Born and raised in Ohio, that is also where Jill studied to become a nurse. Upon graduation she started working as an RN at Christ Hospital in Cincinnati. While working at the hospital Jill met her husband of 22 years while he was still in medical school. They married, started their family and spent a year in Baltimore, Maryland while Pete worked on a fellowship at Johns Hopkins before transplanting their young family to St. Petersburg in 1988.

The choice for Florida was an easy one, since at the time All Children’s Hospital was the only children’s hospital that didn’t have a doctor with Pete’s specialty on staff. Today Pete’s thriving practice, Pediatric Otolaryngology, has locations from Sarasota to New Port Richey. When her children were very young, Jill’s dedication to being an active, hands-on mom had her volunteering at her children’s pre-school’s Santa Shop. This is where she got bitten by the retail bug and in becoming familiar with purchasing and running the store she got the idea that she could open up her own store.

Since Jill has been a crafter for most of her life keeping her hands busy with counted cross-stitch, needlepoint and decorative sewing on pleated fabric so it was natural for her to open up a smocking shop. There were a few gift and collectible items originally offered in the store too! She started paper crafting when she picked up her first rubber stamp many years ago and has been hooked ever since! Jill was so taken with card making that she started to include some stamping items in the store.

Then she was introduced to the wonderful world of scrapbooking at a home party about 10 years ago-and as they say, “that was that”! She has been a fan of scrapbooking ever since! In fact, a popular saying in the industry aptly applies to Jill-“I wanted it all, so I bought a store!” It wasn’t long before the store’s inventory converted primarily to scrapbooking. This extremely active wife and mother divides her time between keeping Whim So Doodle running smoothly, traveling, staying active in the community, jogging, participating in activities at Calvary Chapel, being a BSF (Bible Study Fellowship, Intl.) leader, skiing seasonally in Colorado and participating in a hectic family life. Keeping track of the five children in the house is demanding…getting Katy, 19 off to St. Louis for college, keeping Ryan, 17 on track with cheerleading and boyfriends, getting Nick, 16 to football and soccer practice, working to keep Tayler, 14 cheering, making sure Morgan, 12 stays fed and focused. Their house is also home to two very big Weimaraners, Sterling and Bear and a soon to be very big Silver Lab puppy, Tucker. To say that they have a full house is a true statement-full of love for each other, love for the fellowship of man and love of the Lord.

Isaiah 40:31 | Jeremiah 29: 11-13 | Psalms 37:4