Sweet Airs, Fantasy ATC Triptych by Julie Ann

Hello from Julie Ann at Magpieheaven. I'm back today with the second of my projects for the Calico Crafts Parts blog. 

Last time I asked you to step into a miniature theatre and view the first scene from Shakespeare's magical tale of travellers shipwrecked on an enchanted isle, The Tempest. Now I've created a miniature triptych from 3 Calico Craft Parts ATCs that could well depict a scene from some fantasy land where 'Sweet airs...give delight'.

These sturdy ATCs have such detailed, intricately crafted frames they can be combined with dolls' house hinges to form an intriguing triptych. I chose to combine 1 shaped ATC Wood Blank with a fancy cut-out frame with 2 ATC Wood Blanks with Seashell Pillar Frames .

This little Robin MDF Bird Shape was all ready to sing her heart out, but first she needed a quirky new head in the form of a Mini Greyboard heart!

Here are the ATCs painted black with their frames decorated in shades of green acrylics and lightly gilded. I also decided to give the little songbird a crown from a sheet of Mini MDF Crown Shapes Style 3.

The midnight black of the blanks has now been transformed to blue twilight on the magical isle with some Crackle and shades of blue Acrylic with a touch of violet water colour.

I suggested the magical isle in the background with a little stamping and some more water-colour highlights. The robin is now one of the spirits of the Isle and 2 feathers from a sheet of Mini MDF Feathers Style1 drift gently down, painted in shades of green and blue opaque and translucent acrylics.

I added my own text to the ATCs either side of the Spirit of the Isle, 'Lark Ascending' and 'Sweet Airs'.You can see the tiny Dolls' House hinges I attached with non-toxic super-glue to the reverse side of the ATCs after decorating.

These Art Nouveau letters, which I painted and gilded had just the right air of exuberance and looked to me as if they were quite capable of flying from the triptych with the butterflies from the Mini MDF Wood Butterflies Sheet Style 4. You can select from a number of alphabets at Calico Craft Parts and create the word or words of your choice for your particular project.

A final glimpse of the Spirit of the Isle. After painting the crown with a blend of yellow and red acrylics and a touch of thick gold embossing enamel, I coated it with clear embossing enamel and melted this with a heat tool. I've added an extra feather and part of a flourish along with features in water-colour and black pigment pens. 

These Calico Craft Parts ATC Blanks were such a lovely substrate to work with and individually they would make a great ATC for a swap. Why not check them out on the Calico Craft Parts Store here? I've really enjoyed this opportunity to play with these beautiful craft blanks and I would like to thank ZuZu and the Team for inviting me to contribute to the blog. Happy Creating Everyone!