above) to seal the sleeve on two sides. Your sleeve is ready now! 😀

Tip: you can cut out a semicircle shape from the open side of the sleeve. This way it’s easier to take out the money bills for the birthday boy/girl.