dahlhouse designs

[7.13.17] Unity Thursday

Happy Thursday Friends!

It is time again for some more THURSDAY fun with the Unity design team. Unity has lots of lovely new stamps releasing this week and we can’t wait to share what we’ve been creating. If you haven’t been hopping along, all the action starts on the Unity blog.

First up, this darling little puppy.

So stinkin’ cute. He is just a little part of the big kit called Happy Happy Joy Joy. So many great images to choose from, but that little puppy was calling my name. I used some Distress Inks to blend the background and kissed it with a heart background to remove some of the ink. Love that subtle hint of hearts. The sentiment is from the kit of the month – Time to Enjoy Life. This was my first time trying out Nuvo drops, I even practiced before placing them on my card. I need more practice. Haha. That is ok though, I do love the idea of these enamel like dots, so I’ll keep trying. Maybe once I get the technique down, I’ll share video.

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Curious to see how I made this card. I have a quick video that you can watch it here or at Youtube.

Another cutie pie of a stamp for this card from the new kit Patients and Hugs. I stamped that little bunny 4 times and then used a die cut to make sure they were evenly spaced. A little bit of Copic coloring helps those little bunnies pop. I love how so many Unity stamp kits can be mixed and matched. The sentiment is from Sometimes I wonder. All together it is just a sweet happy card.

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Curious to see how I made this card. I have a quick video that you can watch it here or at Youtube.

** COMMENT PRIZE **
newhopprize
Don’t forget to leave a comment on each blog as you hop with us today.
Just click on the next pretty girl in line to continue on your way.




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Puppy card


Bunny card


[7.3.2017] Birthday Owl

Hello!

Just popping in with a couple of cards to share. Unity Stamp Company is having a bit of sale this weekend and released a couple new stamp sets. One of those is the brand new sentiment kit for July… Hugs, Kisses & Birthday Wishes.

Birthday cards are by far the MOST cards I make. I’m always trying to keep up with demand. It just made sense that Owlie needed to be turned in to a birthday stamp with lots of sentiments. SO many to choose from. Up first, is this one with Copic coloring and washi tape accents. I love the combo of navy and orange, so I colored my balloons and luckily I had washi to match.

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Curious how I made this card, I have a super quick video below.

A gray owl, what?!?! Too cute right? I really wanted my owl and papers to match, so I went with a gray owl. I love how he turned out. With the orange and pink balloons, he really stands out. Again, I used my Copics to color the stamp and then popped up the sentiment heart balloon. I love how interactive that heart can be.

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Curious how I made this card, I have a super quick video below.

Thanks for stopping in, have a great week!

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Washi Tape Owl card


Popped Up Heart Owl card


[6.18.2017] Happy Father’s Day

Happy Father’s Day
We celebrated yesterday, so no chance of spoiling the card this year! 

I threw this card together super fast. Necessity is the mother of invention. Haha. I grabbed two fabulous sets from Unity Stamp Company – A Joyous Season (for the deer) and All About Dad (for the sentiment). I love that you can use a Christmas set for Father’s day. So cool. Unity is so versatile.

For the background, I used a woodgrain stencil, dabbed on some Distress Oxide Vintage Photo. I removed the stencil and then blended on some Distress Oxide Fossilized Amber. Last, I picked up some of the Vintage Photo with my aqua brush and threw some splatters at the card. Then, I just embossed the deer and sentiment, popped them up and because it was missing something, added a few enamel dots to balance everything out.

Happy Father’s Day to all the dads. Especially mine. Love you.

 

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[6.7.2017] Unity Stamp Company Hop

Hello Friends…

Time for some more HOPPIN’ fun with the Unity design team.  If you haven’t been hopping along, all the action starts on the Unity blog.  There’s always fun stuff going on.

Oh boy, I have lots to share today. It’s a long post, with lots of photos and videos. I hope you’ll stick in until the end. Unity has so many new pretty things to share, I just couldn’t stop at one.

THIS! This kit is brilliant. I love those darling light bulbs. The stamp is just of the 4 bulbs in the center of the card, and that is where this background began. I stamped in the center and then around in a circular motion until all the space was filled with these darling bulbs. I’m using regular Neenah Solar White 80lb cardstock for watercolor. Yes, it can be done, but it must be done with a light amount of water. Distress Inks in the markers or ink pads are perfect for this since they are so pigmented. After it had dried, I matted it with a bit of black and popped up that brilliant sentiment.

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Curious to see how I watercolored that background, I have a quick video that you can watch it here or at Youtube.

I have two cards to share with the brand new June Sentiment kit – She Never Says Never. I’m so excited about this one. Mainly for the background. I love that script background, it can be used for so many things. Here I’ve used it sparingly on just the edges of the background. Just a lovely touch. Then I blended some Distress Ink over the top and sprayed it all over with Shimmer Spritz in Sparkle to make it all shiny and pretty. I sure wish the camera could pick that shine up, but if you watch the video below, it captures that shine much better.

The girl was colored with Copic markers and popped up on the card. Ah, black hair. That stuff is difficult to capture in color. This was my first go and I’m pretty happy with it. I am in awe of those who color hair so well.

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Curious to see how I made this card. I have a quick video that you can watch it here or at Youtube.

Here is lady number two… with brown hair. Much easier for me. She was also colored with Copics and I’m using up a bunch of scrap papers for this card.

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Curious to see how I made this card. I have a quick video that you can watch it here or at Youtube.

 

I don’t know if you have noticed or not, but I love doing different backgrounds. I love all the different color mediums out there and I love to try them all. Last round was watercolor with spray inks, this time we have Gelatos and Distress Oxide inks. Unity has this amazing Mirror Image Stamping tool. Not only will mirror image your stamp and it can be used to create some amazing backgrounds, like these two cards. The rubber creates an amazing toothy surface that really grabs the ink and transfers it in a lovely way. So different from slippery craft mats, acrylic sheets or blocks.

For the pink background I used Gelatos and for the green, orange and blue background I used Distress Oxide inks. Both in the same method, but with slightly different results. Both quite lovely.

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Curious to see how I made this card. I have a quick video that you can watch it here or at Youtube.

Thank you for sticking in until the end. I appreciate it so very much.

** COMMENT PRIZE **
newhopprize
Don’t forget to leave a comment on each blog as you hop with us today.
Just click on the next pretty girl in line to continue on your way.




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Brilliant card


Shimmer Background card


Using Up Scraps card


Hummingbird Cards


[5.26.17] Unity Stamp Co meets the MISTI

What a fun day on the blog!!! I’m super excited to be a small part of this big, big hop. Unity Stamp Company is hopping with My Sweet Petunia (the maker of the amazing MISTI stamping tool). You really couldn’t get a better match in products. They were just meant to be used together. You should be arriving from Lee Ann Barrett’s blog, if not, you can start at the beginning with My Sweet Petunia. I have a couple of projects to share today, hope you enjoy my cards and a few quick videos too.

Wow, this background turned out so vibrant and gorgeous! I usually do a background one at a time per card. Well, I had this brilliant idea to create a watercolor background on a whole sheet of watercolor paper and then cut it up into a bunch of backgrounds. Duh, what took me so long to figure that out? I used them all up in this set of cards, so I need to do this again to have some on hand to play with.

It was super simple to do with 3 different spray inks per color set. The 3 colors just gives some depth and interest to the background. Lay out your large watercolor sheet, spray it generously with water and then spray randomly with your spray inks. Grab your water bottle again and spray until the colors start to move and mix. You don’t want to see any of the spray dots from the spray ink. Gently blot the edges as the water pools and dry with a heat tool if you are impatient like me. Otherwise, you can let it dry by itself.

Once it was dry, I die cut the big sheet into smaller rectangles and stamped some beautiful silhouette flowers on top. Added a sentiment and a bit of background stamping to create a simple, but gorgeous set of cards.

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Curious to see how I made this card. I have a quick video that you can watch it here or at Youtube.

The Watercolor Background

Assembling the card using the MISTI

Ok, get this, Unity now has this amazing STAMPING TOOL! It is brilliant. With this tool, I was able to mirror image my sweet little flamingo so there are two. I can’t wait to play with this tool again as this was my first go around. I have a few tips… 1. Embossing is absolutely necessary. Well, I guess not absolutely necessary, but if you want a nice crisp image, it is best. You can try with ink, but really, it just worked so much better when embossed. 2. Stamp your mirrored image FIRST and then use your normal stamp to line up your second image. This is only necessary if you want them both on a single layer and not fussy cutting the images. 3. A MISTI makes this whole process so much easier, but it isn’t absolutely necessary. I’ll show you how to use the tool on it’s on in a future video.

After I stamped and embossed my little flamingos, I added a heart, colored with some Copic markers and embossed the sentiment in white on a strip of black cardstock. So super cute, right?

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Curious to see how I made this card. I have a quick video that you can watch it here or at Youtube.

** COMMENT PRIZE **
Thank you for stopping by and don’t forget… everyone who leaves a comment on all the blogs in the hop will go into a drawing for 3 prize packs from Unity and winner’s choice of an Original or Mini MISTI. Please leave a comment by May 30th at noon central time to be eligible. Winners will be posted on both the Unity Stamp Company and the My Sweet Petunia blogs on May 31st.

I’m excited to send you on your way to the extremely talented Chris Dayton, I just know she has some amazing projects to share today. In case you get lost, here is the whole lineup of bloggers hopping today.

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Sympathy Card


Let’s Flamingle Card