The Best Kept Secret

We here at If Its Groovy have decided it is past time to bring people to the forefront of the scrapping industry that are never seen or not seen enough. We find that in the scrappy magazines and company sites that we love...the all too familiar faces. That does not mean we don't love them we just need more of the new too. That's where IIG comes in! We are bringing focus to The Best Kept Secret in scrapping and today we start with someone The Groovy Chicks find to be really interesting and creating beautiful works of art. Her name is Misty. Her hangout is linked here so be sure to visit after reading all the scrappy goodness below. I asked Misty to challenge us to a fun challenge and she decided that we need to make some boy layouts with flowers and bling, but to keep it looking masculine. She has also completed the challenge so I will show the pics of that beautiful, and masculine ;) layout below along with her words about it, and then an interview with our First Best Kept Secret!

From Misty:
I made this layout to give to my nephew in honor of his baptism day. He is 14 years old and I couldn't be prouder!!! I bought a scrapbook frame for it so he can hang it in his room.

Supply List:
Karen Foster Cardstock stickers
Prima Flowers
K&Company papers
Webster Paper (diecut)
DCWV (butterflies I hand cut out the paper)
Say it in Crystals Prima
Expressions (metal word left corner)
Spare Parts (ribbon)
Martha Stewart punch
American Traditions Designs (cross charm in flower)
Making Memories (cross plaque)
Diamond Stickles
Patina Stickles
Large Tan flower-hobby lobby
Med. Retro flower punch (handmade flowers)
Mcgill Starburst (handmade flowers)
Mcgill Sun (handmade flowers)









Meet Misty: Tell me all about the start of your art, How did your scrapbooking begin? High school graduation. My husband's (of course then boyfriend) aunt gave him a scrapbook for his graduation. We started talking about it and 11 years later here I still am!!! Of course I've changed over from 8.5x11 to a 12x12 and I've grown tremedously since then as a scrapper. Do you have a stand-by element/paper line or tool that you must use when you scrap? Oh I would have to say my cricut. I seem to use it on every layout. Do you have a favorite technique? Would it be cheating if I said I like them all? I love all kinds of techniques. I really like to go to the different tutorials that are out there and learn new ones. That is afterall how you grow as a scrapper right? If you could not shop for one year...would your scrap space be emptied or would you still have product? Oh goodness, I'd still have a room full. My husband picks on me saying that if he were to sell everything in my scraproom he would have enough to buy a "souped" up engine for his car and then some!!! A scrapper can never have enough. If you could make one outfit out of scrapbooking paper what line would it be from? It may be a older line but I LOVE the Bo Bunny Aylissa line. Can you tell something about yourself that others would be shocked to learn? Don't think this is a shocker but I also have recently discovered the love of sewing. I've sewn my daughter about 5 outfits in the past month! I also used to cross stitch and I've tried crocheting but don't like it. What makes you a groovy chick? Being able to do what we do. I mean, we are moms, wives, sisters, daughters and yet we still find time to do what we love to do all the while spending time with our families. Knowing who you are and being good at it! Doing all the above and somehow still finding time to eat! Incredible!!! So would you like to know another secret? We scraplifted one of Misty's beautiful layouts that is masculine and included exactly what she has asked of us! Here is hers and then ours with a million thanks for being The Best Kept Secret! Misty: GROOVY DEB♥ Pictured here are two of my guys, Daddy and my husband, Kevin. I had so much fun lifting Misty, especially since she did not until NOW! This picture was taken when we celebrated my dad's 75th birthday in January. My family is so blessed especially since my dad had such a rough year with his health. God has been a rock to our family as is my dad so celebrating his birthday is very special to me! Thanks Misty for sharing you art so we could creep into your gallery and kidnap your layout for lifting ;) SILVANA Hey Misty we are so happy to have you as a IIG Guest Designer and thanks for sharing your beautiful job with us =) and also for the challenge and what a challenge!!! is really hard for me to make a boy/masculine page using flowers and bling, but scrap-lifting one of your pages make it a whole lot easier and fun. This is my layout , this is one of my favorites picture of my son ever!!! and i was keep it for a especial layout ( I scrap it a few months ago ... but I didn't really love it ) I don't usually scrap the same picture more than once but since I really wanted a great layout for this particular pic , I gave it another try and I LOVE THIS PAGE , I think it has flowers, bling, pp with flowers but because of the colors it doesn't look girly at all. MICHELLE Misty Lift Challenge was to create a layout that is masculine but to include flowers and bling without making it feminine. I was scared of this one! I am not a bling person and especially when it has to do with my son's pages. He is just too much rough and tumble, dirt and grime without a care in the world unless he's hungry or tired. Then he will let you know! My start to this page came when I was working on making some 4-leaf clovers using a Hot off the Press - Fold-it Swirls template. When the picture of my son at 6 mos. complete with the cap came into mind for this layout. Having the clovers already it made the title "My Little Irish Man" really fit. On this page I used green out of a box of AC Specialty Paper - Textured Pearl for the background. A Navy cardstock for my mat and cut out my die cut paper using my Cricut cartridge Accent Essentials set on 8 1/4" Then using my white cardstock cut the same image at 7 1/4" and finally the Sage Vellum at 7". The papers for the clovers were scraps from a card I had made a while ago. I edge inked the White cardstock and clovers using Close To My Heart Garden Green. Used some EK Success white token like alphas I had that I inked up a bit with a Tart Lime pigment ink by Ink It Up! I used a Metallic Marker in Seafoam to faux stitch the edge of the Navy die cut and using a Navy glitter gel pen added my son's name and age to the layout. Finally added some opaline designer half pearls from Basic Grey, which I had bought for the purpose of using on my daughter's Tinkerbell Halloween costume page. Who would of thought they would work for more than one layout? JEN T When I found out our first bks was going to be misty. I was honored to scraplift her! I checked out her work and it is awesome! Congrats misty for on being on IIG!! And so here is a pic of my father in law and I at my wedding that I put on a page using misty’s page for inspiration. Tfl! HEATHER Oh how I loved this challenge!! Misty's lo was such a great inspiration to me! What a beautiful boy layout and didn't lose any of its "masculinity" with the flowers! So her challenge to us was to do a masculine layout that included flowers and bling! But then, a little catch, Groovy Deb challenged us to actually scraplift Misty's layout, without Misty's knowledge! OH . . . WHAT . . . FUN!!! I knew just the picture that I wanted to use when presented this challenge! It is a picture taken of my husband in 2007 while he was on a fishing trip to Lake Erie. Granted, they were actually catching fish that day . . . not men . . . but I love the verse Matthew 4:19 and the song we used to sing as children that goes with that verse. I also love that I can see how God is working in my husband which makes this verse even more special to me. I placed a Tattered Angel Mask on the background and then sprayed the cardstock with Electric Blue and Brick Glimmer Mist. I then used Basic Gray papers (Offbeat and Marjolaine) for the patterened papers. The flowers and leaves are all by Prima. This was the first time I have ever placed with the fragments by Tim Holtz. I really enjoyed mixing the alcohol ink colors to create the different colored fragments by the top flower! I think they really help pull all the colors from the feather and papers together! I can see myself using these lots more!! :D DOREEN Our guest designer, Misty, challenged us to create a "boy" layout using flowers and bling. Our DT leader, Deb, challenged us to scraplift Misty. Scraplifting I can do, I love scraplifting other designers' awesome work. Flowers and bling on a boy layout...not so much... Don't get me wrong, when I see it done by others I think it looks amazing! But for me, who is not a flowery, blingy person by nature, the thought of designing a layout like that is scary. I mean I have a boy and a girl and I hardly use flowers on my daughters layouts!! So what was my solution? Use boyish colors and patterned papers. For example the striped BG paper "screams" boy and I used that PP to also create a flower w/ my punch. Under the title, you see a chipboard vine and leaf that I left raw instead of covering it up w/ pretty paper. And, speaking of the title, it is anchored by a giant flower but the black and brown colors of it make it more boyish. I did add just a bit of girly-ness to it by adding the yellow flowers. I feel it adds a bit of color to the layout w/ out messing up the balance and yes, it's girly, but thats okay. It's okay because the rest of the layout is boyish enough. I enjoyed this challenge very much! As I said I enjoy scraplifting and the original layout is super amazing! Plus I like that we get to discover new artists and be inspired by them! Thanks Misty for agreeing to be a guest designer for us! DARLENE This month for IIG we had a new and fun adventure. We were to select an inspiring person to scraplift. We were challenged to use flowers and bling on a masculine layout, and this month we selected Misty to lift, and oh, was it fun! :) For the bling, I used some rhinestones that I’ve had forever and some diamond stickles to fill in the flourishes. :) And for the flowers on the top right (Kaiser Craft rub-on) and bottom left paper flower, I used some scraps from my stash. :) I used some K&Company papers to make a vintage and romantic layout of my late uncle Luis from my maternal grandmothers side. I never got to meet him, but this photo was just too perfect to not scrap! I will fill in some journaling later on about his life/occupation/pass times as my grandmother fills me in. :) Will you take the flower and bling challenge on a masculine layout too?? :)