Disclosure: There are no affiliate/referral links in this post. This box was paid for by me.
I love to craft. My enthusiasm exceeds my ability and time. I received an email from Darby Smart about the Holiday Box Trio. There is a discussion section on the page where Darby Smart indicated that it had enough crafts to be done by a family. That sold me on the Holiday Box Trio.
Subscription: Darby Smart Holiday Box Trio – sold out.
Darby Smart also offers a monthly subscription for $19.00/monthly.
Cost: $69.00 for 3 holiday craft boxes
What to Expect: According to Darby Smart’s website – Each of the 3 boxes in this holiday trio is packed with fun and trendy craft supplies to make holiday themed projects. We ship you a surprise box for the next 3 holiday months: Halloween, Thanksgiving and Holiday.
Lilly is watching me blog late at night.
J has his stress ball ready to go. We are working on the no knee at the table.
I sound like a mom!
Please send December’s box at the beginning of the month! I received the Thanksgiving box on Friday, November 20th in the evening! It’s in the 30s here. Cool house + lack of time does not make for an enjoyable Thanksgiving box. Sending it a week early would have made a difference.
Paint does not dry well in my house in late November.
Our projects did not achieve the same results.
Sounds ominous.
Bramble came to visit.
The items look interesting. I see an autumn/Thanksgiving theme.
Send the box earlier!
There’s enough material to do the projects.
J decided that we should start with the napkin rings/glass charms. We are going to hang them from the chandelier. It’s sounds fancy, but the chandelier is ugly.
It would have been nice if a small rolling pin was included. My rolling pin was overkill.
J cut the ornaments. We placed them in the oven for 15 minutes at 250 degrees Fahrenheit.
The paint is in a spray bottle. J had a hard time pushing the button down to spray. It was also hard to control where the paint went while decorating. The red paint bottle dripped.
We used the letter stickers and sprayed over them. We will be hanging them up tomorrow. They are still a little sticky. It’s in the 30s outside and 68-70 inside.
I did raise the heat for a few hours to help everything dry quicker.
The idea is to use the letters as stencils and spray over them. The cookie cutters are also stencils. You need to be able to spray inside the cookie cutters. I found that difficult to do because when I angled the bottle to allow the spray to stay inside the cutter it made spraying difficult. Plus the red paint dripped as soon as I tilted it. I do not know how they were able to achieve the results they show on the information card.
J did a great job lining up the letters without a ruler. The leaf stencil bleed a little bit. I sprayed the other three placemats and had similar results. It took a while to do because of the controlled spraying. We decided it was not worth doing the table runner. I counted around 20 leaves on the table runner in the photo. It would take me a few hours to achieve the same results.
Verdict: Darby Smart needs to send the holiday boxes out at the beginning of the month. J and I worked on this project in the afternoon. It is after midnight EST. They are still drying because it is cold! I’m disappointed that our results look nothing like the pictures. I tried spraying different ways and never once had anything that remotely look like the pictures.
J and I had fun together. We worked on creating special placemats to be used for Thanksgiving. J worked hard in designing each placemat. They will be treasured for years to come.
Subscription Box Flashback:
Darby Smart Box 1 of the Mystery Holiday Box Trio – October 2015: J and I liked this box much better. It was more enjoyable for us.
Click here to read more Darby Smart Reviews
What do you think of the Darby Smart Box 2 of the Holiday Mystery Trio? Do you feel Darby Smart gave enough time before Thanksgiving to finish the projects? Share below and anything else on your mind!
OK a few notes.
Blogging after midnight lol!
J is adorable. Love him! Nice addition of the stress ball received from your last review.
Love Lilly and how your furbabies always observe the reviews.
Let me know next time Darby does a trio holiday thing or something family orientated and a value pricepoint like this I really like this concept and your review! I am totally looking forward to next year for this 😀
It may be a Pinterest fail but it is lovable and treasured memories of a mother-son project. You also have the great cookie cutters to reuse. Maybe cut up the table runner to make napkins?
I need a rolling pin. A wine bottle Is no good those TV peeps must lib it up good with copious amounts of cooking spray or somethin…
I am looking forward to your December review.
Pnut, I think when a recipe says to cook with wine it just means drink it =D Haha, that’s what I usually do… I’ve never heard of using a wine bottle as a rolling pin! Seems like a clever idea.
Sub Bella, I think for me a lot of crafting is having fun doing it because most of the time I don’t like what I make [though like the paint, sometimes it’s not even your fault!!]. And I definitely agree that this project needed to be sent sooner! It’s almost time to take down Thanksgiving stuff and put Easter things up anyway 😉 The little clay ornaments are cute–I’ll have to make some with my nieces.
J is a pro with clay ornaments They are so much fun to do with children.The colleges we toured had Christmas decorations up already. I feel behind doing Thanksgiving stuff!
I agree that the enjoyment is in doing it!
I had plans yesterday, Plans, I tell you!!! The computer had other plans. I kept losing my internet connection. It took me forever to finish the Kids Prize Pack post because of the loss of connection. I want to post all my Thanksgiving boxes before Thanksgiving.
I do hope that Darby Smart does it again. It’s been a lot of fun.J decided that he wanted T and J’s names on the top of the place mat and big/little brother at the bottom. It’s so cute!
No rolling pin? I love my rolling pins.
I am leaning towards doing hands and paw prints on the runner. I don’t want to make my fur babies sick from the paint. I am going to look into it and see if there is a paint appropriate for my idea.
Its still a cool place mat. Very arty. I wonder if you would’ve had better luck with a paint brush. It seems like you would have more control that way. This looks like a fun project. I wish I’d gotten this box.
Thank you for the compliment! They provided a sponge brush to blend.We tried it, but it did not help much. I do have two extra placemats and the table runner that need to be decorated. I may try painting instead.
I saw the rolling pin and thought: what does someone who doesn’t own a rolling pin (ahem, me) do for this part? Pnut’s wine bottle idea is genius!
I agree that they sent the stuff out to late. I would assume that people who craft (ahem, not me) would also be the type to host and cook for Thanksgiving (also not me), so they would be in full-on preparation mode right now. Also, so many people are traveling! I hope they send the Christmas stuff sooner. Maybe send them an email with your comment on timing?
Anyway, J is adorable and the fun of crafts is making them. I think everything he made was pretty cute and personal!
The good thing with clay is that it is not food. You can even use your palms to work out the dough. I’m fairly certain that I have a smaller rolling pin from last year that came with a clay ornament kit. The how to part shows a cute little rolling pin, not my monstrosity.
I am going to send them an email about the December box. Thanks for the compliment on J. He lost another front tooth and refuses to smile with an open grin. It’s so cute!
I can’t figure this out. This is listed as a subscription but when I went to the website I can’t figure out how to subscribe. What am I missing?
Try: http://www.darbysmart.com/subscription/subscribers/new?offer_id=1