About

Editor-in-Chief Jennifer Schaerer can easily spend hours in the paper aisle of any store, from hobby and craft stores to office supply superstores. She’s been a paper crafter and stamper for almost 20 years, and after a career that started in journalism and marketing she's finally combined her love of public communication with her passion for paper crafting at Paper Crafts magazine. A love of the great outdoors brought her to Utah 15 years ago from her home state of Wisconsin, and weekend fun in the wilds of the Rocky Mountain region always includes her husband and their two children.

Managing Editor Kerri Miller is a self-proclaimed dabbler of crafting and can often be found around the holidays making gifts for those she loves. After graduating from Brigham Young University in communications, her passion for creativity and wit led her to a career in marketing and advertising. Always the proponent of change, Kerri moved from the world of advertising agencies to the world of paper crafting to satisfy her craving for a fresh outlook on life and to stretch her creative legs. In her down time, Kerri enjoys reading books, watching movies, traveling and experiencing the Utah outdoors with her family. Kerri, along with her training partner/husband Rodney, recently completed several triathlons and a long distance cycling event. Her teenage children, Taylor, Jake, Josh and Sage are often there cheering her to the finish lines.

Creative Editor Susan R. Opel loves color, creating, and a clever turn of phrase so her position at Paper Crafts magazine fits her style just right. After receiving a BA in English from Concordia University in Ann Arbor, MI, Susan taught English to students in Illinois, Nevada, and Indiana, but now the creative field has lured her into its fast-paced and deadline-packed world. When the day is done, Susan enjoys card making, spending time with family, and hitting the open road. She’s also been called a Facebook “mega user.” Through Facebook she’s been able to reconnect with former students and people from all facets of her life, and connecting on a personal level with Paper Crafts readers and designers is one of her favorite things! Her biggest quirk is that she organizes her closet in color order (including matching colored hangers). Crazy, yes, but REALLY pretty!

Trends Editor Cath Edvalson has been making handmade cards her entire life. After teaching English and creative writing to middle school students for ten years, she started her own handmade card business, Cards by Cath. Besides looking for moxie fab content for the magazine all around her, her passions include writing, hiking, reading, and cooking. Her current favorite obsession is writing for the Moxie Fab World blog where she touts the mantra, “Inspiration is absolutely everywhere.” Cath is known for wearing Christmas socks year-round because she says they help to remind her that every day is a gift.

Senior Editor P. Kelly Smith contracted the paper crafting bug 10 years ago and so far there’s no cure! According to her mom, Kelly was destined to work for a company with the name “paper” in it. Since the tender age of two, Kelly has enjoyed cutting up bits of paper and gluing them down to any solid surface. From those early years of paper-piecing, Kelly has broadened her interests to include scrapbooking, card making and rubber stamping. Now if she could only stop giving her creations away! Kelly graduated from Brigham Young University’s print journalism department and had worked for Entrepreneur and Adweek magazines. When not blogging in the wee hours, Kelly enjoys spending time with friends, family and her neurotic Italian Greyhound, Lexus.

Online Editor Holly Anderson, a native Texan (and proud of it!), first started as an intern at Paper Crafts in September 2011 and was more than happy to return full time in January 2012. She graduated from Brigham Young University with a degree in English language in 2011. As a child, she spent her hard-earned cash on paper, ink, and stamps at scrapbooking stores in order to create her own handmade cards. Holly still loves crafting in a variety of forms, whether with paper, jewelry, fabric, or her most recent venture: leather. She's a craft lover and grammar maven—a perfect fit for Paper Crafts magazine. In her free time you can find her singing, baking, playing ping pong, soaking up the sun, or watching Cary Grant movies.

Editorial Assistant Ahtanya Johnson honed her formidable organizational skills in occupations from teenage waitress to office manager for a legal firm. Now she exercises those superpowers keeping the editorial offices of Paper Crafts running smoothly, a task which occasionally proves as challenging as herding cats! From customer service to managing incoming and outgoing submissions and contest entries, from 'normal' office duties to quirky think-on-your-feet moments that pop up, Ahtanya handles it all with a steady hand and a sense of humor. She's a big fan of outdoorsy activities like hiking and camping, but she also proves that organized and creative are not mutually exclusive traits. She's an artist and a big fan of clean & graphic cards, she makes fabulous show-quality costumes, she's a needle-arts whiz, and she'd love to find the time for more belly dancing classes.

Art Director Matt Anderson relishes his role as the Lone Design Man at Paper Crafts and insists that being the only guy on an all-female team is easier than it might appear -- he is the only child of a single mother, and by all accounts she is a very strong woman. He's also a husband, father to three great kids (two boys, one girl) and an average, every day, run-of-the-mill kind of guy. A huge football fan (usually watched in holey sweats), Matt loves super cool action movies (with an overabundance of explosions and special effects), video games, playing in the dirt, bugs and comic books (yeah, his boys really love him).

Graphic Designer Melinda Ward made the decision to move to Utah from Southern California four years ago and is still trying to get a handle on living with snow every winter. She graduated from the Art Institute of Salt Lake City in 2010 and originally interned for Paper Crafts in the fall/winter of 2009. She is so excited to be back as part of the team! Always the artsy one in her family, Melinda has had a love affair with paper, pens, markers, crayons, etc. since she was very small, and now she gets to work in a place where that love is heavily encouraged. Such wonderfulness can’t be good for a person. Currently, Melinda’s free time is spent with her new husband and their puppy, soaking in married life and all the joys that go with it.