Craft for the Craic Challenge : Die-ing for Spring (use a die cut) or an Easter theme

This month at Craft for the Craic  the challenge is 'Die-ing for Spring (use a die cut) or an Easter theme. 

As I'm a huge fan of my die cut machine this was an easy choice and heres my creation.

You know those scraps of paper that we all keep, in the hope that 'someday' we will find a use for them . This is a great way of using them up. That said, I do know that the die cut machines are usually expensive, the dies also, I agonised for months before I finally parted with a large chunk of cash on the one suited me.  I love mine and find it very versatile If you are considering one, its worth doing a bit of research first.  

For the tree trunk - I diecut the 'peep-hole' out of piece of brown card and then I embossed it, to give the bark effect. The leaves I had fun with, I found an old travel brochure and thought the cover of it would be a suitable shade for the leaves.  Using a die a number of leaves were cut, I shaped them my by running them over a bone folder (that curls them slightl)  then to add a little more texture again using the bone folder I veins were added. I stamped the little badger twice, coloured him and then layered him up- so it looks like he is shyly peering out of the tree trunk.  

The fox again was created from a die and scraps of varying shades of brown card. Although some his parts are tiny and fiddley - they are worth the effort. I did cheat by drawing his eyes. The flower was cut, I used water colour markers to add a bit of shading to the edge of the petals. Using foam pads, he was layered up.

 Before sticking it all down - I arranged the individual parts on the card, Once happy with the layout, I removed the bits, Coloured the background with pan pastels, then using glue and foam pads- it was all stuck in place

Hope you like the finished article, as always thanks for dropping by. Please do go and vist the 

Craft for the Craic blog to see what the other team members have created