Missy Whidden's 1st Layout

Hello everyone and happy New Year! I am so excited to share the very first project from my Design Team - an amazing and colorful layout made by Missy Whidden using a mix of Take Me Away and Fancy Free! The way Missy creates her stunning backgrounds and plays with mixed media (and you can watch exactly how she does that on her YouTube channel!) is what drew me into her pages many years ago - she is full of so much talent! Now let's get to know Missy a bit better:

Location: Florida, USA
Blog: littlenuggetcreations.blogspot.com
Instagram: @missywhidden
Pinterest: @missywhidden
Facebook: missy.whidden
YouTube: Missy Whidden
Tell us about you! I’m Missy Whidden and I’ve lived in Central Florida my entire life. I’ve been married to Marshall for over 16 years, but we’ve been together for over 22. We have two sweet little girls, Reese (10) and Paige (7). They are both autistic and nonverbal so our life is never boring. They have taught us so much and they are very happy children. They are the light of our lives and they make us laugh constantly. When I’m not scrapping, I’m a fitness instructor. I teach six classes a week. Before having children, I taught high school English. I’ve always been interested in art and playing with paper and stickers. I began scrapbooking just before Reese was born in 2006. I was hooked instantly! My style has changed quite a bit. Back then I just used paper, stickers, and deco scissors. Over the years I discovered die cutting tools and mixed media products. I love using watercolors, my Cameo, and my sewing machine on most of my projects. I usually scrap photos of my kids or my family. Scrapbooking is my calming therapy and helps me to relax. I try and do something scrappy related every day, and I just love it dearly. I also love reading and catching up on my favorite TV shows.

How did you get started scrapbooking and what do you love about it? My mother-in-law asked me to help her put together a book of my husband’s baby photos about 11 years ago. Once I started cutting and pasting, I knew I needed to do this more. I came home and started scrapping our travel photos. I was so excited to create a baby book for Reese so I hit my local scrapbook store and bought every piece of baby materials they had! I’ve never looked back since. I love the memory keeping aspect of it, but I also love the idea of just making something pretty that I love. I love cutting paper.  I love painting. I love the colors! Everything about it is just so fun and I never want to stop.

What are some of your scrapbooking accomplishments? I remember when I first discovered online scrapbooking. I entered a challenge and was so excited. I didn’t win, but I was hooked on entering contests for prizes. This is how I learned about scrapbook.com and all the big name brands. I discovered design teams and I wished and wished for so long to be a part of one. I was finally accepted onto a small challenge blog DT and I was SO excited! The rest snowballed from there.  One of my most exciting moments was being asked to join the My Mind’s Eye Design Team. I was asked out of the blue, and I couldn’t believe they chose me! I am also a member of the Bella Blvd CT, Hip Kit Club DT, Simple Stories CT, Shimmerz Paints Education Team, and A Flair For Buttons DT. I’m so honored to be a part of them all, and I’m even more thrilled to be a part of the first Paige Evans DT! I haven’t taken the leap into online teaching, yet!

Do you have any other hobbies, if so, what are they and why do you enjoy them?

Aside from scrapping, I love working out. I spend a lot of time learning the choreography and music for my classes. I love helping people get healthy and I’ve made so many amazing friends at the gym. I also love getting lost in a good book. Playing with our girls is also something I do a lot of. We love swimming, going to the movies, and just playing outside. Simple things bring them joy and I love that.

5 fun and random facts about Missy:

1. I am addicted to plain M&Ms.

2. My mom and I were both homecoming queens in high school.

3. I have been to eight Caribbean islands. One day I will live in a tiki hut on the beach!

4. I was part of the Super Bowl Half-Time show in 2001.

5. I would rather wear sneakers than heels any day.  I have a pair in almost every color.

And now, onto Missy's first layout!!

Hi, friends! Missy here, and I am beyond excited to be a part of this amazing team! It is truly an honor to work with Paige and her beautiful collections as well as the other talented team members. For my very first project, I created a layout containing all my favorite things: bright colors, big titles, cut files, and mixed media products. I combined the Pink Paislee Fancy Free collection with Take Me Away, and they worked beautifully together. I used the Take Me Away #15 paper for my background. I used a new alpha cut file from The Cut Shoppe for the letters for my title and I used the small squared patchwork patterned papers from both collections for them. I covered a lot of the background paper with white gesso and then used some Shimmerz Paints and gelatos to create the watercolor effect. I arranged the silly photos of my daughter around the page, added some tangled thread under them, and then worked on embellishing with items from both collections.

Here you can see all the gorgeous color from the papers and the background. I decided to add some vellum behind the open spots of each letter to make them stand out a bit more. I did some machine stitching through each word to add more color, texture, and detail. I used some of the Fancy Free Puffy Stickers here as well as some of the acetate pieces from the Ephemera pack. I also used some of the chipboard Thickers hearts from Take Me Away. I love scattering little embellishments around the page.

I can’t stop swooning over these gorgeous colors! They are so bright and bold, just like my daughter’s personality :) I added some buttons from both collections around the photos. The buttons have adhesive foam on the back and it’s easily removable if you don’t want that much dimension. I pulled it off so they would lie a little flatter on my page.

I added some adhesive foam under my photos to give them some dimension and added tangled thread under them. I embellished the bottom area here with a die cut from the Take Me Away Ephemera pack. I used a piece of a Fancy Free tag on the other side for a small layer of color.

Here is the process video so you can see exactly how this page was made:

This layout was so much fun to create! I hope it inspires you to combine your Paige Evans collections and see what beautiful color schemes you can come up with!
SUPPLIES: FANCY FREE: Paper 06, Paper 10, Buttons, Puffy Stickers; TAKE ME AWAY: Paper 07, Paper 15, Wood Veneer Shapes, Ephemera, Buttons, Chipboard Thickers
See you again on Wednesday with Flóra's first layout!