Making My Kind of Messy with my JBS Mercantile Kit

This month the design team is hoping to inspire you with messy, creative techniques.  While I love and adore messy techniques, I just can't seem to "do it" well.  Nor do I do well with the mess left on my work desk.  There is one messy technique I think I can relate to however.  Although I love stitching on my layouts I've been quite intimidated to add the messy thread bundles I've admired to my own layouts.

Louise Nelson was one of the first I noticed creating goodness with a bundle of loose thread:

supplies: april mercantile kits

Leah Farquharson does it with ease:

supplies : april mercantile kit

So I thought I'd give it a try this month with the May Mercantile Kits.  Realize that my kind of messy thread bundles may not be Louis' or Leah's kind of messy thread bundles, but it's a step in the right direction!

In this layout I bundled pink quilting thread together to give a center to my silk flower and accent my top border.  Quilting thread has more stiffness than regular thread and that can give a bit more shape to your thread bundles.

Using the new Crafted Kit, I created my own pinwheels with the supplies in the kit, but added some gold thread for a delicate center in one.  I had to refrain from gathering some of the run-away loops together, and just let them fall where they may:

My latest layout was inspired by the teals in both the Papercrafting Kit and Crafted Kit, and the set of birthday die-cuts in the Artisan Kit.  Remembering a photo of a birthday party we threw for our ducks with the boys in their blue and teal uniforms, I knew these kits would be perfect. 

The Crafted Kit pinwheel theme has me currently obsessed with them, and what a better place to use one than on this layout!  The kit contains so many embellishments and supplies, it was so much fun to mix and match everything to make unique pinwheels:

I again gathered loops and loops of gold thread, this time tying them together in the middle and then gently spreading them apart for a playful, somewhat messy look.

What I learned this month is not to be intimidated by what you see others do.  Try it ... change it ... do it different ... do it the same ... try it again.  The main point is to try it!

Don't forget to listen to the ScrapGals podcast - see the post below!  They worked with our May Kits this month and their conversation is happy, fun, and made me laugh!