Birthday Boy

This was a case of starting with an occasion (a toddler's birthday), finding a stamp set I thought he would enjoy (Boatloads of Love), and then letting everything else fall into place! I wanted to use my Copics, I wanted to use my white gel pen ( I really admire coloured images I've seen where the artist has highlighted with a gel pen; it makes the image so cheerful somehow!), and I wanted the card to work for a boy.

First I stamped the 2 images (the boat and the lifeboat) on Whisper White with Memento Tuxedo Black ink. I coloured the images using these Copics and a white gel pen:
Then I cut out the images. Here's the part where I was a little stumped. I find it hard to ground these images because of the wavy bottom. Suddenly I remembered this tutorial over at Splitcoaststampers.com, and inspiration was born! I think this must be the easiest card (apart from a straightforward one) there is to make.

I used a Hero Arts alphabet stamp set and Real Red ink to stamp out the birthday greeting. Circle punches and a Brilliant Blue marker took care of the rest!