Perfect Peacock

When I first opened my new annual catalog and made my way to Pg 170, I knew I would be purchasing the perfect peacock stamp sometime soon.  I usually shy away from stamps that are for one use only unless it is a background stamp.  And, I suppose I could work on using this as a background stamp but for today, it is the featured item on my card.

This card is 6-1/2 x 4-1/2, not a standard size card, but it ended up that big because of the layering I wanted to use beneath it. Good thing I have the envelope punch and can whip out a perfectly sized envelop to go with my perfect peacock.

For coloring, I pulled up several photographs of peacocks for reference. At least this time I wanted it to be close to reality.  I used a combination of Blendabilities (available for purchase soon) on the flowers and leaves, and regular markers on the actual Peacock.  I stamped the flowers twice, colored, cut them out, then popped them up with dimensional as well as added pearls.

Did you notice the speckles on the paper.  Well, that was a happy accident.  One of the things demonstrators have noticed when using Blendabilities is that sometimes, when you take off the lid to the marker, it will splatter. That had not happened to me until I was making this card.  I was actually working on the pop up flowers but my finished peacock was sitting right there on my work space. I popped open the very lightest shade of green and it splattered, mostly on my secondary piece, but one or two drops landed on the finished peacock.  What do crafty persons do with a calamity, we make it into a design feature.  I pulled out my marker spritzer.  These devices are not sold by SU any more but can be purchased in craft and hobby stores.  They have a holder for a marker, and an bulb you squeeze forcing air across the wide tip of your marker.  The results, perfectly planned, very fine splatters.  Whew.

Don’t forget the inside. I’ve been spending a lot more time on the inside of my cards than I used to.  I think it adds a wow factor, being unexpected.  Today I used Elements of Style on the inside, because I thought it was so similar to the flowers behind the peacock.  I used all Blendabilities to color it in, but could just as easily done it with watercolor.

I hope you like the peacock.  You will be seeing more of it in the future.  I’m thinking next time with gold embossing?

Thanks for stopping by.

Lynn