Another Make It Monday - Selective Inking (TOP SECRET Birthday Card!)

I did another card for this week's Make It Monday Challenge, but shhhhhhhhh this is highly top secret since this card is for Tyler's birthday which is still nearly 2 months away! I didn't set out to make his birthday card, I just wanted to play with my new Train Tracks stamps and dies. But as the idea for the card came together, I just LOVED it so much that I decided to make it for Tyler!

The selective inking is on the "happy birthday" sentiment from Make A Wish, so that I could "balance" the sentiment on the train's crate cargo by splitting up the two words. I added the image from Ribbon Tails to create the "track" for the train, after inking it with black ink but then stamping it off once for a lighter, distressed effect. I used the "8" from Outline Alphabet, and colored it (along with the train cars, smoke puffs, and crates) with Copics.

The train is popped up on foam, of course. :) After completing the front panel, I felt that it was too "bottom heavy" and needed something for balance, to I reached for my Tiny Tags, and added a couple of sweet little sentiments. The circle tag is stamped with a Bitty Background Blocks image, and the star with the coordinating image from Tiny Tags.

Thanks for looking!