As you may know we are big fans of a box full of crafty bits and bobs. Earlier in the year H's link for the week highlighted some of the great craft box subscriptions out there, so when we were contacted by Crafty Creatives to test drive their Birthday box we jumped at the chance!
Box 13 (the floral birthday edition) is different than the norm - usually lots of different crafty bits and one or two kits, but as it is a special box you get five kits as well as few extra goodies. The art card usually features a different artist each month with an illustration that ties in with the theme, this month it was a collage of Crafty Box fans with their boxes, so cute!. Every month there is a different theme, previous themes have been: Floral, Nautical, Oriental, Gothic, Nostaliga, Icy, Woodland, Spots and Stripes, Steampunk, Blues, Glamour, The Treat Box (sweets and cakes) - a bit gutted we missed that last one!
We were greeted by a Thank You note from Claire and Isobel with an explanation about what the box contained. Then an instruction leaflet with a guide to all the kits enclosed with great pictures of the finished products, more about that in a minute.
Now to the fun stuff... we got a crepe paper streamer, a polystyrene ball, a roll of stem tape, a roll of wire, two packs of seed beads, a small reel of coloured wire, flower stamens, a stocking, some wooden buttons, a hair clip, a hummingbird pendant, a heart shaped cabochon, some paper flowers, a felt square, two pieces of card and a birthday balloon, wowzers!
After unpacking all the goodies we got to work, can we call it work? Play, we got to play!
First we made the felt flower
Next we made the stocking flower
Then the French beaded flower
(Sammy ended up using beads from her own stash to make this one because she knew wanted to give it to her Mother-in-law as a gift so she made it in a colour she knew she would like)
After that it was the paper rose hair slide
Lastly it was the crepe paper rose ball, which Sammy made into a little tree
(The stick, bow and bucket were from her stash)
All in all we really enjoyed making these little kits, we found the instructions to be very easy to follow. The mix of projects was great, some easy and some more difficult to work up to if you are new to crafts or the particular techniques needed. If you get a little lost with the instructions or are like Sammy and love a little video, you can head over to their Youtube channel and watch how-to's to give you a helping hand.
What we liked....
Sammy: I would say that as a very experienced crafter myself, it was nice to re-visit some ideas that I haven't had a go at for a while. I made six giant rose ball trees for my friend Kelly's Barbie party last year. It was a great way to focus, by having the kit it made me sit down an craft for a good two hours. As someone who always has a lot of projects on the go it was very satisfying to sit down and finish five things in one sitting. The products in the kit were great quality, I do feel that these boxes are good value for money.
H: The kit items are really easy to do and simple instructions for mere mortals always help. They make great little projects to do after work or for a craft club perhaps. I liked that there were a few other bits included to make your own things, like the hummingbird pendant which would look lovely on a wedding card or the heart pendant which I think will become a brooch.
What we didn't like...
Sammy: Not a lot, the only thing I could pick out that wasn't my favourite was the colours of the products. We got Pinks, corals and reds, which are not my personal choices, but I can give the finished goodies away as gifts to my friends who like those colours so that not a big issue.
H: I am not a big fan of florals and so this kit was not the perfect kit for me. However, you could use your imagination and make some other fun things from the supplies. For example: you could make animal ears using the stocking flower items, by attaching them to a headband; using the crepe paper for gift wrap will always be a winner or perhaps customise a top with some of the beads left over from the beaded flower kit.
It's difficult for us to say, not having tried one, how fun the regular non-kit heavy boxes would be, but who doesn't love a box of delicious crafty goodies delivered to your door, right? From the quality and presentation of this box we can tell that trying it out for a few months would be fun, whether you are a new crafter or a more experienced one. As a new crafter it would be a great way to build up your stash. As an experienced crafter there is a great Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest community to share your projects with like-minded creatives.
What do you think? Fancy giving it a try?
The lovely girls at Crafty Creatives have offered our readers an exclusive discount code
CRAFTYLLM
the first 10 of you to sign up will get 25% off your first box!
How sweet is that? Head over to their website now and sign up before we beat you to it!
Info:
The cost: boxes are £10 + £2.95 p&p per month
Gift options available - 3/6/12 months - great for Christmas!
No contract - cancel when you want
At the moment subscriptions are only open to UK residents, but they are looking to ship within EU countries soon and if you are in the States or Canada you can add your info to their mailing list for updates http://www.
H and Sammy xxx
Disclaimer: We were sent this box for free as a blogger promotion, but we did not (and never do) guarantee a positive review in exchange for a product sample.
