I too like it with the background.
If you're going to revisit… start thinking about highlights and shadows.
and blending the ears/eyes better…
15 min on a flattened image, so bear with me. This would be a lot easier for you to do with the critter on a separate layer.
just a bit of burn with a touch of heal brush in his ear. then used a 1 pt brush to draw some hair in there. Now it has a hole to hear.
then some more burn on the underbelly just a touch near his face for shape and on the ground around his feet. also blurred the edges of the shrew so it wasn't so jagged. Healed where the tail meets the rear… and put a white highlight on the eye with some burn underneath.
I could have done a lot more for the underbelly and the rest, but this is your chop. I think you get the general idea.
This was one of the few I liked in that particular contest. Nice out of the box thinking nevet.
Back to your original question. Yes, I've gone back on some of my favorite chops from years back and tweaked them.