Posts in Category: Personal
Need services? Meet the Creative Behind Pixels On Paper
I’m often asked what I do, and the truth is… it’s hard to fit it all into one title.
I’m a wife, a mom, a home school teacher, a business owner, a nonprofit creator, an Executive Director, a philanthropist, a photographer, a designer, a marketer, a content creator, and an event planner. For more than 20 years, I’ve built a career around one common thread: helping people, businesses, and organizations tell their stories.
Pixels On Paper started with photography—however creativity has always been at the center of everything I do. Over the years, my experience has expanded into branding, graphic design, marketing, content creation, social media management, and event planning.
Before and alongside building my own businesses, I’ve had the opportunity to plan and manage events, trade shows, and marketing initiatives for large corporations around the world. That experience taught me the importance of strategy, organization, attention to detail, and creating experiences that leave a lasting impression.
Today, I bring that same level of creativity, professionalism, and experience to small businesses, nonprofits, and organizations that need help sharing their message, growing their audience, and making an impact.
Through Pixels On Paper, I help with:
Professional Photography — branding, events, portraits, and storytelling imagery
Graphic Design & Branding — logos, promotional materials, marketing pieces, and visual identity
Content Creation & Social Media Support — creating engaging content that keeps your audience connected and your brand visible
Marketing Services — strategy, campaigns, promotional materials, and creative solutions designed around your goals
Event Planning & Management — creative concepts, organization, promotion, logistics, and execution
Corporate & Community Event Support — bringing experience from large-scale events and trade shows to organizations of all sizes
As a business owner, I understand the challenges of trying to do it all. I know what it’s like to wear many hats, chase big ideas, and pour your heart into making something meaningful. Furthermore, that’s why I love helping others take their vision from an idea to reality.
Whether I’m capturing a once-in-a-lifetime moment, creating a brand that represents who you are, developing content that connects with your audience, promoting an event, or helping bring a project together from start to finish—I love being part of the creative process. Behind every business is a story. Behind every organization is a mission. Behind every event is a vision. My passion is helping bring those stories to life—and helping others do more of what they love by taking some of the creative and marketing work off their plate.
If you’re a business owner who needs help building your brand, creating consistent content, improving your social media presence, designing marketing materials, or planning an event, I’d love to work with you. If your organization has a mission that deserves to be seen, I can help you share it. If you have an idea but need someone with the creativity, experience, and strategy to make it happen, let’s talk.
Hire Pixels On Paper for your next project.
From photography and graphic design to content creation, marketing, and event management, I bring more than two decades of experience, creativity, and attention to detail to every project. Let’s create something that gets noticed, tells your story, and helps your business grow.
Contact me and let’s discuss how Pixels On Paper can help you bring your vision to life.
Thank you to everyone who has trusted me with your memories, your brands, your organizations, your events, and your dreams. I’m excited for what’s ahead and look forward to creating even more together.
Misty McGuire Case
Pixels On Paper
704.641.1131
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Lessons From a Sink Full of Tomatoes: The Beauty of the Process
It started with a sink of tomatoes.
I stood at the kitchen sink today with both hands buried deep in a pile of tomatoes.
If you’ve ever processed homegrown tomatoes, you know the routine. Wash. Boil them. Wait. Peel the skins. Scoop. Scrape. Clean up the mess. Repeat.
It’s sticky. It’s messy. It’s time-consuming. And if I’m being honest, it’s not exactly enjoyable.
But as frustrating as the process is, I already know something else.
Those tomatoes will become soups on cold evenings, hearty chili on busy nights, homemade pasta sauce shared around the dinner table this winter. They’ll taste better than anything I could have bought at the grocery store because they were worth the work.
Somewhere between peeling tomatoes and wiping juice off the counter, I realized…
Maybe this isn’t just about the tomatoes.
Sometimes the Hardest Things Are the Most Worthwhile
This morning had already been hard. home school wasn’t going smoothly. Finley was struggling through spelling—something he absolutely dreads. He was frustrated because the words weren’t clicking. I was frustrated because I couldn’t seem to explain it in the way he needed.
Some days, homeschooling feels like walking a tightrope.
Am I being Mom?
Am I being Teacher?
Am I failing at both?
Homeschooling is a choice we’ve made for many reasons, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy. There are sacrifices people never see. There are doubts that creep in. There are voices that whisper there has to be an easier way.
Maybe there is.
But easier isn’t always better.
As I kept working through those tomatoes, another thought settled into my heart.
The best things in life rarely come easily.
Not raising a child.
Not homeschooling.
Not marriage.
Not restoring a home.
Not building a business.
Not healing from hard seasons.
None of it.
The Beauty of Restoration
In fact, while I stood there at that sink, I wasn’t just thinking about tomatoes. I found myself remembering difficult conversations, painful seasons, disappointments, and places in life that still carry scars.
Some of those memories happened right here.
Yet this kitchen also reminds me of something else.
This isn’t the end of the story.
The places that hold broken memories can also become the places where healing happens.
Sometimes it takes an incredible amount of work.
Sometimes it takes patience.
Sometimes it takes more money than you expected.
Sometimes it takes tears.
But little by little, restoration happens.
The Same Is True When Building Something From Nothing
It’s the same with building a business.
People often see the polished website, the beautiful photos, the successful events, or the finished product.
They rarely see the years of uncertainty.
The failed ideas.
The long nights.
The financial risks.
The moments when you wonder if you should just quit.
If success came easily, everyone would pursue it.
But success isn’t built in the easy moments.
It’s built in the ordinary, frustrating, repetitive work that nobody applauds.
Just like peeling tomatoes.
A Lesson I Didn’t Expect From a Sink Full of Tomatoes
Here’s the funny part. I didn’t even grow these tomatoes!
I have absolutely zero money invested in them. $0.00!
Someone else planted the seeds.
Someone else watered them.
Someone else harvested them.
All I did was recognize their value, refuse to let them go to waste, and catch a vision for what they could become.
I simply chose the process.
And maybe that’s another lesson.
Not every opportunity begins with something you’ve built yourself. Sometimes you’re simply entrusted with something valuable. Your job is to see its potential, invest your time, and turn it into something meaningful.
Standing over a sink full of tomatoes wasn’t how I expected to spend my day. It certainly wasn’t where I expected God to teach me.
Yet somewhere between the boiling water, the tomato skins, and the growing pile of sauce waiting for jars, I was reminded of something I desperately needed to hear.
The process is rarely glamorous.
In the middle of it, it often doesn’t even feel worth it.
The finish line seems far away.
Patience feels impossible.
But the sweetest things in life—the things that nourish us, shape us, strengthen us, and leave a legacy—are almost always born through perseverance.
Maybe that’s why scripture reminds us:
“Let us not grow weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” — Galatians 6:9
Today, my lesson just happened to come from a sink full of tomatoes. And somehow, I think I’ll remember that every time I open a jar this winter.
Barn building complete + the finishing touch
So my mom raises charolais cattle – pretty white cows with pink noses and has for a while now. As if she doesn’t have enough to do. If you can today – call your Mom and tell her that you know how amazing she is.
Now where was I?
A while back our clan built a barn on their property for these cows and it’s completed now. We still had one finishing touch to add and that was something Ryan and I worked on.
There is a beloved member of Mom’s charolais cattle and her name is Shiloh. She is both matriarch and pet (she finds time to be both in her busy schedule) and was the inspiration for a quilt/plaque that Ryan designed, I painted and he built. We knew it would be the keystone of the barn and a signal to my mom’s love of what she does.
After we finished creating the quilt/plaque, we took it to share with Shiloh, …. you know… to get her approval.
I promise that we’re safe. Seeing Ryan atop all of those pallets would make your heart stop if you didn’t know Ryan. He wrapped up the project by hanging the quilt above the barn door exterior.
We love it! Mom loves it, and Shiloh – while seemingly underwhelmed – appears to be a fan too. She celebrates her 12th birthday on March 9th. Happy Birthday, OG (that stands for old gal!!)
To see the beginnings of the barn build, check out this blog!
We love family portraits whether they are set in the studio, the great outdoors, a specific location like the mountains or high country, or on our property in our outdoor portrait garden. Pixels on Paper photographs newborns and families, special events and portraits of all kinds in our Wilkesboro, NC studio. We would be honored to meet with you, learn about you and your family and be a part of taking special portraits that will become, we hope, family heirlooms.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States License All photos are ©2022 Pixels On Paper. Do not copy, crop, or remove watermark.
Finley and Jonathan – a bond is formed and lessons are learned
How do you write a blog through tears of gratitude and hope? We’ll see I guess. Get out your score cards…. and I’ll tell you about the bond my son has formed with Jonathan, a driver for Pepsi Co.
As part of raising a toddler into a civilized, empathetic human (and let’s be honest – as a way to mix it up and get both errands done and distractions created for a boy who doesn’t want to sit still sometimes), Finley and I run errands on Tuesdays. Part of our route is to hit Dollar General stores in our area.
Months ago during one of our weekly outings, Finley and I kept criss-crossing the store with the Pepsi distribution/delivery guy. We would zig to get out of his way, and he would zag and apologize. After a few bouts of this do-si-do, I told him to stop apologizing. His name is Jonathan and he and Finley hit it off because my boy likes to work, loves an activity that requires boy strength, and if a large vehicle is involved…….. forget about it. Jonathan’s job hit all the right notes, plus Finley is a talker and especially loves to tell everyone about tractors. We finish our shopping and Finley wished Jonathan a good day.
The story doesn’t end there. Jonathan also delivers to the Dollar General where my mom works and that same day mentions to my mom that his day had been made earlier by meeting this cute redheaded kid out shopping with his mom. He described the encounter and how funny and sweet it was, and my mom said, “wait…. it wouldn’t happen to be this child” and produces a picture of Finley from her phone. Jonathan is flabbergasted and so another connection is born. Later, my mom tells me that Finley has a fan in the Pepsi delivery guy.
Well, this goes on for many months. We see Jonathan on our Tuesday route and he begins to show Finley how to stack and organize, tells him all about his truck and Finley is dying to help. Now, they are co-workers and at this point, friends and neighbors in our town have heard about and love this story of the friendly Pepsi guy and the talkative redhead looking for a side hustle, if not a new buddy.
What makes this more than a pleasant encounter is the fact that this busy man – on a timed schedule and on a route to many stores – took a little bit of his time to be present with Finley. It is said that it takes a village to raise a child and I don’t believe it’s just about grandparents, teachers and people from church. This man – this once stranger, without over-intellectualizing and without agenda, had invested in my son. He prioritized both his job – which he does so well in our community – and the curiosity of my child. I kept thinking, as others in the community have, that this man from Pepsi is an example of what can be right in this world.
The capper is that Jonathan went into his own pocket to make sure that Apprentice Finley got a uniform for Christmas. He had a shirt and cap made for Finley to wear “during his shift.” Theirs is the sweetest, most innocent bond. How do I not thank God for that – for Jonathan? We live in a cynical world and taking time to care about another person’s child, to notice the little stuff and to be present is a gift for which there is simply no yard stick.
This isn’t just a story about my kid; it’s a story about community. As much as we are fixated on our technology, isolated through circumstances or choice, we are still a people yearning for engagement and connection. Caring about your neighbor matters. Caring about the generation that is still unformed but right on your heels matters. Showing patience and graciousness when you have a deadline and a million other micro-decisions to make … friends THAT is a demonstration that Jonathan is teaching my son.
As we creep up to 2022, my wish is that we find and celebrate the Jonathans next year, that WE make an effort to BE a Jonathan to someone. We can both be and admire those people, and I think this is a resolution worth putting our backs into. Happy New Year to you all!
It’s All Liminal
Seasons, by their very nature, are liminal. We mark December 21st as the day Winter begins, and yet winter is as fluid as can be. We stay in this weird threshold for weeks when there’s a change of season. Does my body know it’s winter? Does my brain know? Is this calendar wrong? The temperatures outside during the winter are unreliable, and the impending holidays cause us to “begin winter” in our heads as early as Halloween.
The good news is, I kind of like thresholds. You’re not quite at the end of one chapter and another is starting to present itself. I’m alright with that. Does it make me feel spectacularly disorganized at times? YUP! And I’m alright with that too. I look at my To Do lists and then at my son’s curls and boundless energy and think, “I’m where I need to be right now. This other will keep for a little bit longer.”
As Ryan, Finley and I turn the fluid page between “last year” and the “new year” we want to wish each of you a feeling of peace – real peace of mind — the kind that slows your pulse and warms your insides. And I pray for each of you a sense of hope. We cannot always find it within reach, but hope sustains us, reminds us of our blessings, and keeps us moving forward – faces pointed toward the light and anxious for what will reveal itself in the liminal mist. Here’s to that in 2022: light, peace, and hope.