The Gentleman Crafter

Upcoming Project- Traveling Watch Box!

Good Morning!

As always I have about three different projects going on at once!  Well, last night I added a fourth!  HAHAHA!

Many of you have asked how the Gentleman's Watch Case was made....So, I'm doing  a mini version of the Gent's Watch Box I did for the Graphic 45 Audition... done in vintage traveling style!  This will be fairly fast and very easy to do.  It really is incredibly fun to make and you are basically just taping the pieces together.  Back to fast and easy, I made the shell of the box in a couple of hours last night.  Now this was while watching TV!!  LOL! 

I will do a written tutorial after it's made, however, I will talk (write) you through it.  Tonight and tomorrow, I will post the steps to make this fun Traveling Watch Box.  For now, here is a picture of the raw shell of the box as a teaser...

 

 

It's going to be cool y'all, so check back tonight!!

Thanks for looking!

Jim

The Gentleman Crafter

 

Laura's Twist and Tag Album!

Good Morning!

The Oscar album is looking really cool!  If I do say so myself!  I can get so lost in the details and this is one of those albums where one idea leads to another.  So needless to say, I'm still working on it and having a blast!  Hopefully, one day I will be able to share it with you!  Not in time for this year's Academy Awards obviously, but if you had a formal occasion, this would be the album!  Ok, enough of that!

Since I couldn't share Oscar with you, I thought I would share my twist on the Twist and Tag Album from Laura Denison.  You can grab the pattern here: Twist and Tag Mini Pattern  and the Ustream classes where Laura shows you how to make it here:  Twist and Tag Class 1 and Twist and Tag Class 2.

It's a fun, fast and beautiful album to make!  Laura hits it out of the park again!  Here are some pictures of my album:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Birthday!

Mowing the grass was fabulous!  I feel about 10 pounds lighter!!!  And yes, my lawnmower has headlights!  Seriously!

Obviously, I'm still mad at the tape for destroying my page, so I thought I would take the opportunity to do something that I have been wanting to do online....See, I told you mowing makes you think!  Good for the mind, body and soul!  Go get a riding lawnmower now!  It will save your life!

First and foremost,  I would like to say...

HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY MAMA!!

Mom's birthday was the same day I posted my audition goodies for Graphic 45!!!  February 18th!!

So of course I wanted to honor my sweet Mom!  Y'all may think I'm a Mama's boy, well...YES,  I Proudly Admit It!!  She's the love of my life and my only parent so why wouldn't she be!  She has been my inspiration for these some 40 years (give or take!) and has done a smashing job of raising a son when she really didn't know what else to do but pray!!  She is a jewel among the finest at Tiffany's!  She has been likened to the ever so southern genteel lady, Paula Deen and I have to agree that my mom has grace, charm and that incredibly fantastic gray hair.  I assure you, I gave her every strand! 

I love you Mama!  Happy 79th Birthday!  You are so beautiful and I'm so very very proud to be your son!

Nell Trotter Hankins  Feb. 18, 1933

 

 

 

 

 

Help me say Happy Birthday to my Sweet Mom by telling your mom that you love her and how much she means to you!

Jim

The Gentleman Crafter

 

 

Academy Awards!

Hello All!

In honor of the 84th Annual Academy Awards, I'm in the studio making an Oscar Party Mini!   Hopefully one day I will share this with you!!

I had worked most the day on this one page!  The coolest page!  Oh, by 4:00 p.m. I think,  I was using some 1/2 inch Scor-Tape and it got stuck to the page where it wasn't supposed to and when I pulled it up, it ripped the whole page in half!  After a few incredibly ungentlemanly words, I threw it in the trash (with passion I might add!) and began again.  When more of these choice words came out of my mouth, I decided it was time to take a break and mow the...weeds! 

I love to mow!  I missed mowing all winter!  Yes, I'm crazy that way!  I love to weed-eat the yard, clip, prune, plant and dig too!  I hop on my John Deere riding lawn mower and watch the pounds just slip away!  LOL!  I get into this thing with my neighbor every year where we try to beat each other mowing the grass!  Yeah, I'm not competitive!  :)  Well, he was out there "awalla" go ( a great Texas word folks!...Great!) and beat me to it!  Could be the reason why I wasn't paying attention and was trying to rush things in the studio!  Like I said, It's his fault!  HaHaHaHa!

Anyway,  I better get to the grass, but I wanted to leave you all with a little treat you may/may not use.  But I thought I would offer...

For the album I'm making, I needed and .svg file to cut on my Black Cat Cougar of an Oscar Award.  So, I made one.  Not that it was hard and not that you couldn't grab one from someone else, I thought I would save you some time.  You can use this file on your digital cutter using MTC or SCAL Software.  

Enjoy...

Download Oscar

Have an awesome Today!

Jim

The Gentleman Crafter

 

Fashionista Version of the Policy Meets Tag Album

See... y'all thought I wasn't going to come through!  LOL! 

I was trying to watch Kathryn's class over at Life On The Scrapbeach  and make the cover for this album at the same time.  I still haven't been taught the technique of paper crafting, chatting and trying to learn something at the same time!  It's kind of like chewing gum and walking...God knows at one point I had the glue gun in one hand and I was typing with the other!  I try!  By the way, she is making the coolest card organizer storage box!!  Go check it out!  I'd like to make this for my sweet Mom who writes copious amounts of cards!  I admire this special talent!  I'm doing good to call people back!

Anyway, the cover is finally completed for the Graphic 45 Fashionista Version of the Policy Meets Tag Album.  In the pictures below you will see the one page I used to make the tutorial for the PMTA. 

Here we go....

Front cover-

 

 

Detail-

 

 

The Spine-

 

 

Spine Detail-

 

 

As you can see in the detail above I laced the hangers for a different design effect for the spine.  The hangers are affixed with brads on each end of the hanger.  Holds the ribbon perfectly.

The Page-

 

 

The Back of The Page-

 

 

Well, that's it folks!  Tomorrow is Friday and that means The Weekend Is Coming! New projects to work on so check back!

Thanks for looking!

Jim

The Gentleman Crafter

 

 

Policy Meets Tag Album Tutorial DONE!

Hello Gang!

These tutorials always take more time than I think.  Sorry about the delay...An hour and some change over my deadline of posting "today!"  LOL!

The album shown is from one of Graphic 45's older paper collections, Communique.  Love it! 

Tomorrow I will share the Fashionista version of this album.  But for today...

I present to you, the Policy Meets Tag Album...

You can Download Policy Meets Tag Mini album tutorial in pdf  format here.

Once again, thank you for looking, following and commenting!

Jim

The Gentleman Crafter

 

Thank You!

Thank You - Thank You - Thank You!!!  WOW!  What a total and complete honor!  Everyone's incredibly kind comments, encouragement, inspiration and love are completely amazing!  Is it ok for a guy to get a little welled up?  Don't tell anyone because, folks I'm there!  From the bottom of my heart I humbly thank you all!  Ok, enough of the mushy stuff!  :) 

 

Some details...

 

Graphic 45 will be choosing 30 finalists from all their applicants. These 30 finalists will be announced on Friday, March 2, 2012 on the G45 blog.  Can you imagine how many people will audition?  A TON!  So many, many super incredibly talented people from what I've had the courage to go look at!  Ok, I don't want to think about that!  LOL!  I just have to keep hoping, praying and keep going...right?

 

For the final round, those lucky 30 must prepare 3 projects and submit them by March 23, 2012.  Once Graphic 45 receives all the projects, they will review them and make the announcement of the 2012 Graphic 45 Design Team on Friday, March 30 on the G45 blog. 

 

Either way, I have been so honored by all of you, who could ask for more!

 

I want to wish everyone that is trying out for this incredible opportunity... good luck!  Graphic 45 deserves to have the best folks out there!

 

Other details...

 

I've been working in the studio night and day...well...mainly night!  Late nights!  LOL!  If I'm not working on my projects physically, I'm up in bed thinking about them.  Case in point, I finally fell asleep at 4:30 this morning just to wake up two and a half hours later to go to work! 

 

I'm not the best sleeper in the world; however, I can usually get to sleep at some point!   Here’s the deal folks, how many of you have done this?  I lay down with the intention of really wanting to fall asleep.  I mean I'm on the edge of dreamland.  The kind of dreamland where I'm starting to dance like Fred Astaire and look like Ricky Martin while giving a speech to Danish farmhands on why Rick Perry was running for President of the United States!  That's pretty asleep... and then all the sudden...Ginger Roger's hand me a stack of scrapbook paper...Then it's over!  Immediately my mind starts working, then thoughts like, " I wonder how I can make the tag album better.  I don’t like how the papers buckle when you fold it to the front."  By, 3:30 a.m. I had completely reworked the current album I had finished the night before in my mind.

 

Ok, long story longer, I made the album for a tutorial I wanted to share with you all today.  I will show you pictures of it however; the tutorial will have to come tomorrow.  Like I said above, I completely redesigned the way the pages and spine were made. Either way I hope you like it!  There will be two versions.  One for people who have access to policy envelopes and one for our incredible European friends who cannot get them.

 

Here we go...Keep in mind, this is not embellished yet.  Rough stuff...

 

A few shots of the, Where Policy Meets a Tag Album!

 

 

 

 

 

New version of the pages....

 

 

 

 

 

Once Again Everyone, Thank You All So Much!  Your support is so AMAZINGLY COOL!

 

Thanks for looking!  I will post the tutorial on the album tomorrow in pdf format for whoever may be interested.

 

Good Night and Sweet Dreams!

 

Jim

 

The Gentleman Crafter

Graphic 45 Design Team 2012 Audition

Ok, the secrets out, not exactly the same day as promised, but close!  LOL!  Graphic 45 is having a Design Team call.   I have decided to go to bat for the Men!  As you know, by seeing past projects, I LOVE G45's papers, each and every sheet is pure bliss!!   I love the colors, images, graphics, texture and thought that go into designing each page.  I just plain love to work with it, it makes me
happy!

It is with complete excitement (and honestly, nervousness) that I present to you the projects I am submitting, some are older ones you may remember... some are new...

 

Project 1- Steampunk Debutante Card and Envelope

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Project 2 - Olde Curiosity Shoppe Panaroma

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Project 3 - Gent's Watch Box

Project 4 - Ten Things I Love About You Heart Box

 

Project 5 - Traveling Wine Box

Project 6 -Stacked Book Drawers

 

Project 7 - Tiny Treasures Box

 

 

 

 

 

 
I want to take the opportunity to thank Graphic 45 for their consideration of my work for the 2012 Design Team! Wish me luck gang!!

Thanks for Looking!

Jim

The Gentleman Crafter

Tomorrow's The Big Day!

Ok, so y'all wanted to see what I'm working on for all these days that I haven't been blogging??????

Here ya go.....Not very flattering lighting huh?  Dont answer that! :)

 

 

What do you think?  LOL!!!!!

Tomorrow afternoon make sure you come by and visit my blog and see my new projects and look for a big announcement!

Thank you all for being such faithful and wonderful followers!  I APPRECIATE YOU ALL!!!

See you tomorrow! 

Jim

The Gentleman Crafter

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Hope that today is full of LOVE and HAPPINESS!

Hope that each of you hang tight with me while I'm glued to the studio.  Working on a series of different projects that I totally can't wait to share with you.  Why?  I'll tell you the reason soon!  I hope to give you all some sneak peeks, so keep coming back.  !  LOL!   

Happy Valentine's Day!

Jim

The Gentleman Crafter