Sammy Squirrel and the Copic Adventure

As many of my "faithful" blog readers know, I just entered Copic-land, the world of beautiful alcohol based markers...and I read blogs and tips and studied other people's work, scribbling down notes like I was in college for crying out loud! What no one MENTIONED was the bleed through factor these markers have...and I'm not talking about bleeding through the back of the paper, I mean COLORING OUTSIDE THE LINES! OH THE HORROR! Kindergarten teachers shuddering in their shoes everywhere...LOL...
This is my 3rd Sammy Squirrel (I Luvah him..isn't he sooooo cute?!), where I didn't color outside most of the lines...LOL...I still have a bobble here and there, but I'm NOT telling where! I did discover that the blending pen is not an eraser (bummer), but a really cool tool for lifting SOME color out and spreading and well...duh...blending ('magine that?!). Once I FINALLY got the hang of these markers I just REALLY love them...and thank goodness Sammy was patient and wanted to look his best...he was a labor of love... However I THINK I'VE got the HANG of it NOW...watch out world! LOL
A few months back I was browsing Split Coast Stampers forum (don't remember which) and came across a post that was asking stampers what they thought about digital stamps, I put in my own .02 (I Love them...I mean how often do you get to RESIZE your stamp...like never! LOL) and made a mental note to keep an eye out for the owner because I like the style of the digital stamps she presented...fast forward a couple of months later and I joined the Creatively Cute Blogging Group and who do I recognize as one of the blogging members but the same owner...talk about coincidence...and now she's got a call out for a new design team...so below is my entry for DIGITAL STAMP OASIS (now check them out, if you like Sammy here, you'll love the REST of her images...they are soooo adorable!)
So let's chat(ter) about the my design team entry (I know, like I'd never stop chattering myself...LOL). Ellie (owner of Digital Stamp Oasis) has given us a sketch to work off of, so I went from there. First, I printed Sammy off on my printer and did something I usually don't do...I colored before I chose my papers, although I DID have something in mind, but when I was finished it wasn't working, so I went with simple colors (no dp). I then decided after he was colored and mounted that I needed another strawberry, now here's where digital stamps REALLY rock, I enlarged the image and printed it out...noticed my strawberry in the corner is the SAME strawberry next to Sammy's right knee... I then colored it, ran it through my Xyron, mounted it on cardstock for stability and cut it out...I then pop dotted it TWICE so it was further off the card than the paper curls. My paper curls are 1/8" strips of paper (8 1/2") and then I curled them using a colored pencil as the base, I wanted this to look kind of like an actual strawberry plant, that's what I was after any way. I added Martha Stewart leaf punchies and stickled the leaves and the strawberry. At the bottom of the card I added queen and co flowers with red rhinestones on top. Sorry I was so long winded today...recipe below as usual...

Stamp: Sammy Squirrel from Digital Stamp Oasis

Copics: C3, YG06, YG03, YG11, R29, R20, RV10, B00

Punch: Martha Stewart Leaves

Embossing: Cuttlebug Swirls

Other: Queen & Co. flowers, Red Rhinestones, Stickles