About

Editor-in-Chief Jennifer Schaerer is one of those people who 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 collector of rubber stamps for over 15 years, and making her own wedding invitations 10 years ago (110 of them! 14 pieces each!) is still one of her biggest and best paper crafting accomplishments. Her career started in journalism, and after a sharp left turn into marketing, she's finally combined her love of public communication with her passion for paper crafting at Paper Crafts magazine. And it was her love of the great outdoors that brought her to the Rocky Mountain region from her hometown in Wisconsin. She makes it very clear that hiking, camping, biking, and skiing will keep her firmly planted somewhere near those mountains for a long, long time -- because, no matter what outdoor fun she’s having, she's sharing it with her husband Marc and their two children, Catherine and Max.

Managing Editor Brandy Jesperson, a graduate of the University of Utah, has worked for local and national magazines and also enjoyed a stint in the world of broadcast media before landing at Paper Crafts magazine. Now at Paper Crafts, Brandy’s confident she has the best job on the planet! She gets to work with amazing women, ooh and aah over beautiful designs, and almost all the Paper Crafts meetings involve food – what more could a girl want?! When she’s not working, Brandy enjoys paper crafting, scrapbooking, knitting, jewelry making, and interior design. Brandy and her husband, Dave, love to travel (vacation photos make the best scrapbook pages) and spend time with their extended family.

Creative 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 blogging, hiking, and cooking for her husband and two daughters. She also hosts a classics book club in her home every month. Cath is known around the Paper Crafts office for wearing Christmas socks year-round, because she says they help to remind her that every day is a gift.

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 has worked both for Entrepreneur and Adweek magazines. She recently became the proud mommy to an Italian Greyhound puppy named Lexus.

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 scrapbooking, card making, spending time with family, singing in a rock band, and hitting the open road. One of her biggest quirks is that she organizes her closet in color order (including matching colored hangers). Crazy, yes, but REALLY pretty!

Editorial Assistant Brenda Peterson is the glue that holds the Paper Crafts team together! As the editorial coordinator, Brenda is responsible for issuing contracts, returning projects to designers, handling customer service, as well as many other duties. When she's not working she loves spending time with her husband Mike and three children, Cameron, Cody, and Carly. Brenda has an associate's degree from Ricks College. She thoroughly enjoys scrapbooking, card making, and gardening.

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 of three great kids (two boys, one baby girl) and 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 love him).

Graphic Designer Holly Mills revels in the creativity that's perpetually percolating around the office. Her appreciation of lovely and delicious things (however subjective that may be) makes her job at Paper Crafts a visual feast. Her quirky sense of humor can lead to odd conversations and she loves hearing and telling stories. When Holly isn't in front of a computer, she's cooing over her "rescue cat" Wink or any other variety of fuzzy critters. She also enjoys reading, traveling, art history, exploring the great outdoors and bingeing on any of her favorite health foods - sugar, deep-fried, dairy, or gluten.