Hey everyone! Happy Friday! And welcome to the first of the new features I’m introducing to my blog in 2014 – #FollowFriday!
Those of you who are avid Twitter users may be familiar with the term ‘Follow Friday’ or #FF. In a nutshell, people take to Twitter with the hashtag #FF to promote other users they suggest you follow. It’s a great little way to give people a shout-out and for a while now I’ve wanted to introduce a similar idea in blog form! It’s going to be an awesome way for me to give a shout-out to other designers I think *you* should be following if you don’t already do so!
I’ll be bringing you this feature every Friday and highlighting around 5 designers worthy of a special mention! It’s going to be so awesome!
So without further ado, may I present this week’s #FF designers:
Tasnim Ahmed – Cards & Bookmarks
Tasnim’s cards are perennially distinctive, technique-driven and, above all, clever. She frequently stops me in my tracks and makes me gasp at her work. You always get the sense that she’s almost just playing because everything seems to come so naturally to her. Always going the extra mile and thinking of things that no-one else would, this girl would almost make you jealous if you didn’t love her and her style so much.
Joni Nina Andaya – Papell With Love
You heard it here first: this girl is the designer to watch this year. Joni is a master of colour, composition and stamping. I want to pin pretty much everything she makes, but I might be accused of being her groupie if I did. She blends inks like a master, she throws in techniques-a-plenty, she thinks outside the box. In fact maybe she’s like Neo and ‘there is no box’ to her. Her work is so good that it’s only a matter of time before everyone in the industry is fighting over her!
Julie Ebersole – Paper Trufflez
If you don’t know who she is, then we can’t even continue this conversation until you go to her blog, stare *agog* at everything she does, then come back and tell me the hundreds of things you learned about design in the process. Julie is a genius. She takes elements that seem so simple and that you and I would create something quite mundane with, and turns the result into something I wish I could display forever in my home. On top of that she is one of the best teachers in our industry, and I defy you to not learn several tips and golden nuggets with each of her videos and posts.
Magda Mizera – Scrap Corner
Seriously, is there anything this girl can’t do? Cards. Scrapbooking. Homemade gifts. Her every creation expresses joy. She has the most effortlessly beautiful style I have seen in a very, very long time. Oh, and btw, that goal I set myself for bettering my photography? Take a look at her work to get an idea of what I’m aspiring to.
Amy Wanford – Crafting Confessions
My fellow Brit, former Uniko Studio teammate, CAS genius and all-round sweetheart. Aimes makes me up my game every time I see her work. She has a rare talent of being able to strip an idea down to its essentials, then put the remaining essence together in a way that seems so naturally brilliant you’re left scratching your head as to why you didn’t think of it yourself. Answer? She’s just too darn good, and the rest of us can only hope that we can learn a thing or two from her.
So there we are folks – your first Follow Fridays of the year!! Give them a cheer!! Please do stop by their blogs and follow them, give them some love, stare in awe, then come away inspired to try a million new things! I’ve also set up a special Pinterest Board to keep track of all my #FollowFriday featured designers!
I hope you love this new feaure of mine – I would love some feedback on it! Thanks so much for stopping by – I would love it if you left some love for these ladies as you head on your way!
Taheerah! Golly! *verklempt* Thank you! There are sooooo many talented people out there, that it is really hard to keep up! What a lovely way to shout-out some wonderfully gifted crafters we otherwise might not discover on our own!
Cool stuff!!!! Great post!
WOW!! What an AWESOME Idea!! I'm not a Twitter user, but this is such a FUN Feature and I look forward to it!! I can't wait to see how many New Designers I can follow!! 😉 THANKS for sharing and have a Fabulous Week!! 😉
What a fun and informative feature! I am so looking forward for more!
Oooh, I didn't know about Magda, I do love her photography! Thanks passing her name along. What a fun feature this will be! I'm looking forward to putting some new names on my list : )
Very cool idea… now my blog reading list is going to grow even more! LOL!
Aww…Taheerah, thank you so much for sweet words girl, so blushing with this!
This feature you have is so Fabulous, cannot wait to see what you put here 🙂
What an awesome feature, Taheera! It's so fun to find new crafters so I'll look forward to you list. Today's list gave me one new crafter to check out – Magda!
Great feature! Happy to say all these fabulous ladies are in my Feedly 🙂
OH my gosh – this is a brilliant feature, Taheerah – especially having a dedicated Pinterest Board – whoop whoop – thank you 🙂
LOve this new feature Taheerah! I already follow four of them, so nice of you to share!
Great post! A great way to get to know other fabulous designers. Off to check some of them out!
Great post and fabulous designers!
Oh this was such a surprise! Thank you so much for mentioning me Taheerah, you are too kind!
I love this feature; great way to get to know other fabulous designers! There is one new one for me here 🙂
Super cool!! These ladies ROCK!!! 🙂
Oh thank you so much for your kind words, T! You sure know how to make a gal blush! Love this feature and there a couple of names here I need to check out! Thank you! x
Great blog picks Taheerah. Love your new feature 🙂
Such a brilliant idea. I'm always looking for someone new to follow ! Looking forward to seeing more !
Jo x
What a fabulous idea! And how lovely to applaud other crafters! I've got an unexpected snow day — work is closed — and now I have something to keep me busy! I know only one of your choices, can't wait to meet the others.
Great idea & love the Pinterest board 🙂
Such a nice idea to give others a shout out – something I like to do as well – but not in a series. You idea is awesome!
Cool feature, Taheerah! I know 4/5 of them. Magda is new to me. Her work is beautiful. Glad I found her through you 🙂 Cannot wait to get know more designers :0)
Lovely idea and great blogs you picked for the first post in this series 🙂
Happy Friday!
Sylvia xx