Blueberry Cove Beads Subscription Box Review – July 2017

Blueberry Cove Beads is a beading subscription from Canada. Every month they ship beads and supplies and post a challenge incorporating one or more items from the box. If you choose to enter the challenge, you can share photos of your project and may win your next month’s box free!

My Subscription Addiction pays for this subscription. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes.)

The Subscription Box: Blueberry Cove Beads

The Cost: $22 per month plus $3.50 shipping to Canada, $5 shipping to the US, or $8.50 shipping internationally

The Products: A curated selection of beads and findings centered on a theme.

Ships to: U.S. and Canada

Good to know: You will receive this towards the end of the month or the beginning of the next month if you live in the U.S. since it is shipping from Canada. (Blueberry Cove Beads did recently start using a new shipping service so now you can track your packages, though!)

Check out all of our Blueberry Cove Bead reviews and the Craft Subscription Box Directory for more great craft supply and DIY project boxes!

Keep Track of Your Subscriptions: Add this box to your subscription list or wishlist!

There isn’t a traditional information card with this box. This month’s theme was “Canada.” (This subscription ships from Canada.)

A note on prices: Items like this can come from a variety of different suppliers at many price points depending on how many you buy, etc. Even different colors of the same size and shape of glass beads are priced differently due to materials needed to make the colors! So I have opted not to provide prices in this review.

Please note that no directions are given and you have to supply your own needles, stringing materials, tools, and findings. Also, note that you will receive this towards the end of the month or the beginning of the next month if you live in the US since it is shipping from Canada. (Blueberry Cove Beads did recently start using a new shipping service so now you can track your packages, though!)

Green Cone Beads

I had originally planned to use these in my necklace this month, but it turns out they were a little too small for the look I wanted. I think they might look good on a coordinating bracelet, though.

Also, yeah, cats walk across my foam background all the time so that’s why there are so many cat hairs.

Bear Charm

I’m collecting a lot of animal-shaped one-off charms and I’m thinking of making a charm bracelet with them. This will go nicely in that.

Faceted Clear Glass Beads

These look a lot better in person but they’re partially frosted. I don’t actually have any other beads with this shape (there is kind of a large flat facet on the side), and they are a color that will go with pretty much anything, so I’m excited to have them.

Blue Gemstone Rounds

There were four sets of gemstone rounds this month. I can totally see using these blue ones with the clear glass beads for some sort of ice/snow/winter piece. I am not sure what gemstone they are (you don’t get a key) but am guessing they are dyed or color treated (which is actually quite common for gemstones).

Maple Leaf Charms

Of course you can’t have a Canada-themed box without maple leaves! These are fairly hefty antiqued brass/bronze finish charms. They didn’t end up having quite the finish I needed for my piece, but the nice thing about maple leaves is they are not exclusive to Canada-themed pieces so they will work under a lot of different circumstances.

Stone Beads

Again, I’m not sure what kind of stone these are. The drill holes are near the ends, perpendicular to the long axis of the beads, so they would work best in necklace or earring designs.

Green Gemstone Rounds

Red Gemstone Rounds

Multicolored Gemstone Rounds

I thought all of these colors went together well – lots of earth tones and warm colors. I don’t often work with semiprecious stones so I wanted to try to use these, this month. I hit upon the idea of doing a bib-style necklace and I think it worked pretty well for my first attempt. (See below.)

Silver Whale Tail Charms

Silver Fishing Boat Charms

You’ll get a fair number of charms with this subscription. The metal finishes don’t always match in any given month, but these two sets of charms have the same finish. The theme of this box really seems to be about Canada’s natural beauty, with colors reminiscent of fall foliage, green spaces, rocks, ice, and so forth, and now these two types of charms deal more with aquatic life. I’m not quite sure how I will use them yet, but I often find that if I just keep charms for a little while, the right opportunity will present itself.

Here is a bib-style necklace I made with some of the gemstone rounds as well as some gold-tone beads and brass stampings from my own collection. I was really excited to find thick brass chain in my stash – I had no idea I had it, but the weight of this necklace really called for heavier chain.

Verdict: I did not calculate a value here because it is hard to find similar items when you don’t know the precise materials the beads are made from (I do wish there was more information on the card that comes with the box, in case I find something I’d like to order more of). There were more semiprecious stones this month than usual, but I have been wanting to work with this type of bead lately and this was a great opportunity to do so. I think I can see what the box was going for with the theme and curation, and I think that came together nicely as well.

What did you think of the July 2017 Blueberry Cove Beads? Do you subscribe to any beading or craft boxes?