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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[2.2.17] Unity Thursday

Happy Thursday Friends.

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.

We have LOTS and LOTS of brand new stamp sets releasing this week… AngieGirls and Phyllis Harris. They are all so amazing. I have 3 fun projects (with videos) to share today from the NEW ones releasing this week.

This dog stole my heart. I just want to hug him and cuddle all day. He needed a fun happy background, so I turned to my Distress Inks to do just that. Before I had all sorts of fancy tools, I would make due with what I had. Usually, I’d use a Tim Holtz Blending Tool for backgrounds like this, but you know what works just as well… baby wipes. Yep, good old baby wipes. I used my finger to blend each ink color onto watercolor paper using a baby wipe. It does a grand job. I added some water splatters, let it sit for a bit and then removed the water and some ink with the baby wipe. That creates the water drop effect. At the end, I splattered on some white ink spray and used my heat tool to make sure it dried completely before completing my card.

I colored the little puppy with Copic Markers, fussy cut him out and then popped up the sentiment and my furry little friend over the blended background.

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

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Look at these two cutie pies thru that little heart shaped window. Just like a little picture. I colored the image with Copic markers and placed it inside the card. Then, I die cut a heart window out of the front of the card and the popped up striped panel. Lots of dimension in this little card. Last, I tied a tag to the front with the sweet smooches and hugs sentiment.

I have a quick video below on how I used my die cuts to create this card. You can watch it here or at Youtube.

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Last, we have this darling little girl with her ducky. Don’t you just want to go splash in the puddles with them. I sure do. I colored the image with Copics and popped it up after I created the cute scalloped borders underneath. Those scallops are super easy, just punch 1 inch circles and glue them down in a row. I love how they look and so fun with all the different patterns.

I have one more quick video below on how I made those sweet scallops. You can watch it here or at Youtube.

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Missing You Card


Smooches Card


Friends Card


[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.

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{Bear} To Be



Northern Lights card



Joyous Season card



Mister & Missus Fox card


[4.3.16] Assemble This! Sketch No. 3

Happy April friends… time to play with a new Assemble This Sketch.  It’s a pretty one and I’ll hope it will spark lots of inspiration.

dahlhouse designs | assemble this sketch no. 3

Lots of options again.  Something circular in the center… layered or not layered.  Up to you.  Then something on half of the card in the background.  I’m thinking either patterned paper, a background stamp or dry embossing.  These are just a few things that popped into my head.  Shall we see what happened?

dahlhouse designs | 11.2015 full circle 1

I decided to go for the gold with this sketch.  I’ve had this DCWV paper pad forever and I’m bound and determined to make some cards with it.  I created the split background with two different patterned papers and then layered my sentiment over the paper doily.  So easy peasy.

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Ready to see my gold embossing in action.  Here is the Assemble This! video, you can also watch it on YouTube HERE as well. I’m keeping them short and sweet and under 2 minutes.  No jibber jabber, just creativity in action.  Hope you enjoy.

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Add your link below…  I’d love for you to share with me if you use the sketch and if you want to visit each other too. That would be fun.  I’ll close the link up at the end of the month so we can get prepared for a new one next month.

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Thanks for stopping by and I hope you’ll be inspired to Assemble This Sketch too!

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[3.6.2016] Assemble This! Sketch No. 2

Assemble This! Sketch No. 2

Ok, so were did February go?  I did not intend to go so long before the next sketch.  Yikes, the whole month got away from me.  So let’s kick March off with a bang and a sketch.

dahlhouse designs | assemble this sketch no. 2

This sketch is so full of possibility.  I’m just giving you the basic layers.  That big, white open box could be filled with so much or nothing at all.  That intrigues me with what you come up with.  You have free reign on sentiment placement.  It could be in that box, below the layers, popped up in tag or some amazing die cut.  It would be interesting to flip on its side too.  Hmmmm, I may have to play with this one again.  Lol.

dahlhouse designs | 2.2016 lovely day

Lookin’ Foxy

I went pretty straight forward and filled that box with stamped images.  I had this adorable fox to play with.  He is stamped on watercolor paper and then I used my basic watercolor set to color him in.  At the end, I decided to go over him with a black pen to help the details of the stamp pop.  The texture of the watercolor paper muted the outline.

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Ready to see this sketch in action.  Here is the Assemble This! video, you can also watch it on YouTube HERE as well. I’m keeping them short and sweet and under 2 minutes.  No jibber jabber, just creativity in action.  Hope you enjoy.

If you are interested in watching me watercolor, this is my process on how I colored the stamped image as well. It is much longer, but coloring takes a long time and it is hard to edit down.  You can also watch it on YouTube HERE as well.

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Thanks for stopping by and I hope you’ll be inspired to Assemble This Sketch too!  I decided to bring the link up back. I’d love for you to share with me if you use the sketch and if you want to visit each other too.  That would be fun.  I’ll close the link up at the end of the month so we can get prepared for a new one in April.

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