Aperture cards are quite handy and they’re certainly great for a quick finish, but… creatively speaking, erm, they don’t score that high, do they! And it doesn’t even take that long to be just a little bit more creative – see for yourself! I will show you in later posts ways to be even more creative with your cards. This one is the basic tutorial, the starting point, which will only take you minutes to finish, and which will make a huge difference to what your card looks like.

You’ll need:

• your stitched design
• 1 plain card (bigger than your stitched design)
• white felt (just a bit bigger than your stitched design)
• matching ribbon (twice the height of your card)
• clear acid-free glue
• double-sided tape

Ready?

1. Iron your stitched design on the reverse (here’s how to, if there are beads on it), and trim it 4 stitches (that’s 8 strands of linen) away  from the edge of the pattern (here’s how to make sure you trim it straight):

2. Pull-out strands of fabric over the outer 2 stitches (that’s 4 strands of linen) to create a frayed border all around the design.

3. Trim the felt to the same size as the stitched design (or just a bit bigger, if you have lots of space on the card and you want it to show)

4. Glue (be sure to use acid-free glue!!) the stitched design to the felt. To avoid the glue from showing through the fabric, only apply it to the back of the stitched areas, avoiding unstitched linen.

5. Position the felt collage where you want it on the card, and work out where you want the ribbon to be placed, wrapping it around the front flap of the card. (Here, I decided to centre it with the golden frame. As a general rule, I think it works much better if the ribbon isn’t centered on the card itself.)

6. When you’re satisfied, remove the felt collage and apply a little double-sided tape to keep both ends of the ribbon in place – aim for them to be hidden behind the stitched design, once finished 😉

7. And now you can glue the felt collage to the card!

A few design ideas you may like, for which this method works really well: