Introducing Our FIRST Fresh Face Designer!!

We want to congratulate Pam Brown for being selected as our FIRST ever Fresh Face Designer. We received many beautiful entries, which made the selection process really difficult; but Pam's entry stood out for her beautiful projects, lovely photos, and a perfectly worded blog post.

Pam hails from Florida and we wanted you all to get to know her a little bit better so we asked her several questions.

What is your favorite Echo Park Paper Collection? Hmmm, that is tough because I love them all! If I had to pick just one, it would be "Little Boy." It is perfect for scrapping pictures of son . . . perfect colors and patterns for a little guy! All that I have left of the collection are little bits and strips, which I am determined to save and make something else with them! A close second would be "Everybody Loves Christmas." I loved the fun, bright colors and that it had a fairly non-traditional Christmas feel to it. That is another collection whose bits I am saving.

Keep reading for additional information on Pam and for instructions on a project created by Pam.

Here are some additional questions and answers we asked Pam:

Where do you do most of your creating? I do most of my creating on the dining room table. We recently moved and I lost my scrap space. I do most of my creating when the kids are asleep, so it works!
Tell us about your family. I am a stay-at-home-mom to 2 kids, Aislynn (5) and Kieran (2). They are crazy, wonderful, sweet, and the lights of my life! I have been married to my best friend, Shaun for almost 7 years, although we have been a couple for 12 years. We met at my first job...Papa Johns. I took orders and he was a delivery driver.

What’s one scrapbooking tool you can’t live without? Another tough one! I would have to say my sewing machine? I use it on almost every single project. A close second would be my typewriter. I use that for a lot of my journaling.What’s one tip you can share with our readers regarding scrapbooking? I guess I would say to scrap whatever pictures/story inspires you at the moment. Don't worry about scrapping chronologically or being caught up. I find that the pages I am most happy with are the ones I don't force myself to create. Also, include journaling, even if it's just a line or written on the back of your page! I hardly journaled when I first started, so looking back at those pages, I definitely feel like something is missing from my albums. Remember that you won't always be sitting next to who is looking through your albums...so ask yourself what you would want them to know.
 Are you a card maker, scrapbooker, altered artist or a combination of these three? I am mostly a scrapbooker and then a cardmaker. I make altered projects occasionally, but not that often.
Do you have additional hobbies besides scrapbooking? Because of scrapbooking, I have developed a love for photography. I love taking pictures so much, especially of the everyday things my kids are up to! Other hobbies are baking/cooking, sewing, movies (especially documentaries), and I recently began running, and I love it! If there were more hours in the day, I would definitely love to learn to knit/crochet and garden.
Anything else you’d like us to know about yourself? I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up, I drink 2 cups of coffee a day, my husband and I haven't met anyone we can't crush in the game of Taboo, my favorite color is yellow, and I although I love the area we live in, I secretly want to live downtown in a big city and be able to walk everywhere!

And here is one of Pam's projects that she submitted for her Design Team entry:

Pam shares her tips and tricks for completing this page:

1. Create a frame by cutting an 11x11 inch square out of the scene patterned paper, and stitch it on to a cardstock base.
2. Add a 2" X 8" strip of the rainbow patterned paper across the bottom right of the page and a 2" X 1" strip of the scallops (magenta side) patterned paper to the bottom left of the page.
3. Add a 4" X 4" square of the rainbow patterned paper (the yellow polka dot side) to the top left of the page and a 4" X 1" strip of the quilt (green side) patterned paper to the top right of the page.
4. Add a .25" X 11" strip of the quilt (green side) patterned paper across the top of the bottom strips of patterned paper and a .25" X 11" piece of scallops (magenta side) across the bottom of the top strips of patterned paper.
5. Machine stitch across these skinny strips.
6. Add the following photos: 3" X 2" photo on the bottom, a 6" X 4", 3" X 2", and 2" X 3" along the top.
7. Mount the "Fun in the Sun" journaling card to the left of the top photos and add typed journaling to the right of the bottom photo.
8. Add the stickers and the title, using adhesive foam to pop up some of the stickers.

Keep watching for additional projects from Pam in upcoming "Fresh Face" posts!