All about Apertures for the Simply Sweet Poppy Challenge .........

Happy Easter Monday .......

I hope you're having a lovely long weekend.  The sun is shining, we had a nice family get together yesterday and, so far I've managed not to eat my bodyweight in chocolate but, that may all change today!!  Well, it is Easter!

This month's Simply Sweet Poppy Stencils Facebook Challenge is well underway.  The theme for April is ........ All about Apertures. 

When we say 'aperture' we don't mean all that complicated photography stuff, what we're looking for this month is ......... a nice definite open space, or the look of a gap, or a hole that something can be seen through, whether that be a stenciled shape in the background or maybe an actual hole cut into your card with something behind it.  Does that make sense? ..... I hope so. 

Sweet Poppy have a fabulous collection of aperture stencils ........ a whole range of shapes, perfect for creating that open space on your cards.   

Here's a few ideas for you, and my take on this month's challenge ..........

This is using the pretty Blooms Apreture Circle stencil, released last month from Sweet Poppy, with one of the brand new designs launching on the TV next week ......... more about those in a few days.

I simply inked through the stencil with Distress Inks, making sure to take the ink over the open circle in the centre, fading it out as I got to the middle

I then used the gorgeous new Guardian stencil, designed by Tracey Dutton from Lavinia.   She's a beautiful tall, standing fairy, but I didn't want the bottom part of her to show, I wanted to make it look like she was coming through the floral circle (through the 'aperture') so with a bit of masking tape in place so that I didn't ink her legs, I placed the stencil over the Blooms circle and used a Black Versafine Clair ink

A touch of sparkle onto her wings ........ a sentiment, ink splatters and a few dots of glitter glue to finish.

Another pretty circle aperture stencil is the Lace design .........

Used just like before, to create the look of an aperture in the background ...... taking a little of the ink onto the open centre circle

This time, no masking, I just stenciled my image directly over the top .....

How about using your aperture stencils in a different way ....... 

Same stencil as before only this time I only used half of it, to create a cute little rainbow .......

Another way to create an aperture in your cards is to cut an actual hole ........

For this one I used the Sweet Poppy Sunburst stencil.  Distress inks again through the whole of the design, then I acually used a die to cut out the centre

I stamped my sentiment on the die cut circle, attached that onto my card front and then used foam pads to attach the sunburst  over the top adding dimension.

I used another die to cut a frame, coloured that with Distress inks, and attached that around the sentiment ...... simple but very effective.

Just before I go, remember this ........ another fun way to use of one of the aperture stencils .......

Use the Tall Triangle to make a Christmas Tree ....... how cute is that!

There's still plenty of time to join in with the challenge.  Go on ....... follow the simple rules, create something fabulous, and you never know, you could be the next winner of the massive £40 voucher to spend on Sweet Poppy goodies .......

Thanks for popping by ...... enjoy the rest of your day.

Cheerio until next time .......