Meet Urban Swank's 2011 Swanky Gurlz!

I am pleased to announce the new Swanky Gurlz for 2011. It was very difficult to narrow it down to only these girls, but I did want to thank every single one of you that did send in an application! I was completely overwhelmed by all the awesome submissions!!!

Liz Chidester

Hello, my name is Liz and I am soooo excited to be a part of the Urban Swank Design Team. I am a wife and mother to 4 children and we live in beautiful Utah. I love all things crafty but my favorite is scrapbooking. I have been paper crafting for about 12 yrs now and I see no end in sight. I love it! When I am not scrapbooking and doing "mom" duties, I work as a cake decorator at a local bakery.

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Mandy Harrell

My name is Mandy Harrell. I have been scrapbooking for over 17 years now. I started when my first child was born and I am now a SAHM to 5 kids. I also LOVE photography. I mainly photograph my kids and they put up with me, thankfully. I am always up for fun new techniques and enjoy working with the latest products!! My scrappy style is a mix of shabby chic, mixed media, and grunge, so be prepared to see many different sides of me.

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Sue Mylde

I live in Aberdeen, Scotland with my husband and two children, Lara (6) and Luc (6 months). Life is never boring in our house and I feel privileged to be able to record our family's many adventures from travelling to milestones to tooth fairy visitations. I love that our family has lived in so many different countries because it enriches our lives so much to get to know new cultures and of course, make new friends. Ever since I was a little girl I've loved colors and designs. But, I never made it in still life art class as a schoolgirl, and gave that up to be in communications (that's the other thing I'm good at, talking!). I'm so glad to let my creative, arty side out as a grown up in my scrapbook pages! I love to use my scrapbooking pages to tell so many heartfelt and meaningful stories. I have been honored to have been published in a number of scrapbooking magazines including Creating Keepsakes and Scrapbook Trends. I am so pleased to be designing for Urban Lily! I feel so blessed to be a part of many design teams including Cocoa Daisy Kits, Pencil Lines, What is Your Favorite Thing, and Sarah Hurley Designs. I have also guest designed for Pink Paislee, Bella Blvd and Making Memories. When I'm not scrapbooking, I'm reading, knitting, crocheting, traveling, watching movies or just hanging out with my family and friends. One of my favorite aspects of scrapbooking is making friends through this fun hobby. I would love to get to know you better so please drop by my blog at: http://justperspective.blogspot.com/.

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Petra Offrell

Hi, My name is petra Offrell and I am super exited to be part of the Urban Swank Design Team.

I live in Malmö, Sweden. I have 3 kids, 2 cats, one dear husband and a passion for Scrapbooking, paper crafts, sewing, painting and well most crafty things you can do. At the moment however I spend most of my time Scrapbooking and have done so since I read about Scrapbooking in a magazine when my firstborn was just a baby.

I am mainly a layout maker but I also make cards and alter. I love to try new techniques and different media and I also like to challenge myself to try new things and styles. Mostly I scrap about my three kids, but occasionally I do BOM layouts as well. I love turquoise, brown, orange and lime but I find my self scrapping all kinds of colors. Papers with well coordinated colors and beautiful patterns make my heart beat a little bit faster.

I cant wait to start my first assignments with the fabolous Urban Lily products.

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Leticia Seki

My name is Leticia Seki, 29 and I'm from Brazil. I´m a wife in love with my hubby Reina and a blessed mother to have my daughter Melissa (Mel). I do scrapbooking since 2006 and now It´s in my vein (I breath scrapbook!). My inspiration has always been my little daughter Mel. I started making altered and pages, alone, but with Scrapbooking I make wonderful friends! It's the best of scrap :D Since that day I saw that scrapbooking would be my new job, joined with my most enjoyable hobby. And this makes me very happy! The scrapbooking is more than a hobby for me, because it gives me great joy to be able to teach what I know and what I learn with talented people! I love scrapbooking and give myself completely in body and soul to everything that surrounds this wonderful art. As I said, scrapbooking is more than a hobby for me, is all I am!!!

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Julie Detlef

I have been scrapping for 14 years now. My favorite subject to scrapbook is my family. I have been married to my best friend, Don, for 13 years. We have an 8-year-old daughter named Sydnee and a 4-year-old daughter, Shay. We reside in the wonderful state of Ohio. Of course I scrap the "big" moments, but I mainly just scrap those special everyday moments. My family is the main reason I scrap, and they are the primary subjects of my layouts. I also have a Book of Me album, a garden album, and a recipe album that I like to work in. I am super excited to be working with Urban Swank!!!!

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Janet Zeppa

Hi there! My name is Janet Zeppa and I live in St.Catharines,Ontario Canada. Born here and never left. It's close to Niagara Falls if that gives you a better idea of location. I'm a wife and mother to 3 grown children. They are 31, 29 and 28. A girl and 2 boys. I am newly retired from being a Medical Laboratory Technologist but have stayed on as a casual. Have to have that extra money to feed my scrapbooking habit. :) I love to play with all the pretty papers and love the idea of my grandchildren looking through my albums one day and seeing a part of their history. I also teach classes at my LSS and am having a blast!

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Adora Concepcion

Hi, My name is Adora Concepcion. I am inlove with scrapbooking! :) I have been doing it for years and I love it more and more everyday. I love the fun and creative way of preserving meaningful and everyday moments.

While I enjoy putting together a project , I also take it seriously. I put my mind and my heart in everything that I create. I consider my work as ecclectic and a little bit on the "simple" side. I also love photography which I think comes hand in hand with scrapbooking. Most importantly , I am married for thirty years and counting, to the love of my life - my husband Chris. We have 3 children and a 5 year old grandson. Besides being a full time wife, mom and a grandma, I am also a bookkeeper during day time.

I'm looking forward and so excited to be part of the Urban Swank Team!

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Virginia Wong

Hello! My name is Virginia Wong. I am thrilled to be a part of the Urban Swank team. Originally from Saskatchewan, I am proud to call Calgary my home. I am a full-time Mom and a part-time Information Technology consultant. Scrapbooking is my relaxation and passion - I need to scrapbook every day, be it reading a scrapbook magazine or creating a layout. Since I started scrapbooking, I notice the mundane and the spectacular and record my family`s lives - and that makes me happy!

I love using and mixing vibrant, bold colours and patterns along with all those irresistible embellishments. My layouts often capture the everyday escapades of my two daughters, Madison and Danielle. My second passion is photography and I continue to work on fine-tuning my skills!

And with my remaining time…(!!) I volunteer at my daughters’ activities, quilt and cook! I am honoured to be a returning member of the Urban Swank team – thank you!

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Marcie Morgan

Hi! My name is Marcie Morgan and I am a SAHM to three great kids ranging in ages from eleven to seventeen. I have been married to my dh for twelve years and we live in an older historical home that we share with six cats and two dogs. My friends love to call our house the zoo! But hey, I always have subjects to scrap! I have been scrapbooking for about ten years and am totally addicted! I love to make cards and altered items as well as layouts & have had the honor of being published in several different publications, including Paper Crafts, Cards, Scrapbooking & Cards Today, Creative Concepts, and several others as well as many popular ezines. I love to try new things and keep my scrapbooking interesting and out of the box. I am so excited to be part of the design team for UrbanSwank!

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Andrea MacDonald

Hi there, my name is Andrea MacDonald and I have been scrapbooking since the birth of my first daughter in 2007. I am a stay at home mom to two gorgeous girls and wife to a computer geek. I am also a scrapbook educator at two different scrapbooking stores on Vancouver Island.

Besides scrapbooking I enjoy swimming, hiking, kayaking and skiing. I am currently training for a triathlon.

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Leica Forrest

Leica Forrest has been an avid scrapbooker for 13 years. She is an outgoing, vibrant instructor that enjoys traveling internationally and teaching scrapbook, altered and mixed media classes. Published over 300 times, she enjoys working with many different manufacturers in this industry. Daily inspiration comes from her 3 small children, their clothes, their toys their little sayings.

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Elisabetta Colavero (Eli)

My name is Elisabetta Colavero (Eli) and I'm italian. Born on the 3rd of March, 1973, I have a daughter Noemi, 7 years old who is the favorite subject of my projects. I started scrapbooking about 4 years ago, and I prefer LO and sometimes minialbums. The cards, instead, simply hates me! In the past, for 3 years, I worked for Italian Scrapbooking Association as designer and forum animator. Actually I'm in Frosted Design and Twisted Sketches DTs. I'm graduated in Agriculture, and I work for the Province of Cremona, Agricultural department. But I'm so lucky! I can work at home, so I have time to devote to my hobbies: reading, sporting, gardening, and of course, scrapbooking. For me it's like a drug... It allows me to express the artistic side of me and at the same time create something that preserves forever my fondest memories.

I love also summertime, cats, pizza, white chocolate and ice cream.