This craft tutorial, celebrating five years of PowerWood’s Creative Corner, takes us back to the very beginning. The first blog that I shared here, back in 2020, was an introduction to polymer clay – which at the time was a firm favourite of my then young daughter. Shortly before going into lockdown, she had made a series of little dragons out of polymer clay, that she then gave to all her friends – and some even offered to buy them from her! They were super cute, and as a shared project, we created a tutorial based on her design.
Sometime later, as we moved from polymer clay to more experimenting with air-dry clay, she made this equally cute little cat in a dinosaur onesie, that sits on a shelf in the living room. I often admire it and its cuteness makes me smile. Looking around the house, I realised that there were lots of little clay characters; plenty of cats in various guises, along with dragons, bears, and other more imaginary creatures. I also remembered my sons’ pet rock phase – not too dissimilar with the rocks turning into little characters dotted around the house. I remembered how he used to love to carry his pet rocks around with him, and this gave me the idea to create a little home for all the clay characters.
I’ve used some craft matchboxes (mine were very cheap, from The Range – they are easily found in craft shops and online) as the base to create a little ‘home’ or container for the characters, and air-dry clay to create some ‘pets’ based on my daughter’s cat in a dino-onesie design. I decorated the boxes using some of my favourite techniques – tissue paper, PVA & water to strengthen, POSCA paint pens, and some ribbons & buttons. Each step is entirely optional – you or your little ones could just decorate straight onto the match boxes, or you could leave them less decorated if you prefer to keep it simple. You could even draw a picture of your ‘pet’ on the front!
You could make your pet out of air-dry clay as I have done – or try a different medium like polymer clay – you could even use the ‘Make Your Own Dragon’ tutorial to make a pet to pop in your box. You could make one pet, or a family of pets! You could pop these in a slightly bigger matchbox (they come in different sizes) – and would make a lovely little portable play set. If you would like something even simpler, you could make a pet rock! Just use your paint pens on a favourite small rock to draw eyes and maybe a little face.
Once you have your pet and a little home for it to live in, it is ready to travel along with you and perfect for some imaginary play when out and about!
Wishing you a restful, playful and creative autumn and plenty of time…
Happy Crafting!
© 2025 Abigail Cole
For more creative ideas visit PowerWood’s creative corner by Abigail and Abigail’s own creative website: www.forgetfulfairyartstudio.com