Crafty Bands review - and a Giveaway!

If you have a little one in your life who loves to make crafts - then the new Crafty Bands Jewelry Making Kit is the PERFECT holiday (or birthday) gift. The fabulous folks at Crafty Bands sent me a starter kit and some refills to try out - so I gathered up the neighborhood girls to give it a try!

Crafty Bands was created by our friends at Epiphany Crafts, who offer create-your-own custom buttons, epoxy embellishments, etc that have been a great success in the crafting industry. The progression in to kids' crafts made sense, but Crafty Bands took it a step further by turning a fun craft project in to wearable DIY fashion that can be created out of photos, magazines, paper and more, AND the charms are removable so they can be traded and collected! Love it!

The starter kit (retail 29.99) comes with a great variety of product to complete several bracelets, including the shape studio tool to easily punch out your images. The only additional item you'll need is an adhesive of some type to attach the image to the charm - we used the Xyron 1.5" create-a-sticker and the Xyron Tape Runner. Once you've got the starter kit you can just order the bracelets/charms/epoxy circles in whatever colors you like (which would be perfect for matching team bracelets) so you can mix and match!

The process is simple and very easy for children to complete with a little help from their favorite adult:

Use the shape studio tool to punch out your images (younger children will need help punching out the images)

Put adhesive on the back of the image and place on your charm

Put the self-adhesive bubble cap on top of your image

Place the "stem" on the back of the charm through one of the holes in the bracelet

Snap the coordinating back on to the stem (children will need help snapping the backs on)

The girls had a FANTASTIC time putting these together.  In fact - they were having such a good time that their brothers came over to see what all the fuss was about - and they ended up making bracelets too! This would be a great craft for a birthday party/sleepover!

So now that I've got you all excited about it - how about a giveaway?  TWO lucky winners are going to receive a Crafty Bands starter kit and a Xyron Tape Runner - so you will have everything you need to start creating fun and funky jewelry with your favorite little one. The contest ends on Thursday December 13th at 11:59pm Pacific time - so I can get them mailed out to the winners in time for Christmas! Click on this link to enter, and I'll announce the winners on my Facebook page Friday morning.

Crafty Bands products are available at hearthsong.com - and through December 17th they are having $4.99 shipping on any order of $49 or more (so you can get a kit and stock up on refills) AND you will get a $10 gift card to use on a future purchase! I love a bargain!