I can track my love for paper and photography back to high school, when I joined the yearbook staff at East Chapel Hill High School in North Carolina. Digital photography was in its beginning stages and most of our page layouts were still created like a scrapbook, cropping printed photos and laying out pages to mail into the yearbook company to print.
In college, I found myself jumping into yearbook again and upon graduation, I decided that I wanted to work in print production for a company that loved great design and had fantastic quality. I ended up moving to upstate New York to work for Mohawk paper, a family-owned company and leader in fine papers.
At Mohawk, I worked above an active paper machine, feeling the hum (and occasional thunk) of the paper making process. I had the pleasure of learning print production from the most talented paper experts in the industry and was lucky enough to fly around the US to print Mohawk paper promotions for offset and digital papers.
I then moved on to Pinhole Press, where I caught the entrepreneurial bug and learned how to grow a brand from scratch and mix high-quality Mohawk paper with photography and on-demand printing to create personalized photo gifts. After being with Pinhole Press for five years, my husband and I moved to Minneapolis from upstate New York when he transitioned from a career in mechanical engineering to a career in professional brewing. (Cheers!)
In August, I joined the marketing team at Creative Memories and feel as if I’ve come full circle. After all, isn’t making a yearbook kind of like making a scrapbook for your entire school?
As I write this post, I just finished my first Croptoberfest event in Medina, Minnesota hosted by advisor Mona Woodard. Thank you for a great day! I learned how to create my first Project Recipe and scrapbook layout (pictured above and below) with Diane Lampert and Melissa Ullmann. I also learned how welcoming and supportive the Creative Memories team is to newcomers. I thank you for the warm welcome and look forward to making many more pages!
When I’m not busy in the world of paper, photography and printing, I’m usually swimming, biking or running. I also stay busy with my two dogs, Willow and Nitro, and of course, can be found exploring Minnesota with my husband, Chase.
OMG- a homegirl! I’m from Durham NC and have grandkids in the Chapel Hill school system. Now I have an IN to the best company in the world- Creative Memories! Love the Recipe Project pages you did and look forward to more great products from CM!
I love Durham! Hope all is well in North Carolina!
Really enjoying MUM! Thanks for sharing.
Thank you for sharing your story! So glad your’e part of the CM family, Alison.
Thanks, Ruth!
Hi Alison from another North Carolinian – in fact, my daughter is in college in Chapel Hill. Glad you are at CM!
Hi Diane – What a wonderful place to go to college! UNC is such a great school. I hope that your daughter loves it. Go heels :)
Welcome, Alison!
Alison, I really like your simple recipe! I’m doing a crop this weekend, and would like to use that recipe. Where can I find it? Christine Belkowski
Hi Christine – Have fun at your crop this weekend! This is the Painted Harvest project recipe. You can find it in the back office if you log in at CreativeMemories.com and then go to Advisor Back Office –> Marketing Tools –> then click the “Project Recipes” button to get to the Painted Harvest PDF. Then, I was using my extra papers but following the recipes. It’s a great recipe to use with any papers! Let me know if you have any questions after you check it out!
Thank you! I was looking in “ideas”! Have a great weekend!