Channelling Missy

Missy Whidden that is.
She is the most awesome scrapper who is the queen of gesso and paint and messy details whilst managing to keep her layouts full of colour with a great airy feel.
So when I had myself a bit of a challenge I decided to think - what would Missy do?
The challenge is that I adore this paper

the My Minds Eye Hello World ‘World Map’ from the Nifty Lite kit. It gave me the idea to make a holiday bucket list - places I would love to go.
But how to turn it into a useable background as it is a little busy. What with it being the world and everything.
WWMD? Gesso and gelatos!
So that is what I did...

I spread on a fairly thin coat of gesso to the middle of the paper and while that was drying created a "bucket" out of some of the other papers and a couple of paper strips were cut as well. I cut a long strip of Bo Bunny Sweet Life - Spring and gave that the gesso treatment too. I had in mind using the first sketch from the Simple Sketches (see right hand side of the blog post for the PDF) but it ended up quite differently.

Anyhoo, when the gesso was dry I tried a Missy technique which is to rub some gelato onto clear packaging, add a little water, smoosh it onto your chosen surface and then dab it off with a paper towel to lighten it a little. I did this on the patterned papers too, using green, yellow and blue gelatos.

I had been unsure what photo to use but remembered that I had some of Carys waiting to go to London on the train with lots of bags and it meant I could tie it all into the story of us not going to Amsterdam. (And I have just realised that I have put the wrong year on the photo. Absolute bobbins)

I gave everything the black pen treatment and then layered up the papers and bucket on the right hand side (don't you love the compass in the middle of the paper?), added the photo on pop dots and then wrote my journalling on the gessoed part. The beauty of gesso and gelatos is that you can still see glimpses of what is underneath.

 I put some of the little stars from the Pretty Little Studio Peppermint Confetti Mix as bullet points.
The title was made from a Lil Inkers alphabet die (mixed and stitched) , the stickers from the kit and some fab chipboard alphas that are available in the Quirky Kit Subscribers Extras. Aren't they just the perfect thing for this layout?

Finally the hearts and sequins from the Confetti mix came into play. I can't decide if I like the word or faux wood side of the hearts best! They were popped up on foam pads.

 Trouble is .... now I can't wait to travel again :)