crazy for coloring!

yes, that's the name of the new challenge from shopping our stash, so break out your favorite coloring media --markers, pens, pencils, gelatos, or all of the above-- and get going! personally, i'm more often crazy *FROM* coloring, because realistic shading is one of my weakest attributes. so even a few small images (like those below) take me several hours to complete. i should probably practice more... ah well... i'm pretty happy with the results this time:

polynesian paradis stamp set: my favorite things; colored with tombow dualbrush pens and prismacolor pencils; sandcastle, seashell and flamingo brads: eyelet outlet; sentiment sticker: crate paper; patterned paper (mostly scraps): echo park, amy tangerine/american crafts, scenic route, basic grey; plain white cardstock: staples; adhesives: elmers brand gluetape, 3m foam tape

my usual coloring method is to do a "base coat" with my tombows, then add shading, blending and highlights with prismacolor pencils. and that's what i've done here. i thought about painting a beach background again. as you know, i LOVE painting beach backgrounds. but having just done that last week, i thought i'd change it up and paper piece the background instead. which let me use up a bunch of seriously old paper scraps... very much in the SOS spirit there! i couldn't resist a few eyelet outlet brads in the foreground either. the beachy ones are some of my faves. 

i haven't linked up with retrorubber in a bit, and probably getting back into the habit would help me stamp and color more confidently, right? their current challenge is "anything goes" so i'm cool on that score. you also need to use stamps more than a year old, which is perfect, because i know that this adorable mft hula girl was a birthday present from stephanie last june.

as adorable as the girl is, my favorite stamp in this set is the chameleon. he could probably be my spirit animal, one of the few creatures on earth who loves COLOR as much as i do, lol! originally my plan was to place him on the lower righthand side, where the brads are. but somehow, as i was applying foam tape to the back of the heart, i managed to get a big black smudge up towards the top. so a hasty chameleon relocation operation took place at the last minute. (shhhhhhhh don't tell, k?!)

there's loads more inspiration awaiting you at SOS, where my design team darlings have gone all out. i know you don't want to miss it, so off you go! ♥