Enamel Painted Dishes ~ Darby Smart ~ To DIY For ~ February 2015

I was super excited for this month's Darby Smart Box!! I had been curious about enamel paints and their durability. This project was a perfect test run to give them a try. I wasn't out very much money on it and if it didn't come out well then a ring dish that sits on my dresser and isn't used much is just fine! :) Anyway, the directions for this project on the Darby Smart website were spot on and led to great results -http://www.darbysmart.com/howto#cocoa. I think I was a bit unfair in the video about the value of this months box. I am going to upgrade it to a 5 because there was soooooo much paint left in each bottle to do lots more projects. Even if I had double coated each dish there would still have been plenty of paint left. So this was an overall 5 for me ~ pretty good!!


So here's the scoring - not that it's necessary! LOL
Value - 5
Ease of Use - 5
Instructions - 5
Finished Product - 5
Overall Score - 5

Block Printing ~ January 2015 ~ Darby Smart

This month's Darby Smart To DIY For Box was a Block Printing project.  This was my best month yet with Darby Smart.  The project was challenging, fun and pretty!  What more could a crafter ask for?  I had never tried any type of carving in my crafting, so it was really nice to try my hand at it.  The materials provided were good quality and sufficient for completing the project.  As of right now this kit is not available for purchase but there is one that comes with more inks and supplies for $47, here's the link for that:  http://www.darbysmart.com/projects/block-printing-starter-set

The link for the instructions on how to complete the kit that come in my monthly subscription box is: http://www.darbysmart.com/howto#yummy

The score for this kit:
Value - 5
Ease of Use - 4
Instructions - 4
Finished Product - 4
Overall score - 4.25

Please note:  I purchased this monthly subscription.  It is NOT provided to me to demonstrate or review.  I am not compensated by Darby Smart in any way to show this product.

Rustic Chalkboard Style Christmas Ornaments

Hello fellow crafters!  In my last blog post I described the DarbySmart.com web store and monthly subscription service in detail.  If you'd like to read more on it just click here.  This is the product I purchased in addition to my monthly subscription box as a project for my son and I to complete together.  We had a lot of fun, the project was fairly simple and the end product was super cute.  The kit cost $19 and I feel was well worth it.  You can order the kit here.  I am not being compensated in any way for demonstrating these products or directing you to them. We enjoyed it so much we are trying to get my husband to cut us some more wood slices so we can make more!  There was plenty enough Chalkboard paint left to do it and of course, plenty of inspiration!!  I listed the rating for this box as well as the link to the instructions below the video.  Hope you enjoy and Thanks for crafting with me!

The instructions as per the Darby Smart website can be found here.

Score for this project out of a possible 5 is as follows:
Value - 5
Ease of Use - 3
Instructions - 3
Finished Product - 4
Overall Score - 3.75

Hand Crochet Scarf ~ December 2014 Darby Smart To DIY For Box

Darby Smart is a craft supply website with a twist.  You can purchase individual craft supplies or you can purchase curated kits that contain all the products needed to make a DIY craft project from beginning to end.  There is a very wide range of projects to choose from in an equally wide range of prices.  Another thing I found interesting were the "Starter Kits".  Let's say your thing is wood burning or it is something you really want to try, just purchase the starter kit for $39 and you'll receive a wood burning pen, alphabet stamps and a wood coaster set to get started on.  This is a really cool concept for crafters like me who get a little overwhelmed when trying to get started in a new craft.  I don't always want to make huge investments to try a new craft out.  This is a much more affordable way to test the waters.

They also have a monthly subscription box called t"To DIY For" in which they send you all the products needed to complete that months project but the contents are a surprise until you receive them.  The monthly cost is $19 per month.  This month's To DIY For box contained a skein of bulky yarn and a small roll of a regular acrylic yarn.  The instructions on their website, which the link to is printed on the card in your box, show you how to hand crochet a scarf.  Below is the video I made taking you through the how to with pictures of the contents, screenshots and the finished product.  I am going to continue to subscribe to the monthly subscription and bring you videos each month of the projects and as often as I can I will purchase additional boxes with projects that interest me and bring you videos of those as well.  I've also come up with a scoring/rating system for these products to better help me evaluate the overall value of the product.  I listed the Rating for this project below the video.  Thank you so much for crafting with me today!

Rating: (On a scale of 1 to 5)
Value - 2
Ease of Use - 4
Instructions - 2
Finished Product - 3
Final Score - 2.75

Instructions for this project as per Darby Smart can be found here.