Taheerah Atchia

Hey everyone! Happy Friday! And welcome to the next in the series of  #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:

Dawn Woleslagle – Stamp Away With Me

What? Great designers can’t also be great stamp designers too? Unless you’ve been living under a rock, this lady and her designs should be well known to you. Dawn is the owner and designer for WPlus9 Stamps. So it should come as no surprise to see her take her place as one of my all-time favourites. I could wax amaze at her stamp designs all day, but let’s stick to the matter at hand. Dawn is probably an overlooked talent, simply because her stamp designs shine so bright. But one can design the most amazing product and have no-one buy it if they cannot make it shine. Dawn knows exactly how to work each and every one of her designs to perfection. I have seen her style range from bright and bold to soft and delicate, and all with a signature look of class. Her eye for detail and her quirky-made-classic composition mean you are instantly drawn in to her designs – and she still keeps surprising. Never afraid to experiment and take creative risks, she puts the same flair and passion into her cards as she does her stamp sets – and that is why she continues to render me dumbfounded by her genius – and make my wallet cry in the process.

Teri Anderson – A Bit of This. A Bit of That.

Another superstar, but not like any other. Teri’s blog is perfectly titled to match her eclectic yet well-rounded style. Not only can she combine colours and composition in ever-surprising ways, but she is one of those rare talents who can flit from style to style and own them all. She is trend-tastic – no, she trend-setting. Her bold, larger-than-life creations are the perfect foil to her larger-than-life talent. Her accomplishments number too greatly to list. Standing head and shoulders as a true legend in our industry, it’s no surprise that she continues to innovate, inspire and just plain have fun along the way. I love everything she does. *Everything*. She recently took the helm of Moxie Fab World after Cath’s departure. There was never ever any doubt in mind it would be her. This is her time. This is her stage. And boy does she own it.

Jocelyn Olson – Red Balloon Cards

The master of deception! The magician of the crafting world! Jocelyn is *so* good at the hybrid stamping/digital genre that she completely fools you as to which she is presenting. Like those with the well-timed sleight-of-hand, Jocelyn’s style pulls you in, grabs your attention – then completely blows you away. I have never seen such amazingly beautiful designs created digitally yet with such a natural style. She is a *genius* with this stuff. But her talents do not reside purely in the digital realm. Her stamping is obscenely good. Her colours, her composition, absolutely perfect. She is at the forefront of trends. She never ceases to amaze me. And she also creates some of the most amazingly gorgeously perfect cards I have ever seen.

Danielle Flanders – Homespun With Heart

Happy sigh. One of my all-time, completely head-over-heels-for loves. Danielle’s style is the epitome of the modern scrappy/freestyle collage style I have been aspiring to lately. She is my muse – and quite fittingly she is everybody’s Muse at present as she is the focus of this month’s CASE Study Challenge blog. I fell in love with her style at first sight. She combines patterns, layers, styles, designs and embellishments like no other. Effortlessly composed. Perfectly deconstructed. Light. Airy. Beautiful. There aren’t enough adjectives. Danielle will be a household name to you, I’m sure, because of her position on the PTI Design Team. But glance at her accomplishments and you will see she has been rocking the scene with many a publication and Design Team before those days. And her talents transcend cards and tags. Have you seen her Mini Books? Swoon. I want to be her when I grow up.

Lea Lawson – Lea’s Cupcakes & Sunshine

My final selection this weekend is someone who combines layers and pretty like they were synonyms. Lea’s style is a pile-it-on, embrace-it-all, prettify-it, masterpiece. She can rock any style – modern to vintage, with many in between – and totally transform them into something completely her own. You could stare for hours at one design and still be noticing little ‘extras’ the whole time. Her colours are a rainbow of delights. Her composition confounds me. Her embellishments – there are no words. If you’ve never visited her blog before be prepared to set aside several hours to drink in every last drop – then repeat frequently, and you will still learn something new and be inspired in completely new directions. You will lose yourself in her work. And you’ll never want to return.

So there we are folks – your Follow Fridays for this week!! 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 feature 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!