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Doodle Crate
Cost: $19.95/month.
Ships To: United States and Canada.
Coupon Code: Use code “SUMMERTIME” to save 30% off your first month of Kiwi Crate and their family of boxes!
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 usually takes about a week to arrive to me. My July Kiwi Crate boxes shipped super late, in fact, I didn’t get them until early August. Unfortunately, they didn’t send out any communication about the delay – I had to e-mail them to find out they had a sourcing issue. If a box is going to ship a week or more late, I think it’s only right that they send out an e-mail. I do think some people got their boxes on time this month, though.
This box looked amazing! Worth the wait for sure!
The July 2016 Doodle Crate explored the “Soap Making” technique. The information booklet includes step-by-step instructions (including pictures) on how to complete the project. The Doodle Crate YouTube channel also has videos if you need further instructions / advice.
Materials
The box included everything you needed to make your own soap. The only thing I needed was a knife to cut the soap cubes apart. And really, I probably could have broken them apart if it came right down to it.
Step #1 – Prep Your Soap & Step #2 – Design Your Soap (Marbled Soap)
Doodle Crate instructions are clear and easy to follow.
Cutting the soap was easy – no big deal.
Marbling
The first technique I tried was marbled soap. It was super easy. You melted clear soap cubes (takes 20 seconds in the microwave), pour into your included soap mold and then add food coloring with a pipette(also included). After dropping in the food coloring, you swirl around the food coloring with the included toothpicks. The instructions warn you not to swirl too much, or your soap will lose the swirl effect. It takes about an hour for the soap to cool and then it easily pops out of the mold.
I was so surprised by how easy this all was. It really did only take an hour for the soap to “cool” and it looks SO cool!
Embedded Soap
Again, the instructions are easy to follow and break down every step of the process.
The first step in this process was to make the “embeds” or pieces that will go inside your soap. You make these with the solid (white) soap cubes and then add the food coloring of your choosing. They take about 30 minutes to cool and then they pop out easily.
The next step is to place your embed in the bottom of the soap mold. You then melt clear soap (let sit for 1 minute) and then pour into one corner of the mold and let it spread itself out. If you pour it on top of the embed, it will melt.
Then (if you choose) you can add a later (or background) to your soap. You have to let the soap cool between layers (or it will all blend together). I opted for an orange background for this one.
Love how this one turned out! Again it takes between 30 minutes to an hour to cool and then is ready to pop out.
Embed #2
I gave the embed technique one more try and decided to do a three layer soap with my blue fish embeds. I love how this one turned out! I did a layer of solid blue and then a layer of clear blue too. Adorable!
Building the included soap tray was super easy. You just glue in the dowels and add the sides – that’s it.
Leftovers
I ended up having some extra yellow soap, so I got out my pineapple molds from the July POPSUGAR Must Have Mini box and made some pineapple soaps. They turned out AMAZING! I think this was one of my favorite Doodle Crate boxes ever.
What do you think about Doodle Crate? If you are interested in subscribing you can sign up here and use the coupon code “SUMMERTIME” to save 30% off your first month of Doodle Crate and their family of brands.