Barbie Jewelry Designer

Copyright: KBkids.com

Barbie is always a big draw for young girls. Those who are Barbie fans, will enjoy creating their own jewelry creations with this new program from Mattel Media. The only problem is that you as a parent may not 'love' purchasing the refill kits!

Jewelry Designer comes with enough supplies to make two bead necklaces, and two sheets of Print 'n' Shrink material. Enough 'hardware' is included to make two pins and two sets of clip-on earrings. Enough cord is also included to make approximately two to three necklaces. Considering each of the jewelry sets includes a necklace, a pin, a set of earrings, and an anklet or bracelet, you can see there are not enough materials to go far.

From the main menu, your child will select jewelry templates, or bead necklaces. Bead necklaces include ten beads. There is no option to select more or less beads, limiting your child's design options. An 'erase last step' icon is very much needed in this section. You must either erase your entire necklace, or select individual beads, scroll to the top of the menu and create a blank bead. This was quite cumbersome for young children. Your child can add letters, colors, or patterns to each of the beads. There are five different fonts included, and approximately twenty text colors. The designs are decidedly feminine, including suns, flowers, and animals. Your child's design is printed on special Avery sticker sheets. Each sticker must be cut out and stuck to one of the included white square beads.

If glamour jewelry is more your daughter's style, she can create jewelry sets with the Print 'n' Shrink plastic sheets. First, a template must be selected. Once a template is selected, it is off to the design area. Here, your daughter can choose one of five drawers, each with a different theme. These again, are very feminine themes, including summer fun, aquatic themes, fruit and floral designs. The bottom drawer contains blank jewelry templates which can be decorated from scratch. Text can be added to only a few of the jewelry pieces, but colors and stamps can be added to any of them. A paint fill tool and paint brush are the only real paint tools included. There are 24 paint patterns, 24 colors, and over 120 stamps which can be added to any jewelry piece.

Once your child has a jewelry set which is 'just right,' it is time to print. You can help her print the instructions, a picture of Barbie wearing the jewelry set, or print on the Print 'n' Shrink plastic. This plastic is then baked in your oven. The process is fun, as the pieces curl and shrink until they are the perfect size. These pieces are then threaded and glued into actual jewelry.

The program needs better icons, as it is difficult to tell what each button means. The program is not difficult to use, but it's replay value is severely limited by the materials on hand. There is no information included in the users manual, or on the box as to where more plastic sheets can be purchased. Hopefully, Mattel will add this information to it's web site, but it is not there yet. In the meantime, Mattel Media can be reached at 1(888)MATTEL9 (628-8359).

Bottom Line: A nice jewelry program, but lacking enough material to make it a good value. Be prepared to immediately purchase more jewelry material.

Ratings: (based on KBkids.com's 4 star rating system)

Overall: 2 1/2

BrainGain: 2

FunFactor: 2 1/2

EasePlease: 2 1/2

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