My friend Amy and I met in the second grade on the DeVaney school playground. She was the new kid and I asked if she wanted to jump rope. We’ve been friends ever since. Last weekend I was giddy to stand up as a bridesmaid in Amy’s Greenwich Village wedding to Jeff Hock. I needed to gift wrap a USB drive filled with music that I bought them to enjoy on their honeymoon flight to South Africa. And I needed to take the wrapped box through airport scanners.

Years ago I bought a vintage kissing couple pendant at a Manhattan summertime flea market. I wore the sweet thing ad nauseum, which you can see here in this summer cider and berry smoothie post that includes this photo of me fawning over Stephanie and Dale at the Green City Market. But then the clasp on my pendant broke …and I was heartbroken. Since then I’ve kept my broken pendant in a ceramic bowl on my dresser. Then it occurred to me to give it a new life by scanning and enlarging it to make this romantic package decoration.

WANNA MAKE IT? Get the full supplies list and step-by-step tutorial for the kissing couple >>>

Supplies:

• Kathy’s free kissing couple template with inside lid message (PDF) – includes message that fits the lid of a 3.5″ x 3.5″ size (TIP: Download a trial version of Adobe Illustrator or rent computer time at FedEx Office to customize the inside box message for your recipient). If you have a larger box use this template that contains three different sizes of the kissing couple (PDF).
• Eggshell blue wrapping paper
• Empty recycled jewelry box – mine was an old 3.5″ x 3.5″ Banana Republic box
• 1 sheet white card stock
• USB drive
• Amazon.com MP3 downloads (keepin’ it legal)
• Xacto knife (this is my kit), metal edge ruler and gridded self-healing rotary mat OR good paper scissors
• Foam mounting squares (I used gray because I had it in the house; you could also try these 3-D foam adhesive dots)
• Scissors
• Tape
• Rubber cement
• White tissue paper
• Computer
• Printer

Make your mix on a USB (burning a CD-ROM is so 2000)
Purchase MP3s from Amazon.com and move to your recipient’s USB drive. I included a couple old romantic favorites: “This Old Love” by Lior and “Reminiscing” by The Little River Band.” Wrap your box TV-style Ever notice how on TV gift boxes are never wrapped closed? Well, that’s kind of what I needed to take on the flight just in case TSA needed to search my carry-on baggage. And as a side-bonus it keeps the presentation intact after unwrapping. Wrap the lid and the base of your box separately, ensuring that the blue wrapping paper fully covers the inside sides.

Download and print my free template of the inside box message. I have included a blank version on the template that you can use as is, or if you’d like to customize it, just download a free trial version of Adobe Illustrator or rent time at your local FedEx Office.

Affix your heartfelt message on the inside lid of the box using rubber cement.

Add the kissing couple
Print my free kissing couple template on white card stock and carefully cut out the shape using an Xacto knife and self-healing mat.

Cut foam mounting squares into smaller squares. I used gray removable squares that I already had but I recommend buying white for this project.

Peel off the backing and stick on the back of the kissing couple and heart.

Affix to the box for a slight 3D effect. Put the USB drive in the box and close. Forever kisses, forever bliss to Amy and Jeff!

Posted by Kathy on January 16, 2010  | Permalink  | Comments (13)  |