A 'Gentleman's' Wallet/Brag Book for Meg's Garden

Hello everyone and welcome to my blog!  Hope you are having a wonderful day!
Sorry that I haven't been around lately but 'life' got in the way of my paper crafting and blog visits.  Things have settled down now and hopefully I can get back to normal.

It's my turn again at Meg's Garden Blog and this time I would like to share with you a Wallet style Mini or 'Brag Book' made specifically for the men.
I must point out that this is not my design.  I first saw this style of Mini Book on Astrid Maclean's blog 'Astrid's Artistic Efforts' and she actually got the instructions for this design from a video on You Tube made by Dawn's Inspiration.  I really loved this design and thought it would be perfect for the 'Gentlemen' papers.
I should warn you that this will be a long post as there are quite a lot of photos so I hope you won't get bored.  Perhaps you should grab yourself a cuppa before we begin!!

Here is the front cover.

For this wallet I used the strips from the bottom of the 12 x 12 Gentleman's Collection papers and also some sheets from the Mini paper pack.  On the cover I used the strip from 'A Gentleman on Time' page.  Roughed up the edges with a distressing tool and inked them with Gathered Twigs Distress Ink.  I then scraped some Clear Rock Candy Distress Paint in the top right hand corner and, when it was dry, swiped some gesso  around the corners as well.  The inkwell and quill was fussy cut from the 'Letter from a Gentleman' strip and the labels are from the 'Cut & Create' page.

The clock was cut from the 'Old World Time' Transparency and the cute little metal clock and key are also available from Meg's Garden.  As you can see, I wrapped some wire around the twine to hold the clock and key in place, but I need to practice that a bit more so I can make it look a bit tidier.  LOL!

Unfortunately the crackle paint doesn't show up very well in the photos, but you can see where the gesso cracked as well.  The metal gears are the Idea-ology Mini Gears from Tim Holtz.  All the papers (with only one exception) and embellishments used in this project are available at Meg's Garden.  Below is a closie of the fussy cut inkwell.  I used some foam dots  underneath to pop it up off the page.

When closed the whole booklet measures 4" x 7" but there are lots of flaps to open and some pockets as well for holding tags and journaling spots.
Here it is with the top flap open.

This flap has one of the pockets.  The tags were cut from the 'Create & Cut' page.  I inked the edges and backed them with some kraft cardstock so they can be used as journaling spots.  Stenciled a flourish on the pocket itself with some translucent texture paste and, as an embellishment, I cut out the small graphics from the mini pack and trimmed them with  some fancy scissors.

On the flap below there is space for a photo and you can see some more of the labels from the 'Cut & Create' page to which I have added the small metal clock and a piece of Tim Holtz's Mini Film Strip.

The page above and some of the following pages were stenciled with either the Lattice work Stencil or the Burlap Stencil from Tim Holtz using Gathered Twigs Distress Ink.

All the removable tags and labels were mounted on kraft cardstock.  The clock can be used as a journaling spot and the tag beneath as a photo mat.

The page above opens to the right to reveal a photo mat ...

... and opens to the right again to reveal a pocket and tag ...

... and another photo mat.  The coffee stains and splats were made with Bobunny's Stained Textures Stamp.

The tag was stenciled with 'Black Soot' and  'Gathered Twigs' Distress Ink and some circles created with a bottle cap dipped in gesso.

I hope you are all still with me.  I did warn you about the photos didn't I???

 This page opens to the left ...

... to reveal another photo mat and opens to the left again ...

... to reveal a pocket and tag ...

... and another photo mat.

More stenciling and stamping and circles.

Here is the middle of the wallet with both sides open.  The belly band was made with paper from Prima's Engraver Collection.  I simply attached it with some eyelets.  The gorgeous Filigree oval trinket is also available from Meg's Garden.

The tags and calendar were cut from the 'Gentleman's' papers.

Don't despair people, we're nearly finished!!!  Hope you're still with me!! LOL!
These photos show you what the whole piece looks like.
It was very difficult to photograph the whole wallet so I elected to do one side at a time.
This is the front left side ...

... and the front right side.

The back left side ...

... and the back right side.

I didn't add much in the way of three dimensional embellishments because in the first instance, guys don't really go for that and in the second instance, the wallet would have ended up way too thick.  Besides, this paper collection is awesome all by itself and doesn't really need too much embellishment.

I do hope you managed to stick with me to the end and that you like my Gentleman's Brag Wallet and are inspired to try it, or something similar,  for yourself.

Meg's Garden Products used:
Gentleman's Collection 12 x 12 papers
Gentleman's Collection Mini Paper Pack
Old World Time Transparency
Filigree long oval
Tim Holtz Mini Gears
Tim Holtz Mini Film Strip
Clock Charm
Hardware Metals - Key Antique Chest

HERE is the link to Meg's Garden Online Store.
Why not pop over to the Meg's Garden Blog to take a look at the awesome creations by my Teamies.  HERE is the link.

Thank you so much for visiting and I hope you enjoy the rest of your day.

Take care and God Bless.