Elegant gray butterfly

What colors do you imagine when you think about a butterfly? The first ones that pop into my mind are the orange and black of a monarch butterfly. But then I think of the blues, yellows, greens, and purples. Pretty much any color except gray. But a gray butterfly was exactly what this card needed:

Supplies (all Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):
Paper: Basic Gray card stock, Sheer Perfection Designer Vellum
Accessories: Butterfly Thinlits dies, Wink of Stella clear glitter brush pen (ZIG), Tea Party embossing folder (Lifestyle Crafts), rhinestones

Putting this card together was definitely, well, a process. It started with the piece of vellum. I wanted to try coloring the flowers with alcohol markers; it worked, but it wasn't the look I wanted. So I trimmed off a strip that I hadn't colored yet ... and didn't know what to do with it.

Eventually I decided to add some texture. I found a floral pattern embossing folder that worked well with the flowers on the vellum and embossed part of a piece of Basic Gray card stock. I placed the card stock in the folder so the left side stuck out about 1-1/4" from the folder and did not get embossed. Then I laid the vellum along the unembossed strip, folded the top and bottom of the strip over and adhered it to the back of the Basic Gray card stock.

I really liked the monochromatic panel, so I cut and folded a Basic Gray card base. But I didn't adhere the panel to the base because I couldn't figure out how to embellish the card. So the pieces sat for a week until I had a friend over to stamp. I showed her the partially done card, told her I wasn't sure what it needed, and she immediately said, "A butterfly."

And it was as simple as that. Well, almost. I still had to decide what color the butterfly should be. I tried pink. Nope. Light blue. Uh-uh. Should I stick with the monochromatic scheme and add a gray butterfly? Would that be too weird? I wasn't sure if it would work, but I cut out a gray butterfly ... and I loved it. It was perfect. I adhered the middle of the butterfly to the embossed panel and pulled the wings up. To add a little sparkle and elegance, I placed a strip of rhinestones along the body of the butterfly and used my Wink of Stella pen to paint clear glitter along the border of the card base. I adhered the panel to the card base, and the card was finally done. And I think it was worth the wait.

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