Skater Girl aka Build a Bear :)

Wow! It's amazing how fast time can get away from you when you are busy! Yesterday was the first time all week that I've been able to get into my stamping room!

This month marks my skater girl's anniversary :-). She got on skates for the first time in her life in October 2 years ago. She could hardly stay up on the skates! The owner of the rink saw her struggling and came over and told my husband and I about the beginner skate classes. We asked our daughter if she was interested in taking the classes and she breezed through all three levels and made it onto the Artistic Skating Team by that January. She just completed her first year of competition in August. The skate year starts in September each year. She won three 1st place medals at the Regional Championships in June. This earned her three places at Nationals. At Nationals, she came in 15th place in the nation in Figures, 13th place in Loops, and 8th place in the combined events. Not bad at all for the 1st year at Nationals! Since this is her anniversary month, I wanted to make her a card and we got her a cake to celebrate. Below is the card and the cake :-).

If you guessed that I used the Build a Bear dies, you would be 100% correct! I had to make some adjustments to the die cuts to make the skate dress. All the members of the team wear black velvet dresses or pants and shirt (for the guys). Each dress or shirt has the initials K.P. on the left side below the shoulder in swarovski rhinestones. The K.P. is in honor of Kyle Peck, the son of our world class coach (John) in Chicago. Kyle was hit by a car at the World Championships in Rome and was killed. He was only ten years old. It makes me very sad every time I think of this. Since then, all of John's (Kyle's Dad) skaters wear black (John's favorite color) and the initials K.P., to honor Kyle. My daughter even has KP on her Nationals jacket to honor Kyle. So now that you know why the skate dresses are black, the skirts also come down to a point in the front and a slightly longer point in the back of the dress. This is standard for roller figure skate dresses. Just so you know, the dress bottom of the skater on the card is not wearing swimsuit type  bottoms :-). She is wearing her dress in the points that skate dresses have. I used a pearl on the left shoulder to represent the KP because that sure wouldn't fit on the little skater in rhinestones! For the skates, I die cut them in Whisper White and then with a VersaMark pen, I colored in the very bottom of the shoes and heat embossed the bottoms in silver embossing powder. The plates on skates are silver, but my daughter pointed out that I could have done the very bottoms of the shoes in brown to match the heel and sole on the bottom of the boots. Just didn't think of that, lol! The wheels are done with a Whisper White 1/4" circle punch with a 1/8" Silver Glimmer Paper circle punch. Figure wheels are white so that's why I used white for the wheels :-D. For the skater's head, I used a 1 3/8" circle punch and for the hair I used a 1 1/2" circle punch. I punched out two circles first in Early Espresso and discarded the circles. Then I came back in with my punch and punched again twice, so I had the shape of the hair. My daughter actually wears this hair style. The floor is done in More Mustard and I stamped the Wood Grain background stamp on it in More Mustard ink. I sponged the very top of the floor piece in More Mustard to give the floor a little more depth on the card. The inside is stamped with, "Go Confidently in the Direction of Your Dreams," from the Word Play stamp set. So there ya' have it... my little skater girl Build a Bear. My real little skater girl LOVES this card! What more could you ask as a Mom :-) ? Have a great weekend!!!

Blessings!
Barb

Supplies:
Paper: Marina Mist, Bashful Blue, Whisper White, Basic Black, More Mustard, Early Espresso, Silver Glimmer Paper, Blush Blossom (retired- please contact Stampin' Up! and ask them to bring this color back :-D )
Stamps: Teeny Tiny Wishes
Classic Stampin' Ink: More Mustard, Marina Mist, Blush Blossom (retired)
Markers: Early Espresso, Basic Black
Dies: Build a Bear, Beary Essentials
Punches: Modern Label, Word Window, 1 3/8" Circle, 1 1/2" Circle
Other: VersaMark pen, Basic Pearls, Pretty in Pink Stampin' Pastels, white crochet thread for the shoe laces