About

I am the mom of an eight year old daughter and have been happily married to my soulmate for 18 years. I call Palm Coast, Florida home. I’m a fan of the Detroit Lions and NASCAR driver Kyle Busch, so I’m used to being the lone voice in the crowd. I couldn’t care a whit if you are team Edward or team Jacob…what I want to know is: are you team Nico or team Matt? (Don’t know what I’m talking about? Watch Necessary Roughness. You’ll get it.)

I’ve been an avid scrapbooker for over a dozen years, since I stumbled into a scrapbook store in Rochester, Michigan while looking for supplies for a gift album for a relative. The gift album never got completed, but I embarked on a new passion in my life that day, one that became my career as well.

I started my career in scrapbooking when I worked and taught in scrapbook stores in Michigan and Florida. Then, after the birth of my daughter, I founded Scrapbook Update (originally called Inside Scrapbooking) in 2004. Since then, my career has taken all sorts of amazing directions. Scrapbook Update has become the property of a company that I own called Balalaberry Media LLC. I’m now the “Modern Business” columnist for Creative Retailer magazine, and the co-host of the Paperclipping Roundtable podcast. My self-paced class called “Pro Press Releases”  is currently available for enrollment at Big Picture Classes, and I have also given business seminars & provided consulting services at the last few Craft & Hobby Association trade shows. Being self-employed is challenging and hard work, but also a great source of pride and satisfaction in my life.

My family’s story is proof that life is messy and anything but simple: my husband is serving a 40 month prison sentence for DUI Serious Injury, my daughter has autism and juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, and I have lupus. But my family’s story is also proof that love can sustain us through things we could never imagine.

So this is my journey…of life, love, and papercrafting.