ETA: Unfortunately we no longer carry the Create-a-Cut and I do not know where it is that you might find it. Thank you so much for your interest.
The peacock is a truly STUNNING bird! Besides photographing my children, I truly enjoy capturing nature through the lens. I am fascinated by the beauty of nature. The color combinations are truly breathtaking in so many ways. I had never seen a peacock in full display until this very moment when I was at the Seattle Woodland Zoo with my girls. This lovely creature was right there in front of me with it's gorgeous, stunning feathers out for all to view. I quickly grabbed my camera to capture the beauty - I didn't want to loose that moment in time.
Coming up with a page that would showcase the Create-a-Cut and some of it's features was so easy for this page. The feather's of the peacock spoke to me - LOL!
It is funny how my eye went straight to the green behind the brilliant blue as the dominant color for this page. The reason for that is because I wanted that blue to stand out. If I had made this page primarily blue I felt that I would loose the striking brilliance of the stunning blue tone that glistens on the peacock's body.
The scallop blade allowed me to cut edges that could then be emphasized with the blue sparkley brads (KI Memories) and emulate the look of the feathers, creating a cohesive look. By adding one of my other favorite tools, the Scor-It, in to the mix and detailing the ends of the scallops by dry embossing vertical lines on the brown it adds just a little texture to the layout. Keeping it from being to boring and flat. It reduces the need for any other pattern and keeps a cohesive look going.
To help bring the eye to the center of the page I added the brown felt flower as my third object. It helps form the "brown triangle". To enhance this flower I used DMC floss that has the same shimmery irridescence as the peacock. "Strut" was the first word that came to my mind and so using KI Memories acrylic letters I used this title to tell the story of the peacock. This peacock certainly has every right to be proud of it's beauty :D
Now to translate this into "card speak" I would say that some of the ideas you could use from this page are to do the following:
- this layout could be used in a smaller format as a card sketch
- not using patterned paper each and every time is OK. Add texture using other means such as dry embossing, piercing, your cuttlebug (wink)
- make your own embellishments. Use that die cutter we've all enticed you into buying to cut myriads of different things such as felt, vellum, transparencies, plastic, leather,... and then add your own little features to these diecuts.
- look to nature for your color schemes. If you are at a loss then think of a plant, animal, fish, bird and pull up a color image on your screen for inspiration.
Back to the boxes for now girls - the punches are flying out the door and I'm guessing by tomorrow, maybe the next day they'll be gone. I'm thrilled that I have been able to help the girls who come and visit my site get there hands on these elusive little toys. I can hardly wait to see the creations you will all make with your new stamps and punches!!!
What a fabulous photo op and beautiful page, Ellen!
Posted by: StamperSharon | February 13, 2007 at 06:36 AM
Wow, is he strutting or not? I love peacocks. I have a photo of a white one that I took at Busch Garden in FL years ago. Now I will dig him out and give him is proper place thanks to you. The page is fabulous!
Posted by: Juanita(Toni173) | February 12, 2007 at 12:03 PM
You did a fabulous job capturing the beauty of that peacock. Animals and birds are hard to photograph because they aren't still for very long. Nice job...it's absolutely stunning.
Posted by: LynnMercurio | February 12, 2007 at 11:56 AM