I grew up outside of Chicago in a small coal-mining town. My little town was charming and homey, but after knowing the world only through the context of small-town life, I wanted a change of scenery. I loved the Midwest, but when the opportunity rolled around, I packed my bags and headed west. I’m sure there are more exciting places in the world than Utah, but I’ve been loving its color and vitality, and I have built some of my most cherished relationships here.

Someday, as I rearrange my life to live out my goals, the scale will tip again, and I’ll find new ground to conquer. For now, I am loving every minute of being a designer.

Design, for me, was a gradual learning process. I studied English linguistics in school (to satisfy my analytical side) and held a few creative positions along the way. As I juggled exams and analyses of books larger than my head, I worked for three years as a seamstress and pseudo-designer at a bridal shop—the perfect balance between technical and creative work. After I finished school, I edited and designed a meager stack of books and wrote a few magazine articles on couture sewing in the home. I adore writing and editing with a zeal normally reserved for the insane, but there is a part of me that has always wanted to expand my skills in the visual arts. When the time came to make a job change, I made the printed word my hobby and faced the bold and refreshing challenge of graphic design. Someday, as I rearrange my life to live out my goals, the scale will tip again, and I’ll find new ground to conquer. For now, I am loving every minute of being a designer.

Since I have been working in the scrapbooking industry, I have been met on all angles with both satisfaction and challenge. I spend most of my creative time writing, sewing, or just working in my sketchbook, and I love to grab a friend and either sink into a good book or go boutique-hopping in search of ideas. Fashion illustration, design blogs, and quirky antiques are my favorite sources of inspiration, and I try to find interesting ways to introduce what I see into the world of scrapbooking. In the end, my basic design goal is to revitalize forgotten technique with attention to trend, and I believe that the best design is the one that wins over an audience and visually reconstructs the artist’s emotional message.