Raised in a 19th century farmhouse in rural Maine, Melissa learned to love working with her hands at a very early age. She began custom framing in 1987, and immediately fell in love with the creative design as well as the woodworking, engineering and problem solving challenges that come with high end custom framing. She worked at frame shops in the Portland region including The Artisans and Burnell’s Custom Framing, mentoring under Diane Mandel – Maine’s only CPF in the early 90s. 

Melissa earned her CPF designation in March of 1999. She went on to receive her MCPF designation in February of 2024. This is the highest designation in the industry and is currently held by only 33 professionals nationwide.

She worked for Chroma, Congress Square Gallery & Christine’s Gallery before finally opening her own business, The Village Framer, in The Yarmouth Markeplace on October 16, 2000. 

Liz was born in Brunswick, Maine where she grew up on an organic farm as the youngest of four with three older brothers. She went to the University of Vermont where she earned a degree in Studio Art with a concentration in photography and painting. She returned home to Maine in 2001 where she began framing at Artist & Craftsman Supply in Portland. Eager to pursue more challenging and diverse framing skills and projects, she started working at The Village Framer in 2005.

Liz specializes in preservation framing, color skills, integrating your framing into the design and décor of your home, as well as unusual and unique framing challenges and earned her CPF designation in 2016.