The Real Me

Official Name: DIY Felt Wreaths

Listed Price: $3

Age Rating: 6+

Description on Package: makes 2 wreaths

What it Actually Came With: instructions; 6 long strips of felt: 2 in light green, 2 in dark green, & 2 in black; 2 12in pieces of wire with the ends covered in hot glue for safety; 2 3in squares of red felt; 27 mini pom poms in rainbow assortment; 2ft long piece of white ribbon.

Notes: This was the most time consuming of all of the kits. The instructions are tiny, both the font and the pictures. They do great explaining the first half of creating the wreaths, cutting the felt strips into squares and putting them on the wired. After that, they get vague. They don't tell you how to finish off the wreath after you get the felt squares on the wire, they just tell you to "prepare the bow" with no instructions on how to cut the pieces from the red squares of felt, and then you just get a picture of the finished product. What takes so long to make this is first cutting 90 squares from your green & black felts for each wreath, then stringing them all on the wire. The instructions did say to cut the squares at 3/4in, but the felt strips are wider than that by a fair amount, so I just eyeballed where to cut to be about square. I still had enough felt strips for another wreath. The instructions also said to cut the wire down to 8in. I did not. Those extra inches gave me room to work and after I got things twisted into a circle to make the wreath, I twisted up the ends to make a hidden wire hanger. I did figure out how to make the bows from the picture. Mine are slightly larger than the finished examples wreath pictures, but it still only took 2/3 of one red square of felt to make both bows. I wasn't sure how the pom poms would look. The example shows only red, white, and light pink pom poms, but it gave us a bright rainbow assortment. Now that I have had some time to sit on it, it looks okay. Even covering the wreaths in pom poms, I have a 3rd of them left. Because it didn't give me any glue and I was worried about drying times, I used hot glue. So, so many glue threads on felt, but it worked great. I tied the ribbon to the metal hangers I made, and still have a third left. The wreaths themselves are sized perfect for a Barbie house. I think my favorite part of this one was that I have enough of everything except wire to make a 3rd wreath, so no fear of needing more material, had I screwed up.

Official Kit Name: Make Your Own Animal - Teddy Bear [on the packaging]
DIY Chenille Craft Kit (Bear) [on instructions]

Original Price: $4

Age Rating Listed on Package: 6+

Description on Package: 1 ct. Includes everything you need to make your own cuddly bear

What it Actually Came With: instructions, "15mm x 39 inches pipe cleaner" (a giant fuzxy pipe cleaner), 1 pair of eyes, 1 nose, a red hat & scarf (for the finished bear), 3 snowball pom poms (intended to be props for snowball fight), and 3ml of clear glue.

Notes: I did not expect this one to work. The picture of the bear on the package looks very awkward and until you opened the package, there was no indication of what you would be making the bear out of. The instructions were amazing. They were very clearly written in a nice big font with decently sized colored pictures of each step of bear construction. You basically twist the pipe cleaner around like you're making a balloon animal. My finished bear and the finished bear in the instructions are both very cute. Mine's tail is a bit bulky, but most of that is from bunching up and gluing down the loose fuzz that was coming off the end of the wires by the time I was done. It gives him stability. Putting the eyes and nose on were a bit tricky because you aren't just gluing them on, you are having to shove little stakes through the wires where they'll fit. The hat and scarf fit my finished bear perfectly. He is very soft and fuzzy, but very fragile, so he sits instead of standing.