Valentines Crafts Using Air Dry Clay

Valentines Day is just a few weeks away so here's a couple of easy gifts you can make using air dry clay.

You will need:

Air Dry Clay
Silicone molds (or stamps or lace - anything you can make a pattern with)
Heart shaped cookie cutters
Rolling pin (I just use the cardboard tube from a roll of foil)
Clay modelling tools (I just used a toothpick instead)
String or thin ribbon
Acrylic paint (if you decide to paint them)

Heart Bunting 

Roll out your clay. If you're using a mold lay it on top then roll over it a few times. Peel it off the mold.

If you don't have a silicone mold you can put lace or leaves or whatever you like over the top of the clay and roll over it to leave a pattern.

Position your cookie cutters over the clay. I put them randomly so each heart would have a different pattern on it.

Use a toothpick or straw to cut out holes for the string.

Leave to dry for about 24 hours (less if you live in a hot country). Turn over once or twice so both sides dry out.

You can paint them with acrylic if you want, I couldn't be bothered ¯\_(ツ)_/¯


Heart Hanging Pocket

I love these hanging wall pockets that are all over Pinterest. I especially liked these ones by A Shade of Teal

To make some heart shaped wall pockets, you will need the same tools and materials as for the heart garland.

Roll out some clay. I wanted a faux wooden effect so used a wood effect embosser for icing cakes. I can't remember where I got mine from (it's probably in an earlier post) but you can buy something similar here.

Cut out a heart shape using the largest cookie cutter. I then used this shape as a rough guide to cut out the top piece.

Lay the top piece over the heart shape and using wet fingers, smoosh the edges together. I sort of pinch and smooth to get the edges to meet neatly.

Keep smoothing and smooshing until the sides are completely joined.

Use a straw or toothpick to poke two holes for the string.

I wedged a rotary cutter in mine to help it keep the pocket shape as it dries.

 I painted it with some watered down green acrylic then wiped off the excess with some paper towel.

Thread some string through and put a tiny faux plant in it (or whatever else you can find that fits).

I painted a few hearts I had left over from making the bunting too. Haven't decided what to do with these yet though. Let me know your ideas!

Upcycled Cardboard Tray

I was given a couple of cardboard trays and asked if I could come up with some craft ideas to repurpose them. This is my first attempt.



You will need:

Cardboard tray (you might be able to use a polystyrene tray but I've no idea if the clay will stick to it)
Air Dry Clay
Clay tools (I tend to use toothpicks and lollipop sticks)
Old pair of scissors or knife (it will get covered in bits of clay)
Wood grain impression mat (you can just draw the grain with a toothpick if you prefer)
Rolling pin (I use the inner tube from an old roll of foil)
Acrylic paint (brown, white)
Brown ink (optional)

Roll out some clay and press the wood grain mat on top. You can roll gently over the mat to get a more even impression. My mat was too small to cover all the clay so repeat this step until all the clay is covered.

There are lines between the edges of the where the mat was. We can disguise this later.

Lay the clay over the top of the cardboard tray and gently press into the corners. Try not to smudge the grain lines too much.

Trim around the edge with scissors or a scalpel. Wet your fingers with a little water and smooth the edges.



Use a toothpick to tidy up any gaps around the edge of the wood grain impressions and raw back in any lines you smudged when pressing the clay into shape.

 Leave it to dry overnight.

Or, get impatient, remove it too early and crack the edges. Balls.

As Bob Ross would say, we don't make mistakes we have happy accidents. The word of Bob is law, so behold my happy little accident.

When it's (finally) dry you can paint it. I forgot to take pictures of this bit because I don't know what I'm doing and shouldn't be allowed on the internet without adult supervision. I used dark brown acrylic mixed with water to get into all the grooves, then once it had dried, dry brushed a lighter brown over the top. Keep adding different shades of brown with a dry brush until your happy with the colour. I used some brown ink at this point to make it more shiny.

I found it really hard to take a clear picture so here's 3 slightly unclear ones :-)