Hi there and welcome to a simple post with a quick history lesson! Recently, I received a few dies in the mail courtesy of Spellbinders. One of these was a cute “Dala horse.” I have seen Dala horses here and there in the past, but have known very little about them. I was intrigued by their design and decided to Google their history.

The Dala Horse is an authentic symbol of Sweden. Horses arrived in Sweden some 4000 years ago as a symbol of strength and courage, and were regarded highly. Men and children learned to carve small wooden horses and it became valuable income to poorer families. The simple horses were painted brightly inspired by patterns and furniture of the central Sweden, Dalarna, region. The design became popular world wide at the 1939 New York World Exhibition where a giant Dala horse caused a sensation outside of the Swedish pavilion. Twenty thousand Dala horses were shipped to the New York area in the year following the exhibition, hence the Swedish Dala horse emerged as a symbol for Sweden (theswedishwoodenhorse.com).

Once pieced, mat again with red and adhere to A2 folded card base. Pop any matting layer with dimensional adhesive to create more drama with this simple card. Heat emboss gold glitter sentiment. This sentiment is from the Concord and 9th Eat Cake and Celebrate set, but it appears to now be retired. Many sentiments would work beautifully with the elegance of the Dala horse. In fact, you could easily assemble all of the remaining die cut pieces to create a total of 4 cards in different color orders. Add shimmer pen and sequins as desired.

Thank you for spending a few minutes with me today. I hope you have an enjoyable weekend. I’m off to bask in delight with all of my children under one roof for the weekend! See you soon.

xo, Janette

I’ll always do my best to link you to shops with products in stock. As you know, inventory levels are always fluctuating and therefore may not be available. Please use the retailer notification buttons to let them know you want more!