Happy Spring Banner

This project post is a part of a paid marketing campaign with Snap. Although this post is sponsored the project idea and all opinions expressed are my own.

If you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen that I recently got some super exciting happy mail – a sampling of the super fun Amy Tangerine Plus One paper craft collection (the top-selling signature line of Winter 2014 that was so awesome it sold out pretty much everywhere). Just look at this box of happy:

Yeah, there’s some good stuff in there. This collection has lots of fun bundles including a basic kit, an embroidery kit, an embellishment kit, a stamping kit, and the sold out Project Life mini kit (which will be available at a discounted rate starting March 24 at HSN). Right away, I was drawn to these fantastic embroidery stencils:

I have always loved the look of embroidery and needlework on paper. And this kit was just so handy with the little mat to lay beneath your work and the piecing tool. I just couldn’t wait to try them out, and since it is now officially Spring, I decided to make a little Springy banner.

I started off by painting some pinky-peachy washes on watercolor paper to be the base of my letters.

When my watercolors were dry, I used the stencil to pierce the shapes into my paper.

I tried to place my letters on parts of the watercolor that had interesting color variation or texture. I stitched the letters using a back stitch. Embroidering into a thick paper like this is really easy and fun. It reminds me of the lacing cards I did as a kid. This is perfect for keeping your hands busy when you’re watching trashy reality TV or whatever your thing is.

I used little pieces of the adorable super thin washi tape to secure the ends of my embroidery floss on the back of the letter.

And then, to make sure everything stayed stitched and looked pretty from the back, I glued some of the pretty paper from the collection on the back of each letter and attached it to some baker’s twine with that cute washi tape.

Then all that was left to do was hang it up on my faux shell wall hanging with a few other Springy touches.

I really love the way the white embroidery looks against the watercolor background – soft and pastel and perfect for Spring. And if you want to make your own and try out these fun embroidery stencils, hop on over to HSN to pick up one of the five bundles (starting at under twenty buckeroos!).

Happy Spring, friends!

I’ll be linking up at some of my favorite parties.