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Doodle Crate
Cost: $19.95/month.
Ships To: United States and Canada.
Coupon Code: Use code “SHARE10” to save $10 off your first month.
Doodle Crate is one of the new(er) lines in the Kiwi Crate family. Designed for girls ages 9-16, Doodle Crate includes all the materials and inspiration for DIY projects such as patterned pouches, friendship bracelets, or colorful candles. Crates encourage girls to tackle new challenges and gain creative confidence!
Doodle Crate ships via FedEx Smart Post and took just about a week to arrive to me.
I thought this box was going to be photography related from the first look, but that was just a guess. Doodle Crate may be aimed at girls, but I get it for myself. I find their crafts to be fun and a good way to do some crafts without investing a ton of time or money in an activity you may not end up liking.
The June 2015 Doodle Crate theme was “Solar Imaging”. I actually think there may have been something similar – but on a smaller scale – in a Kiwi Crate a while back.
The information booklet includes detailed instructions on how to complete the project. They also post videos to YouTube with additional instructions.
Doodle Crate boxes include 99% of the items you will need to complete the crafts. Sometimes you’ll need scissors, a pencil, water, etc. but those are things everyone has on hand. I pulled this box out to work on a few times, but had to stop because the weather wasn’t right, I was going out of town, etc. But finally this week I was able to get it completed.
The first step on this project is to Design Your Film. The box included some preprinted films and also a permanent marker and black paint so you could make some designs of your own. I did a combination of both and then put everything out in the sun to create my prints.
I actually left the films outside for double the recommended time. The instructions say to leave them in the sun for 20-30 minutes, but mine were out for at least an hour.
After they are done in the sun, the prints go in the developing tray for 2-3 minutes. I did this for each of the prints separately and then hung them up to dry.
It was really windy out when I did this and I didn’t blot my prints very well so they were dripping everywhere. But it was only water, so no harm done.
After everything dries the final step was to make a photo album of your prints. Now, I am not exactly sure what one would do with a photo album of prints like this, but I made it anyway. I think a cooler idea (for me anyway) might have been to just frame one.
As you can see, some of my prints turned out well, and some, well, they turned out awful. The hearts one above is one I used paint / markers on and that one turned out the best. I actually thought it would be the other way around. I don’t know if I didn’t leave them in the developer tray long enough or if they weren’t in the sun long enough or what? But either way I had fun making it and am looking forward to receiving July’s crate!
What do you think about Doodle Crate? If you are interested in subscribing you can sign up here and use the coupon code “SHARE10” to save $10 off your first box! The coupon code applies to Doodle Crate, Koala Crate, Kiwi Crate and / Tinker Crate, so there is something for almost every age!
