Paper-Pieced Sloth Card

I love sloths. I've seen them at zoos, of course, but I've also seen them in the wild in Costa Rica. They're awesome and the subject of my sixth project in my series based on crowd-sourced responses to ten questions. 

Sloth tied with kangaroo and giraffe for "Name an interesting animal." Giraffe crafts are common; we have a bunch on Fun Family Crafts, four of which are mine. We don't have any sloth or kangaroo crafts, so I checked other places. I found that kangaroo crafts are easier to find than sloth crafts, so I went with the sloth. 

Paper-Pieced Sloth Card

Materials:

• cardstock or construction paper (white, blue, green, black, tans and browns)
• scissors
• glue

Steps: 

I started by making a white card base, then set it aside. I cut blue cardstock to make the card front, then went through my scraps to find green for the leaves and different browns and creams for the sloth and the branch. 

I picked a medium brown rectangle and cut two thin rectangles off the long side for the arms. I rounded off one end of the remaining piece to make the sloth's head. Then I chose a darker brown and cut a branch. I cut out some green leaves, then tackled the sloth's claws (3 on each arm).

I used these National Geographic photos (specifically #4) for my reference. Following the photo, I cut a cream-colored face, then comma-shaped eye markings, a nose, and a mouth from dark brown. I added black eyes.

Once everything was cut, it was time to assemble. I glued all the face pieces in place, then used a white gel pen to add tiny catchlights to the eyes. I glued the face to the body, then moved the body out of the way so that I could glue the tree, arms, and claws. Then I added the body. I trimmed off the excess that hung off the edges, then folded the leaves in half to give them dimension and glued them to the branch. Finally, I glued the card front to the base. 

I haven't added a sentiment to my card yet, but there are lots of possibilities. Send a "Hang in there" card to someone who is struggling, or a "Sorry I was so slow..." card for a belated birthday. Anyone would appreciate "Keep Smiling." For someone who is working toward a goal, remind them that "Great things take time."