Graduating Golden Butterfly

Butterflies represent new life and transformation...from a humble caterpillar to the chrysalis to the beautiful, nectar-sipping bugs that delight us so. As such, they make a great image for all of life's transitions, from birth to death and all those changes in between.

This year, my elder son and niece both graduate from high school. Today's butterfly card will be my niece's graduation card as she makes that transition from home to college, childhood to almost adulthood.

The card uses an unlabeled rectangle die for the raised panel and Genevieve Butterfly layering dies from Birch Press Design...all come to my craft space courtesy of the kind and generous Joan B. Thanks, Joan!

These butterfly dies allow you to insert different colors of paper into the shape, creating lovely and interesting variations. I first die cut the butterfly in white cardstock and gold glitter paper, and then inserted the gold bits into the white butterfly frame, as it were.

Interestingly, I didn't like the reverse of this...glitter body and frame with white inserts. To my eye, it looked odd and rather garish, but the spots of gold glitter on this white beauty really made me happy!

The sentiment ink color posed a problem. Black would have been too harsh, and gray or gold too bland, but a nice coffee brown goes well with the gold and looks like it belongs. (It took me a shockingly long time to figure this out.)

The sequins and stars are from Hero Arts. Not sure what trick of the light makes the one star look so red and almost striped. It certainly doesn't look like that in real life. I'm sure a physicist could explain the properties of light moving through little bits of shiny plastic that make objects look odd in photos, but you'll have to settle for my saying the Hero Arts sequins in the ombre collections are absolutely gorgeous and may convert me to using more sequins.

I'll never give up my precious rhinestones, though.

Muchas gracias to Joan for making today's card possible!

Mercy, grace, peace, and love,
Susan

Supplies
stamps: Hero Arts
ink: Archival coffee
paper: gold glitter paper, Papertrey white
accessories: rectangle die (unknown), Genevieve Butterfly layering dies (Birch Press Design), sequins (Hero Arts), glue pen, craft foam, glue