February Guest Designer: Missy Whidden

We are so excited to introduce you to our talented February Guest Designer, Missy Whidden. Let's get to know a little more about Missy and check out the projects she created to share with us!

Hi, everyone! I’m Missy Whidden, and I live in sunny Florida, USA. I’ve been married to Marshall for almost 16 years, but we’ve been together for over 21. We have two beautiful little girls, Reese and Paige. When I’m not scrapbooking, I teach several fitness classes at a local gym. I love helping gym members stay healthy and watching them challenge themselves in workouts. While working out is my aggressive stress relief and therapy, scrapbooking is my quiet and calm therapy. I work on something scrapbook related every day, and I have grown so much over the last nine years. I started scrapbooking just before my first daughter was born. My favorite techniques are mixed media (watercolors, spray inks, gelatos), die cuts and stitching. I adore bright colors and fun patterns. I’m honored to serve on several design teams, and I truly love everything about this hobby. I’m so happy to be a guest here at Bella! Thank you for having me!

"Two Is Better Than One", by Missy Whidden.

I used the beautiful Valentina collection for my first layout. The reds and pinks are amazing, and I couldn’t resist scrapping a photo of me and my husband. I combined my two favorite techniques: mixed media and die cuts. I cut lots of circles with hearts from the See You Soon paper and layered them so they overlapped. On my background, I used white gesso to fade out some of the little black hearts and to give my paint a place to go. I used plastic packaging with spray inks to spread the color around and then splattered it around.

I love these fun sayings from the Treasures & Text sticker sheet. They are so much fun! I didn’t even feel like I needed to add another title to my page. These said it all!

These flamingos are so adorable! I fussy cut them out, and although their teensy legs were a challenge, I made it work. They are perfect for a page about love.

Here’s a close up of the circles and the machine stitching. Stitching is great way to add texture, detail and color to your projects.

"You", by Missy Whidden.

I used mostly the Cute Baby Boy collection for my next layout. As you can see, there are no boys on this page! Yep, it’s a very versatile collection, and I love the colors for a girl page. I hand cut a lot of hearts from various patterned papers and arranged them kind of messy on the page. I stitched through them all and ruffed up the edges so they’d be dimensional. I came in with some white gesso and smudged it around with my fingers all around the hearts and even on top of some of them. The spray inks do so much better on patterned paper when you have gesso down first. I used mostly blue since it was the primary color of the page. I love how the black & white photos really pop against those beautiful colors.

Some of these hearts are from the Paper Pieces pack and some of them are punched from patterned papers. I created a little heart cluster here and stitched through it all.

Here you can see the gesso and paint texture. I love how it curled the hearts up and gave them such great dimension! I just love these colors…especially the grey mixed in!

Here’s one more close-up. I used lots of tangled thread here for added texture and color. That “You” die cut was perfect for my title.

"Run & Jump", by Missy Whidden.

My final layout was created with the Sweet Sweet Spring collection. These bright colors are my favorite! I love the rainbow effect, so I couldn’t resist using lots of patterns and colors together. I used a fun chevron arrow die cut and backed a lot of the open spots with various patterned papers. I customized my background with clear gesso and spray inks again. I used plastic packaging and also my water brush. I wanted to create a little watercolor blob of several of the colors, and I love how it turned out. I added lots of pop dots to the die cut to create some depth.

These chipboard alphas are so fun, and I love that they’re large. They were perfect for my title. I used a few pieces of patterned papers to create the layers behind my photo. I also added a few stickers right on top of my photo. That’s a fun design element when you have some open space on your photo.

I loving how this die cut looks raised up! I also love this yellow color. It matches the color in the Bella papers perfectly!

Here’s another close-up of the die cut. These colors & patterns are perfect together. I had the perfect thread color to match, too!

One more extra close-up of the chipboard alphas at the top.

Thank you so much to everyone at Bella for inviting me and letting me create with these beautiful collection! I had a blast, and I hope you see something that inspires you!

Comments

[Julie Tucker-Wolek]

Missy is amazing! I love her creations!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Ivonne]

oh! My God, you are absolutely extraordinary Missy. This can't be beat! one of my favorite designers + my favorite brand ... wow! I have made my day! Thanks Bella Boulevard, wonderful guest designer!!!

[Kris Berc]

I absolutely love Missy's work. She showcased these beautiful Bella Blvd products fabulously! Love it all!

[Tracey]

I'm a huge Missy fan! Gorgeous projects!