Prima's NEW Team!!!!!

So today Prima announced their brand new team for 2013-2014! This is always an exciting time for me personally as we go through a vast number of entries and try to figure out who fits our vision for the upcoming year. It's one of the hardest things I have to do as part of my job. There are literally hundreds and hundreds of talented designers out there. And we only get to pick 20. (You feel my pain, right?) Eventually we narrow the field. And for extra fun we pick 12 guest designers. THESE people are super talented as well and I cannot wait to work with all of them!





 So, are you ready to see the new team?






Can you believe the talent right here in this group? Yowza!

Presenting the 2013-2014 Prima Design Team!

Adrienne Ford-USA

What is your favorite Prima product ever?

This is a tricky question!!!! I will answer by saying I have found that I very much enjoy the flowers (no brainer) but what I REALLY love about Prima is there are so many unqiue products on the market. One of them is the Ingvild Bolme Resin and Shabby Chic Metal. FAVE! I really enjoy how versatile these are on projects. They are so fun as you can leave them as is and they are so shabby chic FAB! You can also add color to them and see what you can come up with! 

If you could go on vacation anywhere in the world where would you go?

Hawaii. Hands. Down. Talk about beautiful! My husband and I were newly engaged and I won a trip to Hawaii through a major women's magazine. Talk about never say never! I surely don't anymore! We decided to go there for our honeymoon. It was the most amazing trip of my life! The food, The water. The most incredible beaches in the world! {{{Sigh}}} Everything was just so perfect. We want to go back something terrible. I hope we can get back there again, soon. 

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Brit Sviggum-Norway

What is your favorite Prima product ever?

I just LOVE all Prima masks...but my absolute favorite is the Hollyhock 12x12 stencil! I use that one a lot!

If you could go on vacation anywhere in the world where would you go?

I woud love to go back to Las Vegas. I was there before I got married, but I would love to bring my husband there now.

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Delaina Burns-USA

What is your favorite color?

My favorite color is red.

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What is your favorite Prima product ever?

 My latest favorite Prima product are the Metal Paper Clips...all of them. I want to clip one on every single thing I create.

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Erin Blegen-USA

What is your favorite Prima product ever?
My most favorite EVER? My, oh my- the Corinne flowers! I honestly (just counted the other day) have almost 50 packages of them stashed away and am almost too scared to use them because they're so hard to find.

What's your favorite movie?
I have several "favorites" but I don't love any of them as much as I love Oklahoma! I remember my sister (Kelly Foster) and I watching, memorizing, and then acting out that movie when we were kids! I still know every song by heart :)

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Felicity Wilson-Australia

What is your favorite Prima product ever?

Flowers, but, in particular the Encore and Interlude flowers and vines!!

If you could go on vacation anywhere in the world where would you go?

Would love to take my family to Disneyland and Monkey Mia for the beach! 

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Gerry van Gent-The Netherlands

What music do you listen to when you scrap?

It depends on what kind of project I`m working on but mostly I`m listening to Pink, GreenDay, The Rasmus or Latin Music.

If you could go on vacation anywhere in the world where would you go?

There are a lot of beautiful places but there is one place I`d love to visit and that's the island of Bora Bora.

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Jennifer Snyder-USA

What is your favorite Prima product ever?
My favorite Prima product(s) ever - I added the "s" because I have two favorites.  First is the Garden Gate Mask  #550042 and second is the Madeline Collection.  Recently I tracked down several sheets of that collection so that I don't run out quite yet.   It will be a sad scrappy day when that last sheet is gone.

What is your favorite movie:

My favorite movie is Shawshank Redemption.

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Juliana Montoya- USA

What is your favorite color? 

I love all pastel colors.  My favorite color is white, but I also love vintage pink and aqua.   

What is your favorite Prima Product ever? 

I love many products from Prima.... they are so beautiful and very useful it's very hard to just pick one.  If I have to pick one I'd say flowers.  I am in love with all of the flowers and I use them everywhere :)

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Kasia Krzymińska - Poland

Tell us your favorite thing about living in your country (compared to other countries)?

What is beautiful in Poland is it's diversity. In such a small area we have mountains, sea, lakes, beautiful rivers, and cities with amazing monuments. The history wasn't kind for us, but as a nation we are always together and know how to unite. We are very hospitable, love to party, have a great sense of humor, and, the most important thing for us, are our families. Oh, and I heard we have the most beautiful women in the world. Just saying :))

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What's your favorite movie?
I love Kill Bill. I adore each and every piece of this film, love the dialogues, actors, soundtrack and intricate action scenes. I know it may be a little too drastic for some of you but, as for me, it is just funny and I can watch it a milion times.

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Kasia Tomaszewska - Turkey

What is one food you cannot eat?

I love food and tasting new things, but there is one thing you will never see me eating- seafood! From what I know we have amazing seafood in Turkey, but I always skip this part of the menu:)

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What is your favorite color?

I love lime green, it's my favorite color and I always surround myself with it. My favorite mug is green, the things around our home are green and even the wall in the sitting room is this shade :)

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Kelly Foster-USA

What is your favorite Prima product ever?

Any and all of the Prima mini-rose stems. LOVE!

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What is one food that you cannot eat?

Sushi! Yuck! Never!

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Keren Tamir-Canada

What is your favorite color?
My favorite color is Aqua, a light turquoise that looks exactly like the water on some beautiful beaches. I just love that color so much when I use it on my pages, when I wear it on my clothes, or when I actually get to swim in the ocean.

What's your favorite Prima product ever?
That's a really hard question because I just love everything Prima. However, if I just have to pick one type of product, it would have to be the flowers and vines and, if I just have to pick one favorite of each, it would have to be the Tatiana Flowers and the White Purity Vines. Oh wait!!, I forgot the resins!! I do love all the Shabby Chic Resins!! I can't live without them. Well, as you can see, I couldn't pick one product after all!!

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Larissa Albernaz-Brazil

Tell us your favorite thing about living in your country (compared to other countries)?

There are a lot of small things that make Brazil a great place to live. I love its vibrant multi-culturalism; Brazilian food, and music, but my favorite thing is the weather - always warm and sunny.

What music do you listen to when you scrap?

Sometimes I just need to create in silence to enjoy my theraphy while paying attention to my inner thoughts and enjoying the creative process. But, sometimes, I prefer listening to my favorite pop songs just to create happily.

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Lene Bjornerud-Norway

Tell us your favorite thing about living in your country.

I love living in Norway because we ARE the best country in the world! We have the greatest nature (not the best weather.) I love to hike in the forests and mountains with my family and dog.  

If you could go on vacation anywhere in the world where would you go?

 I dream of going on a safari! Lions- I just love lions!  

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Louise Nelson-Australia

What is one food you cannot eat?

Oh my gosh, that would most definitely be Tripe; ['The first or second stomach of a cow or other ruminant used as food' --definition taken from Wikipedia.]

What is your favorite Prima producte ever?

Oooh, it would be a toss up between the birds from the Shabby Chic Treasures range and the single SIIC's!

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Magda Bolinska-UK

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What is your favorite Prima product ever?  
It`s so difficult to choose only one ... but, masks and stamps because they give an endless possibilities during creating!

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If you could go on vacation anywhere in the world where would you go?

Definitely - Paris ! [it`s my big dream!]

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Nine Mendella-France

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Tell us your favorite thing about living in your country (compared to other countries)?

I love living in France because it’s a country with varied landscapes and many places to visit (like Paris and les Champs Elysées !!)

If you could go on vacation anywhere in the world where would you go?

Definitely the USA!

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Olga Vasilieva-Russia

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What is one food you cannot eat? 

Honey

What music do you listen to when you scrap?

I usually watch soap operas when I scrap - my favorite one is "Friends".

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Solange Marques-Brazil

Tell us your favorite thing about living in your country. 

 I live in Brazil. It is a beautiful and sunny country! It has wonderful beaches and lush forests. It is known like a country for samba and football; and the people are very kind and cheerful. I love my country!

   

   

If you could go on vacation anywhere in the world where would you go?

I'd love to go to Europe-maybe France, Italy, Spain... I am fascinated by the architecture and arts of the old world.

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Sam Ho- Singapore

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Tell us your favorite thing about living in your country.

 I am a Malaysian who currently based in Singapore. Both countries are just 5 hours driving distance away with very similar culture. I love staying in either Malaysia or Singapore because I enjoy the great variety of local food. And food (and I don't mean fast food chain) is available at all hours of the day. Overall, I would prefer staying in Singapore simply because there are more local scrapbook stores there and the scrapbooking supplies are cheaper than Malaysia. Alright, I know it makes no sense to some of you, but scrapbooking is part of my daily life. Being able to drop by at scrapbooking stores is very much one of my ways of destressing.


What's your favorite color?
I love pastel colors and I have been crazy incorporating these pastel color palettes into my scrapbooking projects. If I am forced to narrow down my choice, my favourites would be Pink and Mint.

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Sharon Laakkonen-DT Coordinator-USA

Tell us your favorite thing about living in your country.

I love visiting other countries and experiencing their cultures, foods, peoples, but my heart is set on the good ole USA! (Every one should be proud of where their roots are, right?) America's rich, but short, history is filled with ordinary people who gave all they had for freedoms that we enjoy now. I never want to forget what others sacrificed for me. I see that individual ruggedness all across our beautiful country. Everyone gets the chance to do their best. Anybody can succeed here.

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What's your favorite movie?

Pride & Prejudice, hands down! It has romance, chivalry, gorgeous dresses, beautiful scenery, divine British accents, and the one-and-only handsome Mr. Darcy!

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Of course we just had to add a few Guest Designers! With so many AMAZING entries we could have picked so many more talented people, and we (once again) struggled to narrow it down to just 12. Here are our sweet list of guests (in no particular order) for the next year! These designers have not been notified yet, so SURPRISE!!!!!!

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2013-2014 Prima Guest Designers

Fran Westmoreland -UK
Camilla Ekman -Sweden
Joanne Bain -Australia
Rommel Okuma -Brazil
Tanya Batrak -Russia
Zeneva Kovic -Australia
Paula Castells -Germany
Zaneta Glowa -Sweden
Céline Régnier -France
Ann Christin Larsen -Norway
Ekaterina Ko (Kate) -Russia
Eila Sandberg -Sweden

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This is going to be an amazing year with our very diverse, very international team! I look forward to working with each one of these talented designers so much! I know they are going to WOW all of us with their creativity using Prima products! ~Sharon

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Prima-Sizzix Blog Switcheroo

Hello, everyone! My name is Sharon Laakkonen and I am so excited to do a blog "switch" with my wonderful friends at Sizzix in the UK! And to make it even more exciting I will be showcasing some of our new Prima dies. Yes, you heard that right! Prima and Sizzix are a perfect match, right? It was so fun working with both companies to create a few projects just for you. (And they both have fabulous give-aways this week!)

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It's June and I can hear wedding bells all around me. I know at least ten couples who are getting married this year! (Including two of my own daughters:  Brittany and Breanna. They have both found wonderful guys. I could not be happier for them!)

 

So, with weddings on my mind I thought it would be lovely to create a few elegant cards with Prima's Leeza Gibbon's papers and our new Sizzix dies.

My first card is simple and sweet. It showcases gorgeous Wishes & Dreams paper, elegant die0cut swirls and a fanciful shaped border. You could seriously make this card in less than 20 minutes!

• Cut 9 x 6 inch card. Fold in half to create a 4.5 x 6 inch card.
• Die cut swirls, tag and border from white paper. Add to card as shown.

• Tie tulle around card and knot. Add a large Prima flower and tuck in three die-cut leaves.
• Add greeting and crystals.

Turquoise Congrats Card:
Prima
Wishes & Dreams paper-970031
Wishful Thinking paper-970383
Leeza Gibbon's Flower-970888
Tiny Alphas-563295
Crystals

Sizzix 
Bigz Die-Classique-Swirl Die-658524
Bigz Die -Arbor-Leaves-658523
Sizzlits -Bordeaux Border-658519
Bigz Die-Elisse-Tags-658526

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My next card is a bit bolder and graphic, but I love how it still has some elegant touches!

 The hardest part in making this card is lining up the patterned paper text with the die cut! You could also just stamp on the label...or use letter stickers!

I just put the paper in place over the die making sure my greeting was centered. (Don't tell anyone, but I added a teensy bit of tape to hold it in place!)

• Once the greeting was cut the card was so easy to put together! 
• Cut a 4.5 x 11 inch card out of Wishful Thinking paper. Fold to create a 4.5 x 5.5 card
• Cut a 4 inch doily in half and add to both sides of the card as shown.

• Layer tags with foam, then add the greeting.
• Decorate with flowers, one brad, tulle, and crystal swirls (cut those in half too!)

Purple One Day Card:
Prima
Wishful Thinking papers-970321, 970383
Wishes & Dreams paper-970031
Wishful Thinking Brad-970451
Divine Flowers-565268
Frost Flowers-565787
Crystals-563622

Sizzix
Bigz Die-Elisse-Tags-658526
Bigz Die-Estate-Label-658527

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The last project is my favorite! Start with the large flower die to create your card base. (Cut two of these, flipping the paper over for the second cut. Glue the two flower shapes together back-to-back making sure they match up.)

Cross seam binding as shown and set on top of the large flower. Adhere a medium paper flower on top to sandwich the ribbon.

Decorate with flowers, leaves, tulle, a greeting, a twine bow, and a butterfly.

Write your personal message to the bride and groom on the back and tape to a gift. The newlyweds can hang this tag around their new home as a reminder that love is everlasting!


Love Everlasting Tag
Prima
Wishful Thinking paper-970383
Wishes & Dream paper-970031
Frost Flowers-565787
Divine Flowers-565268, 565251
Divine Rose-565282 
Papillon Butterfly-543839
Divine Stickers-563264
Precious Metals Leaves-547394

Sizzix
Bigz L Die-Flora die-658528

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I hope you enjoyed the wedding cards and tag! (You could easily use these designs for other occasions by simply switching out the greetings.)



Be sure and check out the Prima blog as we will be featuring three amazing Sizzix designers this week!

NSD Winner

Hey! I have a winner for the National Scrapbooking Day give-away, but I cannot find out how to contact you!

Debbie Gregory, you are the lucky winner. Please email me to claim your prize! sharon.laakkonen @ gmail.com (please delete the spaces when you email!)

Winning Comment:

Debbie L GregoryMay 5, 2013 at 1:09 AM

I really enjoyed your show today. I have learned everything from these online classes i past 7 and 1/2 months which is how long Ive been doing this. Have te panpastels and have used them once. Love them but don't really know alot about them and have date stamp Ive never used. This day has been an absolutely TOTAL blast. Prima products and designers ROCK!!

Reply

Project Life & Prima LOVE!

It's a Project Life and Prima Swap!

 
  


Becky Higgins has Prima give-aways on her blog so be sure to get on over there and enter to win one of the three accessory packs! And check out Prima's blog for their give-aways!



I was so blessed to create a Project Life album created by the talented Becky Higgins. Becky is one of those really awesome gals in this industry that I have had the pleasure to meet multiple times. She's sweet and genuine, so down to earth and gorgeous to boot! (And her products are WONDERFUL!)

So when this opportunity came up to work with her on a Prima exchange I was super excited! I got to work with the Olive Edition, which I dressed up with a little Prima, to showcase my memories on becoming a Nana to my sweet granddaughter, Amariah.



The color palette for this set is amazing! It has bold touches, feminine touches, and modern trendy touches all mixed beautifully together.





The cover is just begging to be altered! I added a few core cards and then decorated it with sweet flowers, crystals and a fluttering butterfly.





These flowers are some of my new faves! Look at that gorgeous beaded center! It's almost as beautiful as the memories tucked inside.






If a scrapbook page could express emotion this one would be overloaded with joyful tears and a heart swollen with love for this precious little grand-baby that we have been blessed with.  Our daughter, Bethany, and her hubby, Jon, seriously gave us the best gift ever!





Amariah Grace. Her name is so beautiful. We had the name "Amariah" picked out for our last few boys (just in case they were girls!) So we were overjoyed when Jon and Bethany decided they loved that name.





Isn't she the sweetest little bundle?  I know having a newborn can be difficult (been there, done that. A FEW times!) but as a Nana it was a totally different experience.




 I truly get to enjoy the best parts of this beautiful new life!





My last page for this features shows a few more shots of Amariah at different stages, including one of Amariah, her momma-Bethany, and me all together on vacation! I am so glad they live close enough for us to see each other several times a week. I love being a part of Amariah's life...love watching her grow and experience new things. And I love spoiling her. haha.






This album is REALLY big. I am hoping I get to fill it up with LOTS of grandkids' photos. With seven kids of my own I think there might be a good chance of that!






Pssst...did I mention we have grandbaby #2 on the way? Amariah will be a big sister in just a few weeks! I am SUPER excited to have another little grandbaby to snuggle with!



Sharon's Supplies:

1. Project Life Supplies:

• Olive Core Kit
• Olive Album/Binder
• Photo Pocket Pages (big variety pack 1)

2. Prima Supplies:

• 567064 Akran Taj Blue Flowers
• 567118 Joulee Leaves
• 565268 Divine Flowers
• 565305 Divine Butterflies
• 565466 Lady Bird Grey Daisy
• 565473 Lady Bird Roses
• 562915 Divine Small Grey Alphas
• 563264 Divine Tiny Alphas
• 562861 Hello Pastel Large Grey Alphas
• 563295 Hello Pastel Tiny Alphabets
• 564865 Divine Washi Tape
• 563882 Wood Leaves
• 563455 Divine Newsprint Frames
• 563974 Lady Bird SIIC
• 563950 Fairy Rhymes SIIC
• Other: doilies, twine, chevron bag, Fiskars hole punch, Fabri-Tac, ribbon

So how many of you do Project life? Are you enjoying it? Do you dress up your pages? I'd love to hear your thoughts so post some tips for me (as a PL newbie!) PLEASE!!!!

(inter)National Scrapbooking Day!

 

Today is National Scrapbooking Day in the states and Prima is having an AMAZING blog hop! So if you are working your way down their list, welcome! You are at the right place! (Make sure you scroll all the way down for the blog list and a GIVE-AWAY!)

Prima also has a wonderful line-up of LIVE classes, including my layout class shown here at 9 AM eastern time!

Here is a direct link to the Prima ustream channel. Hop on over and watch a class or two today. The classes go ALL day long. There will be prizes and lots of fun to be had on the chats.

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The layouts shown above don't have a lot of my normal feminine touches. And that's cool. Since I have a few older boys I thought I would play around with some of our newest metals, stencils, gesso, stamps, and so on. (My boys REALLY appreciate me NOT adding flowers to their layouts. Imagine that!)

I love the cleaner graphic & bright effect on this layout of Billy using Lady Bird.  It totally fits his personality and his photo!

You can achieve this bright look with PanPastels and a stencil! (Use a neutral backdrop paper like this one in the Lady Bird line so your attention is on the photo and techniques.)

Just set the stencil on the paper (I use washi tape on the sides to help secure it to the paper. When you are done coloring you can pull it up easily and it will not tear your paper.)

Start with the lightest color of PanPastel first, then work your way through to the darkest color.

(Just make sure you seal it once you are happy with the colors. I use SpectraFix which is safe to spray inside and has no nasty fumes.)

Next add a photo mat with foam squares, chipboard shapes, stickers and crystals. Add the photo with foam adhesive to pop it up off the page a bit.


Staple some twine to the page with a Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher to mimic the chevron pattern for a nice GUY touch.

Create a banner flag with our stickers (and a toothpick!) and tuck it under the photo.

Stamp all your important dates and sayings on the stickers with these cool roller stamps by Smash and Dear Lizzy! I use them ALL the time.

 That's it!


My other layout is about my 16 year old,  Brayden. It definitely has a different look than the first layout.  You can see the whole layout created in my class so check it out! (All shows are recorded in case you cannot catch them live.)

Prima Supplies

• 922375, 922351 DD Art Stencil
• 891671, 891633 Tiny Junkyard Findings
• 562861, 562908 Alphas
• 890995, 891003, 891015 Comfort Craft Chalk Fluid Edgers
• 960353, 960261 Mechanicals by Finnabair
• 960124 Clear Stamp- Sunrise, Sunset
• 564377 Washi Tape Stamp
• 563042 Clear Stamp-Engraver
• 564896 Lifetime Washi Tape

Other:

• Fiskars Star Punch
• Ranger Studio Gesso
• Ranger Archival Black & Brown Ink
• shipping tag
• orange twine
• Color Shine: BlackVelvet
• Glimmer Mist: Dark Denim
• Fabri-Tac by Beacon

Here's the video!



Video streaming by Ustream


So what do you think? Ready to try a few of these techniques on your next project? Leave me a comment and I will pick one person to win this fabulous prize on May 13th. Open to all countries.

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Here is the list for the blog hop!

Prima Blog
Sharon Laakkonen (You are here!)

Cari Fennell
Jamie Dougherty 
Frank Garcia 
Nic Howard
Janine Koczwara  
Heidi Kelley 
Brit Sviggum
Trina McClune 
Gerry van Gent
Lene Bjornerud 
Magda Bolinska  
Anna Dabrowska
Maiko Kosugi  
Felicity Wilson  
Larissa Albernaz 
Marie-Nicolas Alliot 
Louise Nelson  
Juliana Montoya  
Steph Devlin
Stephanie Miller
Solange Marques
Lea Lawson