Guest Designing for JBS Mercantile Kit Club

I was absolutely thrilled to guest design for JBS Mercantile (Jenni Bowlin) Kit Club this month.  I made four layouts and a pair of earrings.  I loved creating with the kits. 

Funny story about this layout.  Originally the entire top section (skyline, photo, strips of paper) was at the bottom of the layout.  But it just looks so right where it is, doesn't it?

The handwriting is not mine.  It was on the vintage bus transfer that I pieced into this collage of papers.  But I was thrilled that it was in red ink and fit with the urban theme while bringing a touch of hand made to the whole affair.

A vintage yo-yo layered under a very cool brad and paper flower combo from MME.  I haven't made a lot of flowers since landing on the Prima team three years ago.  But it used to be one of my very favorite things to do!

Earrings made from vintage lace appliques!  I love how much cool vintage stuff was in the kits.  Jenni does the flea market shopping for you!  So cool!

Looooooooove this layout!  I haven't scrapped a lot recently.  Been a bit burned out on it, honestly.  And this was the first layout I did when I got the kit in the mail. It just fell into place and that made me so very extremely happy!

When left to my own devices I'll usually go completely embellishment-less.  So one of the great things about designing with a kit is that the embellishments sort of jump out of the box at you and begged to be used.  Does this layout *need* all those brads scattered about?  No.  But I think they definitely enhance it.  And they add that hard polished contrast to the soft hand work of the scribbled circle and paint splats.

The pink shape is a sticker from Sassafras.  I cut it in half and used the other half on the first layout from this post (City Boy).  Pretty frugal, right?

The chipboard letters got the glam treatment with a coat of Picket Fence Stickles from Ranger.

This layout is almost my favorite because the background paper is actually the brown packing paper that came in my box!  I painted it and stamped it and I just love the way it looks!

I stamped the soda water stamp (an old fashioned kind of stamp for an old fashioned kind of guy) in a brick pattern, which mirrors the brick pattern in the background of the photos!  And while I've used the same set of chipboard letters in all three layouts so far, they've all been painted to look different!

Guess where the other half of that vintage bus transfer ended up?  And again, some gorgeous brads from MME!

Here's a detailed look at that background paper I made.  Yum!

I seriously giggled to myself when I titled this layout.  I read a fashion blog called Tom & Lorenzo every day and when they like what a starlet is wearing and think she's working it hard they always entitle their posts, "WERQ" (as seen here).  When I snapped this photo I asked my mother to "give me attitude."  The photo makes me laugh!  I love it!

I know it's sacreligious to say it, but I'm kind over the banner thing.  So when I saw these totally cute canvas banners with tiny metal grommets from Maya Road I was both happy and upset.  I mean, they're sooooooooooooo cute.  But I didn't know how to make them fresh.  Ultimately I decided to use it as an arrow instead of a banner.

Same chipboard letters.  Painted gold this time.  And that background.  Oy vey.  It was fun to do, but man, it took forever.  Probably because of the way I did it. I just kept adding tiny pieces of paper and sewing around the photo until I had a large enough square.

First, can I have 100 pieces of this MME woodgrain paper?  It's my favorite of all the woodgrains.  Love, love, love it.  Second, these popped up circles used to be one of my go-to design elements back in the day.  It was nice to have a little visit from them!

So there you have it.  A collection of projects for a very cool kit club.  I had never used the Jenni Bowlin kits before and I have to say they are among the best I've ever tried.  Beautifully coordinated with a really good mix of what's new and hot and some unique things you're not going to see on everyone else's layouts. I dig that.  And some unusual things which pushed me to be creative. Love that!  So, not that you asked, but I definitely give a thumbs up and encourage you to try out a kit!

Check out the design team's gorgeous creations with this kit here.

Thanks for stopping by!