Rustic DIY Photo Display with Air Dry Clay

It’s another Challenge for another month… and I feel like I say this every time, but this month’s challenge item, Air Dry Clay, gave me a run for my money! After days of humming and hawing, I finally decided to try my hand at a Rustic DIY Photo Display with Air Dry Clay.

Here are the supplies I used:

Rustic board
Rolling Pin
Biscuit Cookie Cutter (these are better than what I used!)
Jute Twine
Air Dry Clay
Gold Acrylic Paint

*New to the Monthly Challenge concept? Happy to have you along for the ride 🙂 On the second Wednesday of every month, a group of us bloggers get together and all create our own projects around a given theme or item. The result? Loads of crafty and DIY inspiration and a great way to find and follow new bloggers! Make sure you check out all the project links at the bottom of this post.

I started working with this tub of Crayola Air Dry Clay. The quality seems really great and the re-sealable tub means no clay goes to waste. PLUS, it’s non-toxic and relatively easy to clean up.

I grabbed a handful of clay and balled it up. Then I rolled it out so it was even and about 10mm thick (or so). It says right on the tub that thin clay will be much more delicate – so I tried to keep it fairly thick.

With a metal cookie cutter, I created small round discs from my clay. I let these dry in my studio for a couple of days. Air dry clay is great and all – but it’s not a good craft if you’re in a rush. It really does take a while to dry and cure properly. Then of course, I used some metallic gold paint to give them a little personality.

I’ve had this old wooden board for a while. We ‘inherited’ it when my in-laws were cleaning out a crawl space in their house. They found tons of great old wood and we took some home. Until now, I hadn’t the foggiest clue what to do with the board.

I wrapped some braided twine around it and secured it with brass tacks. I glued my clay discs to some regular clothes pins...

Et voila! A rustic DIY photo display!

I really love how this project turned out! It actually inspired me to completely redecorate my living room fauxdenza for spring. I used to have a big gallery wall there, but I wanted something with a bit more texture and brightness for spring. Don’t you love when a small project creates a larger inspiration?

I have to also tell you that as I was finishing up this May Monthly Challenge, Dan was getting started on next month’s challenge! I know, right?! All I’m going to say is that it is happening in a room in our house that has NEVER been on the blog 🙂 Dan is helping me with a bit of the heavy lifting in the first stages and then I’ll be brought in for the finishings. This lil’ lady is going to have to hustle to make it happen! Anyway, stay tuned for that.