Darby Girl – January 2016 Review

If any of you were with me when I started Carefree Crafts in 2012, you'll know my daughter Sage, who was then 5, was crazy about crafts. She has evolved from working on simple crafts kits that we began creating on Carefree Crafts, to more advance crafts now that she is 8 years old. We ordered a Darby Girl subscription last month, knowing it was for pre-tweens and teenagers.

The Darby Girl Subscription is $19 every 2 months. I like the idea of a bi-monthly box, especially since homework, ballet, swim, and basketball keeps Sage busy during the week!

Here is the box that we got. I really love the teal blue color and chevron pattern on the sides and back of the box.

I wasn't exactly sure what to expect from this Darby Girl box, and we got everything you needed to make 2 craft projects. You could go out and buy all of these supplies yourself, but it was nice to have it all assembled and delivered to our door!

This was the information card (front and back).

Darby Girl Project #1 – AmiGami Rabbit

Our first project was an AmiGami Rabbit. I have not heard of AmiGami before, but it looked like a pretty appealing project for my daughter. When she opened the package, she was excited about all of the cool colored paper and stickers she could use to decorate her AmiGami Rabbit. This project retails for ~$6 on Amazon.

To make your AmiGami, Sage punched out the perforated cardstock to attach ears, tail, and tongue with the included yellow fasteners. It was a bit tricky figuring out how to assemble this using the instructions, but then we just looked at the front of the package and created our own AmiGami Rabbit. There were a bunch of stickers that were included too, as well as additional cardstock decorations. I loved the curling effect on the purple paper strips. This is a project that your child could do over and over again, which is a nice touch. Sage will be able to use this as a decoration in her room and will go nicely because it is pink!

Darby Girl Project #2 – Emoji Clay Magnets

The second project was DIY Emoji Magnets out of clay. The materials included:

• Sculpey III Polymer Clay – $5 on Amazon.com
• 2-inch round metal cookie cutter
• Sharpie Permanent Markers, Fine Point – $6 on Amazon.com
• ProMag Flexible Round Magnets, .5 inch – $6 on Amazon.com
• Liquid Fusion Clear Urethane Glue, 0.66 oz – estimated $2

With these materials, we took the yellow polymer clay, rolled it out to an 1/8 inch thickness using a rolling pin (I had fondant rolling pin that helps to roll material to an even thickness). We used the metal cookie cutter to cut out the round yellow face shapes, and put them on a small cookie sheet. The instructions said to put them in the oven at 275 degrees for 10 minutes.

Once they came out, it gave off a bit of a plasticky smell, but I turned on our fan hood, and the smell was gone in a matter of minutes!

We let the clay shapes cool for a couple of hours, and used the included Sharpie Markers and Emoji face templates as a guide to draw our Emoji faces. The last step was to use the Liquid Fusion glue to attach the magnets to the back, which worked like a charm.

The total retail value of this month's Darby Girl box was ~25+. For $19, this box was a pretty good deal, given how cute the projects were. Sage and I especially loved the Emoji magnets!

What do you think of Darby Girl? I think it would make a great gift for that pre-tween or teenager who loves DIY and craft projects.

You can get your first month free with a 1-year subscription using this link!