Member Spotlight | Pam Baldwin

Hi there! I'm Pam Baldwin :) I'm Canadian, I'm a wife and a mom, I'm a Hematology-Oncology nurse, I'm a pretty good cake decorator, I'm an overuser of smiley faces :) and exclamation points!!!, I dream of the day when sleeping in means later than 6:30 am, I am not a coffee/tea drinker but I am hooked on the caffeine content of Diet Pepsi (see pervious statement re: dreams), I'm our family memory keeper aka. scrapbooker & photographer, I love clean designs, big pictures, and all things wood grain, and I am thrilled to be a member of the Studio Calico Community!

SC Member since: May 2011

All time favorite past kit or collection: That's like asking to pick a favourite child! So in no particular order, I'd have to say Bluegrass Farms, Antiquary, and I'm just getting started with Sandlot (it's reeeealllly good!).

What do you do when your kit comes?: My son is probably just as excited as I am when my kit arrives (although for him, it's all about "the box", and for me it's obviously all about what's INSIDE that box!!). So it's usually a race to see who gets to bring it in the house :) I open that baby ASAP to oooh and ahhh over all the beautiful things, then I put it away until I can take a closer look at it, when the kids are in bed for the night. Then I head to the computer and start planning my pages! I spread my kit out on my craft table and try to clear just enough white space to get to work.

What's your go to technique?: I'd say my go to technique is BIG PICTURES and grids. When I have a favourite picture, I'm always tempted to make it a full page. I spend a lot of time playing in Photoshop Elements, moving pictures and text around, trying out 8.5 x 11 canvases (or 11 x 17 ones for the 2-pagers) and trying to visualize where my beautiful kit supplies will go before I commit to anything. I am admittedly a very slow scrapper :)

Share your top 5 products:

1) Wood grain products of all kinds - wood veneer, wood grain patterned paper, wood grain washi (you get the idea, if it's wood grain, I love it!)
2) Foam Pop dots! A layout doesn't feel complete until it has some sort of elevated dimension, foam pop dots are my go to for that.
3) Word stickers/strips - Sometimes the sentiments inspire the story :)
3) Transparencies and patterned vellum - They can be tricky to use but I'm always drawn to them, big time!
4) Digital brushes/cut files - I love that you can make them work for you!

Where do you go when your mojo is low?: When my mojo is low and I've scrolled through my pictures a bazillion times, I head on over to the SC member gallery to admire everyone's work (although I must say I'm there quite often, low mojo or not, just because I LOVE seeing what everyone's making :). I look at my SC inspiration book for a layout I'd like to try lifting. I look at the sketch challenges and member challenges for the week. I wander on over to Pinterest and take a look at the design and poster/illustration boards, or check out things I've pinned in the past to see if anything clicks. Sometimes I pick up my camera and head outside with my kids...all it takes is a new favourite photo to get things going again :)

Thank you for letting us spotlight you, Pam! We loved getting to know more about you! If you'd like to see more of Pam's work, be sure to follow her here at SC!