As with any great city across the globe, many people labor behind the scenes to care for the ScrapVillage community and its highly-esteemed citizens.  Meet the dedicated management team working every day to ensure that your Village is a fun and safe place in which to share the common bonds of scrapbooking and friendship.

Likewise, our beloved Village could not be the same without its fun, hard-working and incredibly talented design team, The City Planners.

The City Manager
Leah Blanco Williams

Our City Manager works hard.  We liken her to Mike, the New York City Deputy Mayor from the old TV show, Spin City.  She helps the Village run smoothly and tends to the occasional sticky situation for the Mayor.  It's not an easy job, but she does it with style. We also won't let her leave the City Planners Design Team where we've come to rely on her creativity and unique design sense to inspire us every month.

Leah (pronounced "Lay-ah") was born and raised in Toronto, Canada.  After graduating from York University, she moved to Kansas City, Missouri to marry a cute boy named Thomas.  They now live in Upstate New York with three dogs and a lutino cockatiel named Chicken.  They recently welcomed a son named Milo into the pack.  Leah’s love affair with scrapbooking began in 1998 and eventually led to exciting opportunities as an independent artist and writer.  She collects patterned paper, adds acrylic jewels to almost everything, and will always elect to spend her birthday money on scrapbook supplies. As a member of ScrapVillage since week one, Leah says she's both thrilled and honored to serve the online community she calls home.  You’ll find her posting as "OrangeShooze" because that’s what she had on her feet the day she registered.

The Mayor
Tana Lyon

This is little old me, Tana Lyon.  I own the General Store here in the Village and ran for Mayor in 2004.  I'm proud to say that I won by a landslide.  (So what if I was running against an evil cartoon character?)  I'm passionate about scrapbooking and the intrinsic value found in creating art and preserving memories.  I love the Village because it's a place where all of us can come together to share that passion.  My hope is that everyone will feel a little more special knowing there's a whole community out there that understands why you care so much about those pictures, color schemes and journaling.

I've been scrapbooking since 1999, when I was searching for a better way to preserve my son's baby pictures.  I live in Minnesota with my two sons and husband, Paul, all of whom sometimes help out in the store.  I'm lucky that both my boys and my husband appreciate my scrapbooking -- even giving me the occasional time away to work on it.  And, when I'm done, they ask to look at my pages! What could be more wonderful than that? 

From Our Founder
Joanne Wesley

I was dragged kicking and screaming into the scrapbooking world.  A friend of mine was going to a home party and asked me if I would like to attend with her. I obliged, but was not that excited about it.  I said, "Scrapbooking is such a stupid hobby, who would ever want to do that?  You're cutting up photos and gluing them to paper, what's so exciting?" That night, I bought the biggest kit that they had and I've been hooked ever since! I'm the first to admit how wrong I was and that I just didn't "get it" before that first night.

I'm a stay at home mom to Parker (age 7) and Wyatt (age 5), and Emma (age 2).  My wonderful husband Kevin is a Business Consultant.  Our two sons have become my best critics. If I can make something and they know what it is, I feel I've done a great job.  They get so excited when I show them something new and they say, "Mom! You made a snowman!" It's such a great feeling.

My projects have been published numerous times in various magazines including PaperKuts, Better Homes & Gardens Scrapbooks Etc, PaperCrafts, Memory Makers, and Ivy Cottage.  I was a member of the premiere PaperKuts Power Team in '01-'02 and continued to work with PaperKuts as a Staff Designer until 2005.  Some projects have made it to television including DIY Scrapbooking and HGTV's Carol Duvall Show.  I'm a very big fan of Carol and was honored to have my project on her show and to meet her at HIA in 2002. For the past 3 years I have been designing for the Embossible Designs line of stickers and punch outs for WeRMemory Keepers.

I have met many great friends on various online boards and websites.  I think it's so important that you find a place where you can talk with others who understand the obsession that we all share.  After all, it's far more than cutting photos and gluing them down. We're preserving memories for many years to come.  My friends have encouraged me in many different endeavors and are there for me through thick and thin (lumpy vs. flat, ha ha). I hope you are able to find dear friends here at ScrapVillage as well.