Poppystamps Watercolor Prairie Thistle

Do you love die cuts? Yes Please! No need to ask me twice! I love the clean lines and intricate designs. And NOPE! You can NEVER have TOO MANY! If you're a fan of Poppystamps (their parent company is Memory Box!) .. then you need to check this!! Did you know they have a monthly challenge? You can link up your projects to win EVEN MORE YUMMY dies to add to your collection. The theme this month is Spring Fling and you can get all the details here... at the Poppystamps Blog!

I'm excited by all the signs of Spring everywhere! Finally I'm seeing some peeks of green and can hardly wait to see all the flowers my fall bulb planting will bring! I made a quick watercolor card for you today!

I started with a watercolor panel created with Peerless Watercolors. They are my favorite brand to use. The colors blend seamlessly and the colors are always bright and vivid. I chose pink, orange and yellow for my background. I die cut the panel with the Memory Box Open Studio Stitched Rectangle Layers Die. The clean die cut edges and bit of faux stitching around the edges give this a clean and professional look. The watercolor paper I used is Canson XL 140 Lb. Cold Press. I made my card base from the same paper so the colors would match perfectly. I attached craft foam to the back of my watercolor panel to add a little dimension. It adds more support than just using adhesive foam squares because you can cut it to size to cover the entire panel.
Next.. the fun part - adding your die cuts. This technique looks best when you use an intricate die with lots of open spaces. The Prairie Thistle is perfect! For a simple sentiment I die cut "spring" from the Freehand Happy Spring Die set. If you look close you'll see that it's layered. I cut the die 3 x's from watercolor paper, and once from gold foil. I adhered them together to make one tall stack.

I used a butterfly from the Hampstead Butterfly Stem to "dot" my "i". A few extra butterflies cut from gold foil has to be good right?

I love all the bright colors and how they melt together. Candy for my eyes!! 

Spring has Sprung! If you're working on some Spring creations of your own why not link them up to our challenge? You can always find it by clicking on the "challenge" tab at the top of the Poppystamps Blog header! It's a fun place to see what other folks are making with their Poppystamps dies and a chance for you to win some dies to add to your collection!  I hope you'll join us!!

Finished Size 4.25 x 5.5"

Poppystamps | Prairie Thistle |  Freehand Happy Spring | Hampstead Butterfly Stem | Memory Box | Open Studio | Stitched Rectangle Layers 

Peerless Watercolors

Sequins