The Gentleman Crafter

Just a Quick Post!

Hey Everybody!  Just got the low down on our projects for CHA for the G45 booth!  So, it's time to get busy!  But I had to share with you another Crazy Jim Thing! 

I was sitting here crafting along and I remembered what happened yesterday morning and started in on a laughing jag!  Now these don't happen too often, but they do come.  When it does happen, I am so grateful I live in the country so no one can see me carrying on!  Bahahahaha! 

Ok, here goes...This Is A True Story!

Yesterday morning, I woke up to an alarm clock....well the flying pig alarm clock to be exact...I set it the night before and placed it across the room so I would have to drag my caveman butt up and out of bed and across the room to turn it off!  My regular alarm clock is one of those jobbies that you never have to do anything to.  You set it once and it aligns itself with the universe!  The electricity goes out, it sends out signals and flashes and resets itself!  Amazing bit of technology that I have grown to HATE!  Hate the way it HONKS at you to get up!  It's as irritating to me as when I was a little runt, Dad, with toothbrush in mouth, would turn on the lights to my bedroom and BOOOM, "UP AND AT 'EM!"  OOOOOH, I still hate that!  Hahahaha!

Ok, so you got that I have two alarm clocks...A whole paragraph on that!  Only me!

So, the reason for setting so many melodious timepieces was to get up and watch the Queen's Diamond Jubilee on BBCA.  This stuff fascinates me as I am truly an anglophile!  Love the pomp and pageantry of it all.

I got up turned on the tube in the bedroom, started the shower, grabbed my coffee and then turned on the TV in the bathroom.  Yes, TV in the bathroom!  Don't ask!  It was fascinating.  About the time I tuned in, the Queen was in a car procession traveling through the streets of London to have luncheon at Westminster Hall.   The crowds were cheering in the background.  Thousand screaming and flags waving.  It gave me goosebumps!  Then all the sudden I heard the church bells clanging all over London!  Such an ominous sound.  I had remembered these, at the marriage of Diana to Charles, the marriage of Charles to Camilla and recently the marriage of William to Kate.  This sound was now so familiar.  I thought for several minutes about the church bells clanging.  How I wondered if the people of the city were deafened by them.  How haunting the sound was.  I even thought about the cathedrals and churches these huge bells were housed in.  Then my mind went to Paul Revere and his midnight ride and then my thoughts drifted to my trips to Boston.  Funny how the mind works huh?  So cool huh?

Then to my total embarrassment and personal amusement...  You've been there right?  When it's just you and you alone!  You actually look around to see if anyone noticed, even though you know you are by yourself!  Yep, that embarrassed feeling! 

Upon listening to the familiar sounds of London bells, it struck me!  This wasn't on the TV!!!!  The sound I was hearing was my stickin' multi, high tech gizmo ALARM CLOCK going off in the next room! BAhahahaha!  Ok, this may not be funny to you guys but I simply had to laugh out loud!  Like I said...Amazing how the mind works!...Kinda! 

Y'all have a good night!  See you soon with some cool stuff!

Thanks for visiting!

Jim

The Gentleman Crafter

Summertime and the Mosquitoes are Buzzing!

Well, it's been a while since I just plain old posted to be posting!  I'm waiting on some pictures of my June projects to be uploaded to Flickr!  With my antiquated internet service this delightful experience could take a while.  So out to the front porch, Monster drink and laptop in hand.

This is my favorite time of day when the sun is slowly slipping down behind the house, things start to cool down and the cicadas begin their melodious chorus.  To me, the colors of the landscape seem to be much more brilliant right about now.  Could be my newly forming cataracts who knows!  :)  

Ok, I just realized, this is also the time when the mosquitoes like to come and make this whole serene experience...Oh.... just that much more fun!  Like I have said in the past, bugs always, always head for my ever growing circular bald patch!  When will I remember to wear a ball cap?  I knew that I should have let my hair grow longer.  There has GOT to be something to the comb-over thing!  Folks, it's for protection against bugs!  Just Sayin! We should never look down our noses at comb-overs again!

Oh the hair loss thing really gets to me.  I wish it didn't, but it does.  I sweep all my hair to the front and just high enough where I don't have to see what is happening behind!  LOL!  Totally serious here!  I also think that I'm vain enough to go into a restaurant and pick the chair that faces the wall just so no one sees it!  HAHAHA!  

What about a toupee?  That could be cool?  How easy would it be to take it into the shower with you and bathe it, shake it out and apply it with what...fix-o-dent or maybe Glossy Accents?  SWEET!  The awesome lady that cuts my hair...God bless her, wants to shave it off!  Well, so did my Dad back in the day!  ( That's a whole other story for a different day! ) There is NO WAY in God's green earth that this will ever happen!  It's kinda like children...I grew it, raised it, washed it, conditioned it, worried over it and even yelled at it a time or two!  It would be too hard to let it go.... I'm proud of the patches I have!  May they grow in peace.  

Well, back inside to get busy...Hope you all have an incredible weekend!  May your days NOT be filled with Mosquitoes but the ever soothing lull of the cicada.

Thanks for visiting!

Jim

The Gentleman Crafter

 

Cleaning House!

Good Afternoon All!

Been busy as a beaver!  Three days off...You just got to love that!  With time, there is so much you can finally get done!  Not that I'm done, but getting close!  

I took some time today to work on the blog.  Actually, I took some time to figure out how things work on my blog!  LOL!  I have received many emails asking where certain tutorials were on my blog and I have partly solved that problem.  Next holiday maybe I can finish solving the problem!  :)  Each time I finish a project and post it, you may see "DONE!" after it.  I'll reveal my secret...LOL!  wooow big secret...:)This is so I can find the projects in the search box as it list everything with Done in the title.  I still have to weed through them to get to the one I want but it helps.

But here's the good news, it gets a little better....kinda...If you look at the top of the page, just under the banner, there are several buttons you can push to go to Home, Archive, Profile, etc.  Next to the Subscribe button I added a button for Tutorials, which will take you to all the tutorials I have done.  Unfortunately, at the moment, you will still need to scroll through all of them to find what you are looking for.  I'll be working on how to make that even easier soon.  I'm convinced that there is some kind of index on Typepad.  Just haven't gotten to that chapter yet!  :)  

I've also added buttons for Graphic 45 and Videos.   In the future, when I blog, if it pertains to any of these things it will go into that category.  It will still show up as a post on the home page when I blog it, but for historic value it will be filed into these categories.

Hope this helps us all and makes it somewhat easier to navigate...

And Yes, I haven't fallen off the face of the earth LOL!  It's deadline time again and as always I work to the deadline!  Go figure!  I will post some of the things I have been working on tonight or tomorrow.

Thanks for looking and have an excellent weekend!

Jim

The Gentleman Crafter

Miscellaneous Stuff, I don't know why!

Good Morning!

Today I give you some oddities from my casa (house)!  Why?  I have no idea, maybe a filler until tomorrows Fast and Easy Project...Yeah, that may be why.  LOL!

First Up,  here is a link to the .pdf version of my Graphic 45 Traveling Journal.  If you are anything like me, I like to print these out and keep them in a book so when a rainy day comes and I am at a loss for something to do, I pull out this book and find inspiration.  Here you can Download Fast and Easy Kraft Reflections Travel Diary.

Next, I give you a tomato...Why you ask?  I don't know why...

Weird huh? 

Last, I am now a frog breeder!  Who knew!  I don't know why!

Check back tomorrow for this week's Fast and Easy Project.  I think it came out kinda cool!  It'll be great for Father's Day!  See you tomorrow!

Thanks for coming by!

Jim

The Gentleman Crafter

 

Fast and Easy Project Comin'!

Warning....This is a complete and utter teaser....I totally forgot to do my fast and easy this week! It's done,  just need to write it up and post it.  So tomorrow, God willin', I will post this weeks fast and easy project!  It kinda cool!  Hope you think so too.

Until Tomorrow...

Jim

The Gentleman Crafter

And The Xyron Creatopia Goes To....

You guys need to remind me to do stuff!  Hahaha!  I completely forgot about the Xyron Creatopia!  How could I when I have to walk over it everyday to get out the door!!  For heaven sake!

First, I want to thank all of you for your wonderful wonderful ideas!  They were all awesome! I mean you guys have some friggin' GREAT ideas!  I hate the word challenge!  It gets me going!  I have so enjoyed going back through and reading all of your ideas!  Really so inspiring!  I can't wait to get started!

There were several that got my blood pumping!  I mean, as soon as I read it I wanted to get up and make it!  But there was one that hit home for me.  Especially since I wanted to capture my vacation. 

It was Lynn Wild's idea of doing the lighthouse!!  Not only does it capture my interest, it was perfect for the occassion and where I was at at the time.  So, Lynn, I will be doing this as one of my Graphic 45 projects for June and you my friend have won MY ALL TIME FAVORITE THING...the Xyron Creatopia!!  Thanks Lynn and thank you all so much for your kind comments and ideas!  Please note, you guys had so many cool ideas, I have made a list and will try to craft as many of them as I can.  Once again, I have to say it...Y'all really ROCK! Thank You Thank You!

Jim

The Gentleman Crafter

 

 

 

Question and Answers and Shipping Stuff!

Y'all I really just have to laugh!  I mean that or cry! Seriously, I'm sitting here in hysterics!  Hahahaha!

Ok, I'm am not saying whatsoever that I am a seasoned pro online shipping, printing label kind of person!  I admit it here and in front God and the world!  But Good Gravy on Biscuits!!!!! Have you ever tried to ship stuff online so that it will make your life easier!!!  REALLY???  I just spent my ENTIRE night making TWO STINKIN" labels for TWO PACKAGES!  BAhahahahah!  REALLLY???? Oh, it was so easy and I have so much time left over I think i'll go clean the house for goodness sakes!  

Talk about novel!  Boy, I could write one tonight!  But who has time?  LOL!  It totally would have been faster for me to stand in line at Christmas time at the post office!  Here's a hint!  If you use UPS'sinternet site and try to print out a label on either Google Chrome or Safari do this.....

DON'T!!!!!!

Then there are all the fields you need to fill out to make them happy!  You mess up on one of these babies and you're in for an all nighter!  I didn't get out of the form field for oh...30 minutes as I had to keep adding stuff they wanted...then you had to keep putting in your credit card number each time because it takes it out each time for security reasons.  Yep, that was a true learning experience! Finally out of that and go to print the label..Oh No!  That would have been too dad blasted easy! Uh huh! printer HATES UPS!  Who knew printers hated UPS! Lost the label!  Yep gone!  Where?  I have no idea in tar-nation where these things go!!! All I know is somewhere in cyberspace!  just GONE!  :)  Now folks, you CAN'T get the lable back if you go in and purchase as a guest! oh no sir!  I found this out after a nice LONG chat with the nicest woman who has four kids, been divorces twice, was originally from Minnesota, loves meat loaf and get this...She scraps!  Oh yeah! Get me? All this for this sweet gal to give me a number to call the AFTER HOURS tech support!  Which I did and left my name and number for them to call me back!  I must say they did pretty quickish!  This is when I learned UPS, Safari and Google Chrome don't mix very well.  He told me I'd have to do it all again and do it on a system that has Window Explorer on it!   

Well, I did and it's done but NO ONE ever believe that these kinds of things happen to me!  SO by good golly, I had to blog about it!

OK, let me answer a few questions about my Mini Series on the Explosion Gift Card Box!  LOL!  

For those of you who read my blog yesterday, I posted the first part of the YouTube video series thinking that you all would see it and go to the next one.  I had no idea how hard they would be to find.  So sorry.  So, below I am going to give you the link to my YouTube channel.  I tried to put all the parts on this blog post and it wouldn't publish. So just follow the link below.

You can go to my YouTube Channel to catch things you may have missed and it shows all the videos I have done so far.  You can find the videos her at The Gentleman Crafter's Channel.

Here are some notes:

After I watched the eight last night again, I realized I'm not the best editor yet!  So forgive!  

Please note in one of the videos I mentioned Stamp Asylum as being in San Antonio!  What was I thinking!  Stamp Asylum is in Plano!

The dimensions for the box are as follows:

Chipboard Box Bottom-

(5) 3-1/2 x 3 1/2

Chipboard Top-

(1) 3-3/4 x 3-3/4

(4) 1-1/4 x 3-3/4

Interior Cover Layer-

10-1/2 Square

Bottom Layer-

10" Square

Middle Layer-

9-1/2" Square

Top Layer-

9" Square

Hope this helps and Thanks for your interest!

Jim

The Gentleman Crafter

 

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day Everybody!  

For all the trouble I put my MOTHER through, it's a wonder the woman is still sane!  As an adult, I look back and think ...I simply do not know how y'all did it.  I would have worried myself into a coma!  Mothering...It truly is a powerful, powerful tool that has been honed to perfection.  Patience, loving, caring, nurturing, supporting, feeding, clothing, sheltering, providing, healing, the list goes on and on...It's amazing!

Thank You Mom for being the best at all of these things and mainly for the love and undying support you have always given me time after time...

To all the Mom's out there, I wish you the best day ever!  Y'all Rock!

 

Speaking of GREAT MOM's...I just need to brag a second about my sister Kim!  Y'all, this woman has raised a sweet and terribly smart daughter, Emily, and then had triplets, Gibson, Tucker and Molly Jane, didn't quite feel like she was done raising kiddos and adopted my Finny and two or three years later adopted my precious Liya from Ethipoia!  Now, my sister is older than I am by three years, which doesn't mean anything, Just Sayin! but, she can run circles around me any day of the week.  Like I posted yesterday, I was at her house and got to experience this first hand!  She was icing a cake, giving instructions to the kids, wrapping a present, making tea, picking up the house, answering to Mom, Mom, Mom every second all this at the same time.  That's what I'm talking about!  That is exactly why I am so grateful to my Mom this morning!  You guys rock!  I'm in awe! Totally!

Ok, I leave you with one more picture...Liya Kate the "Pink Princess Birthday Girl", who did indeed love Uncle Bubba's homemade gift!  Yahooo!  Hopefully she remembers this when I'm in the nursing home!  LOL!

Thanks for looking!  I hope you all have a Marvelous Mother's Day!

Jim

The Gentleman Crafter

Remembering My Sweet Sister

Kathy Sue Hankins

8-4-1959 - 5-11-09

Sister...Friend...Joker...Story Teller...Lover of All!

She would have killed me for sharing this picture, but it so captures her sweet fun spirit...

Jim

The Gentleman Crafter

And The Winner is....

There were 15 of My Favorite Things!  Did you get them all?  Nine of you did!  Yahooo!!  I gave the nine names a number and then ran the numbers through an online random number generator (Thanks to my sister Kim who thought of this clever idea!).  # 6 was picked.  Hmmmm.  Wonder who #6 is....

The Favorites Were:

1. Rotatrim Cutter
2. Xyron Creatopia
3. To Make People Happy
4. The Oyster House in Mobile, AL
5. The drive through Florida Highway “forest”
6. Saying Tallahassee
7. The movie Funny Face
8. Hilton Head Island
9. Shopping at Home Goods
10. Eating at Plums Restaurant
11. Shopping at The Carolina Stamper
12. The Salty Dog
13. Poogan’s Porch
14. The Artist and Craftsman Supply
15. Sitting in a rocker eating fried peanuts and drinking RC Cola

If you did, That's AWESOME! If you didn't, That's pretty awesome that you at least tried.  I appreciate each of you so much! It's one of those things where I wish I had oodles of money so that everyone could have a Rotatrim!  Seriously!

Anyway....Ready.....

 

 

 

 

 

and the winner is.....

 

 

 

 

 

 

Are you sure you want to know?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pamela Davis !!!!

Congrats Pam!!  I hope you will enjoy it!  Please email me with your address and as soon as I return home, I will mail it off to you!  

Thank you all so much for playing and remember, if your creative idea for a future project is chosen, There is a Xyron Creatopia in it for you!

THANKS GANG!  YALL ROCK!!!

Jim