Black and White with a splash of Red!

Good Morning Crafty Friends!  Recently I went to a friend's SU card class, and she had a card layout design similar to this (I think she saw the idea on Pinterest, so I have no idea who to give credit to for the original layout design), and I immediately knew I wanted to try the same idea in black and white with a splash of red using my new Flower Shop set.  I also have been anxious to try using my new Expressions thinlits dies.  They might seem intimidating to use at first, but there are several tricks I've tried that make them pop out easily.  First, put wax paper between your die and the paper you're trying to cut, secondly, use a little card stock shim on top of your top cutting pad to make the sandwich a little tighter.  Thirdly, after you've cranked it through, roll it backwards back through the machine a second (or even third) time to make sure it has cut through well.  When you pull it out, you should see a little corner or two popping out -- get a grip on it and gently pull it out of the die -- or use a paper piercing tool to poke gently through the little holes on the back of the die to help your expression to pop out.  You can also put the multipurpous adhesive sheets on the back of your paper before cutting your work, so you can easily "peel and stick" your word.  A xyron sticker maker also works great.  Anyways, I can see myself using these a lot.  AND I love that the "love" word can be used for other stuff than just Valentines or anniversary -- would make a great title "love you" for a scrap book layout -- and the "thankful" word will be a great title "thankful for you" for a fall themed layout as well as thanksgiving cards or whatever.  Ok, on with the card...

I also broke out my finishing touches edgelits to edge the red cardstock.  I LOVE how easy these are to use now with the magnetic platform!  I'll admit, the edgelits used to make me so frustrated that they mostly just stayed on my shelf.  Now, I just pull out my magnetic platform and my paper doesn't slide anywhere when I go to cut.  SO AWESOME!!!!

Other products used on this card, are the Flower Shop stamp set and matching pansy punch, labels framelits, fancy fan embossing folder, basic pearls, Itty Bitty shapes punch pack, Polka Dots DSP pack, Real Red, Basic Black, and Whisper White card stock.

Happy Sunday to each of you!