dahlhouse designs

[3.2.17] Unity Thursday

Hello…

The Unity Design them hops ONCE a MONTH now and it is that time again. I love these big hops, so much beautiful things to see. If you haven’t been hopping along, all the action starts on the Unity blog.  There’s always fun stuff going on.

I’m using the brand new March 2017 sentiment kit – Bunny Keep You Forever today. He’s my creation and I hope you find him floppy and adorable. There are tons of stamps included so he could be used for lots of different occasions or grab a sentiment from a different kit as well. That is what I love about Unity, these images and sentiments mix and match so well.

I went with a birthday theme since I ALWAYS need birthday cards and I still have some littles we send cards too. This floppy bunny is colored (or I should say shaded) with Copic markers. I wanted to keep him as white as could be so just used some gray markers to add the slightest bit of a shadow. Then, I fussy cut him out, popped him up above the sentiment and added a bow of course. Not too bulky for mailing.

Curious to see how I shaded the bunny. I have a quick video below. You can watch it here or at Youtube.2015assemblethis

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Don’t forget to leave a comment on each blog as you hop with us today.
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[1.1.2017] Season’s Givings for 2017

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Happy New Year Friends!!!

I’m thrilled to be apart of the Season’s Givings Blog Hop this year, you should have arrived from Lee Murphy’s blog if you’ve been hopping along. A little about the Season’s Givings hop… a bunch of companies and bloggers all gather together to celebrate the season and by giving back to our amazing visitors.  Just our little way of saying thank you for spending the year with us.

I sure hope 2016 treated you well and if not, may 2017 be the start of something beautiful. It was quite the busy year for me. The little blog kept chuggin’ along and I’m so thankful for those who stick with me. Your visits and comments keep my heart warm and a smile on my face. If you are new, welcome, welcome, welcome. I’m so glad and thankful you are here too.

dahlhouse-designs-1-2017-thanks-birdie

There are two things I want to start 2017 with — gratitude and a smile. This card encompasses it all. The cute little birdie to make me smile and the thanks to express my gratitude. I’m always amazed when I look back on the year, how blessed I am over and over again. I have moments where I don’t always see it or feel it, but when it comes time to reflect, there is no doubt I’ve had an amazing year full of wonderful things. I love that this hop reminds me to look back and remember those amazing blessings.

This little chickie was colored with Copic markers, a little Wink of Stella to the belly, fussy cut out and popped up on the patterned papers. He’s just a little burst of sunshine. I die cut the “thanks”, popped it up and then covered it in glossy accents to create some texture contrast and then stamped the sentiment right underneath. They go pretty well together. I added a bit of string at the end to tie it all together.

Every participant in this hop has a gift to give.  So make sure to leave comments and/or follow instructions on how to enter each giveaway.  FOR ME… just leave a lovely comment on what you are looking forward to in 2017 and I’ll pick a winner to receive a prize package full of Unity Stamp Co stamps (stamps are different from those pictured, I didn’t have time to snap a real picture) and anything else I can fit in a flat rate envelope.  The prize package is open to {ALL} and a winner will be announced on this blog January 8th.

If you are looking for where to sign up for updates or where I might be in social media-land, check out my links below.  Thank you so much for joining me in welcoming the new year. I can already tell 2017 is going to be a fabulous year. Keep in touch as I have a few fun things planned. If you ever have suggestions for what you want to see or questions on anything, email me. I’d love the suggestions and I’d love to help you out too. My email box is always open!!! HUGS.

Y O U T U B E : http://bit.ly/2eWZMul
B L O G : http://dahlhouse-designs.com/
T W I T T E R : https://twitter.com/dahlhousedesign/
F A C E B O O K : https://www.facebook.com/dahlhousedesigns/
I N S T A G R A M : https://www.instagram.com/dahlhousedesigns/
P I N T E R E S T : https://www.pinterest.com/dahlhousedesign/

Well, you’ll be off to Giovana Smith’s blog next.
I’ve included the whole list of blogs hopping today below as well.

Lawn Fawn
Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L
Reverse Confetti
Taylored Expressions
Paper Smooches
Neat & Tangled
Technique Tuesday
Clear & Simple Stamps
Richard Garay
My Sweet Petunia
JustNick
Stamp Simply Ribbon Store
Sunny Studio Stamps
Inchie Arts llc
Scrapbook Update
Buttons Galore
Latisha Yoast
Julia Stainton
ChariMoss
Cristina Nunez
Wanda Guess
Vera Yates
Amy Tsuruta
Mary-Ann Maldonado
Lori Craig
Lydia Fiedler
Jenn Shurkus
Lisa Henke
Dina Kowal
Libby Hickson
Emily Leiphart
Cindy Lawrence
Kelly Klapstein
Erica Houtghton
Elise Constable
Julee Tillman
Lee Murphy
>>> Lisa Arana <<<
Giovana Smith
Karen Baker
Lindsay Amrhein
Dana Joy
Marcie Sharp
Megan Hoeppner
Alicia Thelin
Asia King
Debbie Seyer
Yvonne Van De Grijp
Tenia Nelson
Michelle Woerner
Christina Griffiths
Lori McAree
Barbara Anders
Jill Hawkins
Veronica Zalis
Leigh Penner
Margie Higuchi
Amy Coose
Melody Rupple
Karen Letchworth
Heidi Ramsey Blankenship
Jennie Harper
Jodi Collins
Jessica Frost-Ballas
Gracie Chavez
Stephanie Klauck
Savannah OíGwynn
Terre Fry
Neva Cole
Maria Levine
Misti Oblander
Ceal Pritchett

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[11.10.16] Unity Thursday

Happy THURSDAY! It is an evening and weekend of 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. I have a bunch of projects to share with you.

FIRST, I have this darling little card using a BRAND NEW kit released for BROWN THURSDAY (Unity’s version of Black Friday)… I Tolerate You.

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 I Tolerate You is all about this cute little bear and his bunny pal. Still perfect for holiday/winter cards, infact, I think I’ll do this one again and use a Happy Holidays sentiment from Believe in the Magic. That is what I love about Unity, so easy to mix and match images and sentiments from all the kits.

Anyhoo, for this card, I broke out my patterned papers and paper pieced my heart out on the little bear and bunny. This card feels like I’m visiting an old friend. I’ve done so much coloring with watercolors or markers lately that paper piecing was such a treat. I used to do it all the time and realized how much I miss it. I’ve die cut all the rectangles, layered them up, popped up the bear & bunny and finished it off with a bow. Super sweet and super simple to put together.

Next up, we have this pretty one. I love how the background looks like the Northern Lights.

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A Joyous Season

A Joyous Season

Something about the little deer in this stamp set made me want to create this colorful background setting. I thought it would make for a beautiful and unique holiday card.

The combination of pink, blue and a bit of mint blended perfectly into a bright watercolor background that I also splattered some white ink onto once it was dry. It made for just the perfect magical scene I was hoping would happen.

 

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Here is a quick video to share my process in creating this colorful Northern Lights background.

 

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dahlhouse-designs-10-2016-joyous-season-1Now, I couldn’t ignore those beautiful trees and snowflakes also available in A Joyous Season. They had to have a beautiful background of their own too.

This time, I used plain old watercolors and an aquabrush to create a soft winter-ish background in blues, purples and a bit of blueish-green. Here’s a trick, cover it with vellum and your painting doesn’t have to be perfect, just vibrant enough to show through. I love the softening effect the vellum adds to the card. What do you think?

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Here is a quick video to share my process in creating this watercolor winter background.

 

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Mister & Missus Fox

Mister & Missus Fox

Say hello to Mister & Missus Fox… aren’t they adorable!?! Say yes, please. Because I just couldn’t stand it if you didn’t.

Now, I have some more practice to do with watercoloring. I’m more confident with backgrounds and techniques when it comes to watercolors. Detail work and images are SO much harder. But it takes practice and that is just what I’m gonna do. Normally, I’d grab my Copic markers for this type of image, but I’m happy with how it turned out.  And these too are too cute for it to go bad, right?

That is all from me today.

** COMMENT PRIZE **
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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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{Bear} To Be



Northern Lights card



Joyous Season card



Mister & Missus Fox card


[5.26.16] Unity Thursday

Time for some more THURSDAY 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.

I have LOTS to share from this month’s creative adventures… let’s get rollin’.

dahlhouse designs | 5.2016 mother IMG_5960First, I have this Mother’s Day card made for my mother.  I’m using the Mama’s & Grandma’s sentiment kit from April.  I love that this kit has SO many different verses and saying that you’ll be using this kit over and over again.

I pulled out an oldie but a goodie paper pad True Love by Basic Grey.  It has all my favorite colors… rose, pink, mint and teal.  I’m going to be really sad when this paper is all gone.  I stamped the lovely flower and then colored with Copic markers.  It didn’t take long, this floral design is very forgiving and doesn’t require attention to detail.  I layered everything up and tied it off with a pretty bow.

dahlhouse designs | 5.2016 pineapple

This pineapple from the stamp of the week Summer Citrus just makes me SMILE!  We recently came back from a trip to Maui, Hawaii and this little pineapple kept my island happiness alive and well.  He is super cool with is sunglasses.  I colored the stamp with Copics again, added some glossy accents to the sunglasses and added a sentiment from the So Glad You Were Born sentiment kit.  I had LOTS of birthdays in April/May and this one went off to my brother-in-law in Florida.  Fitting, yes?dahlhouse designs | 5.2016 magical fairytale 1

dahlhouse designs | 5.2016 magical fairytale

Let the wedding season begin!  A dear friend of the family, married his beautiful bride over the weekend.  It was a lovely outdoor wedding, followed by a fun night of laughing, eating and dancing in a barn.  Good times my friends, it is what life and love is all about.

I brought out two of my favorite Unity sets to create this watercolored card.  The flowers are from Big Summertime Bouquet and the sayings from Love is a Magical Thing.  I used my MISTI to position all the flowers in a frame around the sentiment on watercolor paper and then painted away.  After it dried, I added some black ink spatters, just because I love the look. Since there is so much going on with all the watercolored flowers, I decided to keep this card super simple with just a black scalloped mat.  I also created a little gift holder for the inside of the card and decorated it with some more stamps from the set.

We have finally reached the end of my projects.  Don’t forget about the hoppin’ prize.

 

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[4.28.16] Unity Thursday

Time for some more THURSDAY fun with the Unity design team.  If you haven’t been hopping along, all the action starts on the Unity blog.  I’m sharing some of my favorite cards from April today.

 

 

I went crazy with the Copics this month.  I had a coloring sesh.  True story, I was just about done coloring the owl’s little heart when my dog walked by and her tail hit my paper.  It caused my paper to move and a lovely red line across his belly. UGH!  I about cried (ok, maybe I didn’t cry, but I did curse, a lot!).  I spent a LONG time coloring him and just couldn’t do it again.  So, I took a deep breath and went on with finishing the background and flower.  Maybe I can fix it.  I decided it wouldn’t hurt to try and fix his belly and maybe I can “push” that red line into the paper and cover it up with some more brown.  I used a lot of the lightest brown to push the red down, let it dry in between and as soon as it “disappeared”, I recolored his belly again.  Can you believe that it worked?  I couldn’t.  He belly was actually around the color of his eyes before I started the cover up, so it did take a bit of working but it was fixable.  I almost tossed it away!  I hope if you find yourself in the same situation, you give it a shot before you toss.

The other two were colored without a hitch.  I don’t think I could have handled another mishap, even though I still remained on the couch in the danger zone to finish my coloring.  Ha.

** COMMENT PRIZE **
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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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