about me

If there's one thing about my life, I'm always busy learning new things. My full-time work is in communications, but I've always been interested in design, a subject that has branched out into other interests as well. This website, Hallmark Ink, is a collaboration of a play on the word ink for both paper, type, or any other method of making a mark in the world. 

In high school I wanted to be an editor. I worked as the copy and layout editor for the yearbook staff, which helped funnel my editing passion into a career path. (My friends and I used to say, "What if we studied editing in college? Wouldn't that be funny?" Of course I was the only one...)

In college I studied English with an editing emphasis and held several part-time editing jobs, both freelance and employed. However, as I entered the workforce I realized that I didn't want to edit my entire life; I have always had a passion for design technique as well. I have been interested in design for as long as I can remember (that Yearbook class held a double standard). Soon afterward, I enrolled in a Technical Communications master's degree program that combined all of my interests: editing, design (both print and web), and multimedia. Social media is one of my passions and I love the power of technology. As an extracurricular aspect, I took my first bookbinding class in 2006 at Brigham Young University and have been experimenting in that outlet ever since. I've also been dabbling with Adobe Illustrator and creating print and digital projects on my own.

Currently I work as a documentation specialist in the educational software industry, but I also dabble in creativity with invitation design, photography, and bookbinding. Diversity has its perks.

The design content for this site was originally posted on Deckled Paper, a blog that originated as a place to share bookbinding ideas with my friend Katya (but has since been retired), and what is now my private family-related blog, The Duchess Manual of Style. (If you know me well enough and want to be invited as a reader, just contact me.)