What is This Beautiful Creature?

Yesterday morning when we looked out of our window we saw, what we thought to be, a leaf or piece of plastic on our back deck. When I went out and took a closer look, I discover this beautiful insect, but I had no idea what it was. It was quite large for a moth-like insect, with a wing span of probably 3 inches. The colour and detailing of the body were amazing.

It quietly stayed on our deck and did not seem to mind me being close by.

Unfortunately this blog entry does not have a happy ending. Later in the day we found that this beautiful creature had not lived, so we put it to rest in the willow trees nearby.