(In)Decent Proposal?
Stamps: Owls, Tree, "Let's get together" all by A Muse Artstamps
Paper: French Blue note card, Fern, Bark paper by A Muse
Ink: Colorbox Fluid Chalk In Olive Pastel by Clearsnap, Brilliance Graphite Black by Tsukineko
Coloring Tools: Koh-I-Noor Woodless Colored Pencils (Pure Color), Copic Markers in Pale Cherry Pink, Barely Beige and Sand, Honey (Sand, Pale Olive, and Yellow Green used on branch, Pale Sepia used to create Tree Trunk)
Other: Oval Punch by SU!, Foam Mounting Adhesive
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I've had this idea in my head for weeks--mebbe even months! OMG. Months. Isn't that awful? To have an idea that long in your head, waiting to be made real? ACK! That is a most wicked kind of torture, I tell ya'. So, it was nothing more than grilled cheese for dinner tonight, so I could carve out a few scant and precious minutes to commit the delusion of brilliance in my head down onto paper.
The startled look on the one owl gets me giggling every single time! Nina, ya' KILL me girl! Love 'em!
In my head, the scene called for the owls to be in a tree. Only problem was, we don't have a tree that even comes close in scale. But, by jove, methinks the Muse graced me this time! Not half bad for a girl who can't draw much more than stick-figures, eh?! 
But, then, I needed a "canopy" of leaves . . . After a minute of thought, I realized Tree would do the job right nicely. 
I colored the owls with a combination of Koh-I-Noor colored pencils and Copics! Linda turned me on to these a year or so ago, and I love 'em--they lay down color like buttah! They're woodless; in other words, they're pure color leads, without a wooden casing. Sweet!
I started messing around last Fall with the Copics and the KINs, after learning that graphic artists have combined Copics and colored pencils together for years. By golly, what a good mix!
BTW, I did an article on this for Stampington Take Ten Summer which, is now finally out on the racks. I was surprised that the written info I'd sent wasn't included with the step outs, that showed the coloring progression, but, I can show something similar here:
For this design, I focused on using 3 markers for "base"color, and blending, and used the colored pencils for shading and texture.
I laid down the lightest colors of Copic first, and really, you don't have to worry about filling the image in--leave some white area without worry for this particular technique.
Next, I laid down colored pencil in deeper tones where I wanted to create shading and depth.
The last step was to come back with the Copics I had originally used when laying down "base" color, and blend the colored pencils and Copics together.
The results are quite awesome--almost resemble watercolor! And, the best thing about it is that you can go over the same area repeatedly, re-working the color, but, you'll never pill the card stock.
With water-based mediums, you have to use watercolor paper as the water will break down the paper fibers of card stock pretty rapidly and cause what is referred to as "pilling".
Now, the branch is very narrow; I just colored those in with the markers as there really isn't enough room for glorified "shading", and whatnot, savvy?
I love using Copic Honey on things like beaks and birds feet (Or "talons"? Sounds good, anyway!)--it's a warm orange-y yellow color--almost "mango" in tone.
Coloring is so therapeutic--Kindergarten for grown-ups, I guess?! *chuckle*
Disclaimer: Is this the way you're s'posed to do it? No idea; don't care. I just know that I LIKEY. 
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Here's a detail shot . . .
And, here's what I wrote inside . . . which is something Dave would probably say to my "proposal"! Hah!
Yeah. Totally sumpin' he would say . . . *chuckle*
<---Uh huh. That's me, arms wrapped 'round self, chortling gleefully over my sheer brilliance. *wink*
ETA: OH, MYLANTA!!! I totally forgot--I think this qualified for the current Dirty Dozen Alumni Challenge--to check out everybody's owl designs CLICK!!! They're so awesome!
Her classmates gave her a standing "O". 
So jazzed to share that I'll be teaching
