Autumn card: Hedgehog on leaves

What:

This cute little hedgehog with his pumpkin is the image for Gerda Steiner’s October challenge.

How:

The trickiest part of this monthly challenge is deciding what to do with the digital stamp. It would be relatively easy to print it out, colour it, die cut a circle or square around it, and mount it over some patterned paper on a card base, but I like to try and come up with something different if I can. And I’m rubbish at arranging patterned paper backgrounds…

So, after letting my brain ponder the problem for a few days, I came up with the idea of having the hedgehog sitting on a pile of leaves. The first thing I had to do was create some digi leaves to go with the digi hedgehog and then arrange them into a pile for him to sit on.

Once I was happy with the scene, I printed it out and coloured it with Copic markers. I had a search to see what Copics people used for hedgehogs and found a tutorial on colouring Penny Black hedgehogs by Kathy Racoosin; I used that as a starting point for colouring my critter. I used a selection of different reds, yellows and browns to create a pile of autumn leaves.

I had intended to make this a one-layer card, but then I dropped a marker and left a very obvious splurge on the card. It’s a good job I find fussy cutting satisfying 🙂

For the background I took two pale colours of Distress ink and applied them through a stencil to create a brick wall. I then found a suitable patterned paper for the ground, gave it a grassy die cut edge and glued it over the background.

I mounted the hedgehog on some sheet foam, along with the extra leaf. A scattering of sequins was the finishing touch.

Challenges:

Gerda Steiner’s October challenge
Day 9 of The Daily Marker 30 Day Coloring Challenge

Supplies:

• digital stamps:
  Gerda Steiner Designs – hedgehog with pumpkin
• dies:
  Lawn Fawn – grassy border
• stencils:
  My Favourite Things – small brick wall
• inks:
  Distress ink pads – antique linen, old paper
• Copic markers:
  hedgehog – E50, E31, E37, E27, E17, RV10
  pumpkin – Y35,YR15, YR18, YG63, G94
  leaves 1 – Y28, YR16, E08
  leaves 2 – Y11, YR04, R08
  leaves 3 – YR23, YG93, Y28
  leaves 4 – E77, YR09, Y19
• embellishments:
  Doodlebug – sequins – bonbon
  Pretty Pink Posh – sequins – 4mm – sparkling clear
  Wink of Stella – clear
• paper and card:
  Papermill Direct – super smooth – white
  Neenah – solar white
  First Edition – paper pad – falling leaves