You know how some restaurants or shops put the first dollar they ever made in a frame and display it on their walls? Well, on my studio wall is a framed scrap of paper with my name oh-so-carefully printed, complete with odd punctuation and grammatical flair. It has a notation from my mother: "Printed from memory, age 4 1/2." Yup, I loved typography as a kid — I still do.

I have formal training, a fine art degree, and decades of graphic design experience under my belt, but I believe that the four-year-old had an eye and an understanding of beautiful text that degrees and training cannot teach. It's just There.

Essential Images is simply a continuation of my innate desire to express meaning through beautiful type, image and white space. There is something so incredibly special about fitting all the puzzle pieces together when I design a piece, whether a formal wedding invitation or a quirky thank you note — you know when it's Just Right, and I love finding the Right with each piece I design. You can't really put into words when something just feels Right.

When I sit down to design for my shop, every day, my hope is that my wedding and stationery designs offer a special blend of type, image and style that reflects a client's own style — designs that somehow just "fit". Finding a way to make paper and ink express a person or relationship is an amazing experience, and one I love to share with my clients. Customer service comes naturally to me as a former retail executive — each of my clients is a partner in design and I respect that.

I hope each of my designs can become Just Right for someone — it's why I do what I do.