and the gang's all here! HELLOOOO Guest Design Dollies!

Now that we've introduced you to the very first Design Dollies Design Team, it's time to tell you about our fabulous lineup of Guest Design Dollies for the first quarter of 2010. We are very excited that these girls seem so pleased to be featured guests, (and, hence, honorary Dollies!), and we're still reeling from all the kind words people have given us during the selection process.

Thank you all, SO, SO much, for being such a GREAT audience, and our ears are ALWAYS open, should you have any suggestions or complaints or what have you. We're nothing if not for our fabulous followers!

Now, on with the show!

Our very first Guest Design Dollie, for the month of January, is the lovely
Karen B, of Being Karen. She's been playing along with our challenges from the getgo, and she's totally mastered the art of design based on the Dollies' sketches, that's for sure!

Check out these examples of Karen's brill work:



She takes a simple sketch, adds all this gorgeous texture, puts these perfect colour combinations together, and brings the photos to life. She rocks behind the lens, too!

And woodja get a load of the RUFFLES on this project?!

From the perfectly shabby distressing, to that little half-circle punch detail in the top left corner (love that!), to that INSANELY beautiful pearly ruffle... She's got it all down to a fine art.

Karen will join us for several of the January challenges, and we can't wait to see what fancy schmancy things she'll do with our little ideas. :) Stop by Karen's blog to say hello and feast your eyes on the rest of her artistry!

In February, we have another very talented friend who made quite an impression with her altered art... She's
Sarah Latham, of Sweet Treats of Sarah Lou, and we're sure you'll agree that her creations are, well, CREATIVE, as well as stunning.

For example:



Um... yeah. WOW. What else can I possibly say about that?!

And this:



I just love that her cluster below the photo is of MORE PHOTOS! Absolutely lovely, don't you agree? Visit her blog for more examples of why we HAD to invite her to be a Guest Design Dollie. :) Sarah will be playing along with some of our February challenges, so be sure to watch for her (and check out her blog in the meantime for loads of inspiration).

And last, but not least, our March Guest Design Dollie - here's another one who plays with us regularly, and wows us continually with her interpretations of our challenges.
Meet Katharine McCulloch, from Kate's Korner. She is fun and sassy, and we know she's going to show us some things that make us go "WHOA"!

Here's part of the reason why we dig Kate so very much:



HEE HEE! It bears a striking resemblance to my very own craft space (right down to the random sightings of ball trim - yum!), and I can respect a girl who gets messy!

No, but honestly, she does beautiful things, from the classy and traditional (while not being afraid to play with a splash of unexpected colour)...



...to the sassy and whimsical!



We love Kate's work, and we're quite sure you will, too! If you don't want to wait until March to see what she's up to, hopefully she'll still be playing along with us, and you can drop by Kate's blog, to stalk her (in a good way!). You'll be glad you did!

So there you have it, folks! Three amazingly talented ladies over whose projects you are welcome to gawk, fawn and drool. ;)



I am also very pleased to let you know that there will be some new SPONSORS for the Design Dollies challenges soon! We'll introduce you to them once we've ironed out the details, and we're very excited about these sweet offers! We're hoping to line up some other sponsors for the new year, so let us know if you're interested, and we'll do lunch! ;)

(And come back tomorrow when the third ingredient for this week's triple threat trifecta challenge is revealed!)