Craft Stamper Aperture Card

I first heard the word “aperture” used in crafting many many many years ago, when I first started coming from the States to the UK to teach and do television. In the US, we just call it a “window” but “aperture” does sound a bit more impressive.

Anyway, this week’s challenge from Craft Stamper magazine is all about taking a twist on the aperture card done by Helen Chilton for the May 2013 issue.

I can’t show Helen’s entire card but can show a little peek so you can see her aperture/window:

Our challenge was to create a card with a torn frame. Helen used double-sided paper and cut an oval, but I opted to stamp the reverse side of my pink cardstock and cut a square.

(Have you ever made a project that was absolutely not your style? This card is so not-me, that I love it.)

Here’s how I made it:

1.Ink the edges and skim the surface of the slide mount with black ink.

2. Cut a 10cmx13cm piece of pink card. Tear the bottom edge. Place it face down and position the slide mount in the center toward the top, then trace around the outside edge with a pencil. Remove the slide mount, then stamp the back of the cardstock with a variety of stamps from the Paper Artsy set. Don’t worry about making it perfect—this will only show on the areas of the aperture that are rolled back.

3. Place the card on a cutting mat and cut an “x” from corner to corner of the traced square. (It doesn’t have to be perfectly cut, just go from one corner to the other.)

4. Turn the cardstock piece over and use the pencil to roll the resulting triangles back. Apply white paint at the bottom of the frame.

5. Draw a heart on a piece of book paper and cut out. Cover with Diamond Glaze, then sprinkle with glitter glass. Let dry, then glue onto a piece of mica, then frame with the slide mount.

6. Stamp “reflections” on the white painted area of the pink cardstock. Tear the tips of the rolled-back flaps. Edge the pink cardstock and the torn window with gold pen. Wrap with gold embroidery thread and apply Diamond Glaze to the torn bottom edge, then add glass glitter.

7. Glue the heart-mica-slide mount sandwich to the front of the card. Attach the pink cardstock so the aperture fits over the heart.

Here’s the card again:

Materials:

– Paper Artsy stamps (ESN07)

– Black Archival ink (Ranger)

– Mica

– Diamond Glaze (Judikins)

– Slide mount frame (mine is 7cm square)

– Craft knife, cutting mat

– Gold thread

– Gold pen

– White acrylic paint

– Book paper

– Card: Black, pink

– Gold glitter glass

– Pencil

As mentioned, this challenge was through Craft Stamper magazine. This is a UK magazine but you can find it in some stamp/art supply/chain book stores in the US and Europe. I have a subscription and got one for my mother in the States; yes, an international subscription is pricey but totally worth it. The projects tend to be artsy/collage-y designs which I love but the real kicker is that they all have complete instructions…so you can choose to recreate the projects or simply take inspiration from them.

Happy Friday!