Card for Grad - spread your wings and fly!

The focal point of this card was started while I sponged the colour onto the butterfly for the Ode to the Blue Morpho card pictured below. If you click on the coloured words in this paragraph you will go to the post about that card and see how the butterfly is brown when it's closed.

Just before I started sponging the butterfly for that card I had the idea that just maybe I could use the butterfly as a stencil while I was sponging it. So that's what I did.

I got a piece of whisper white card stock and laid the butterfly (which I had cut out using my Big Shot and one of the dies from the Butterfly thinlits dies) in the center of the piece of card stock.  I sponged one side of the butterfly with Tempting Turquoise. Then I turned the butterfly over and laid it out in the same spot and sponged that side with Baked Brown Sugar*. I actually turned it over a few time working on each side of the butterfly to get the look I wanted on the butterfly, making sure each time that I laid the butterfly out in the same spot so that I would get a nice stenciled look of the butterfly.

This is what it looked like when I was done. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it, but I laid it aside knowing that I would do something with it eventually, and last night I had an idea.

I decided I wanted to piece to be 4 3/4 x 4 1/8. Using my Stampin' Trimmer, I scored, instead of cutting, where I wanted to trim it. Then I folded along those scored marks until it I could easily tear along them, giving it nice, soft edges.

Next I sponged more Tempting Turquoise and Baked Brown Sugar* to fill in the rest of the white that was showing around the edges.

I stamped the greetings using Memento and a stamp from the B.Y.O.P. stamp set. The stamp is actually one stamp but I masked off the bottom part of the stamp and inked only the top part to stamp the greeting and the top of the butterfly and then masked off the top part of the stamp and inked only the bottom part of the stamp to stamp the greeting at the bottom of the butterfly.

I cut a 5 x 4 1/8 piece of Baked Brown Sugar* card stock and adhered the finished piece onto it. Then I cut a 5 1/2 x 4 1/4 piece of Tempting Turquoise card stock and adhered both piece to it, before adhering the whole thing to a 5 1/2 x 4 1/4 whisper white card base.

*Baked Brown Sugar was one of the 2012-2015 In Colours and is no longer available for purchase, but I think Soft Suede ink and Soft Suede Card stock could be used for a similar look.