Blueberry Cove Beads Subscription Box Review – March 2018

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 paid for this box. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes.)

About Blueberry Cove Beads

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!)

Blueberry Cove Beads March 2018 Review

Blueberry Cove Beads shipments always center around a theme. This month was inspired by a First Nations tribe (Blueberry Cove Beads ships out of Canada):

There isn’t a traditional information card with this box. This month’s challenge was to use the seed beads and I actually did this month! (I don’t always do the challenges.)

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!)

Small Stone Bears

I am calling these “small” because there is a larger bear in this shipment as well. These are nicely matched for earrings (and not too heavy) and they coordinate well with some of the seed beads, also.

Silvertone Crow Beads

I am calling these crow beads because that’s the word I learned for really big seed beads, way back when. But they do have a little decorative detail on the surface, as well. I am contemplating using these with the horn/bone (not sure the material) tubes down below.

Twine

This is a good size for going through some of the larger-hole beads in this month’s shipment. You could do macramé although there’s not much of this for knotting, so it may be better for stringing. This is not rough like hemp twine (or at least, much less so) so it will be more comfortable against the skin.

Feather Charms

How fun. I like to use feathers sometimes but attaching them to the rest of the jewelry is always difficult. These already have hardware attached so all you have to do is add a jump ring. These would be good in earrings although they wouldn’t show up around my black hair at all, so I may either use them in a gift for someone with lighter or shorter hair, or in a necklace, instead.

Antique Bronze-tone Bird Charms

These are small enough and lightweight enough for a charm bracelet or for use in earrings. Although the metal tones in a given month don’t always match, these do look good next to the dreamcatchers (see below).

Patina Copper Pendant

I love copper with unique colors. (I’ve played around with adding my own colors to some, but nothing looks good enough to share just yet.) I actually have a lot of beads in my stash that coordinate well with this, so this will be going in a necklace with some of those.

Large Hematite (?) Bear Pendant

I’m just guessing on the material here. (For what it’s worth, most hematite in jewelry supplies is synthetic.) Anyway, this could work in a bear-themed piece or set with the small bears, or could be used independently as well. You are limited in your choice of metal tone by the presence of the bail, however.

Multicolored Seed Beads

I’m going to guess that these are not Japanese, based on the uniformity (which was OK but not great). However, they are good for a more organic look. I did not take them out of the plastic for this photo because there is nothing I hate quite like picking up seed beads and putting them back in a little baggie. This month’s challenge was to use them in a piece of jewelry and you can see what I came up with below.

Silvertone Links with Turquoise

This is almost certainly imitation turquoise (real turquoise is EXPENSIVE and hard to find and doesn’t look quite this uniform). But honestly, that is not a problem. These would be good in earrings or on either side of a pendant in a simple necklace.

Green Rounds

You’ll usually get a few strands of accent beads with a Blueberry Cove Beads shipment. This month, we got these greenish-colored ones. I haven’t used them yet, but I think they will look nice with some brass, actually, and I’ve recently bought a lot of brass for my stash, so I’m sure I’ll think of a project soon.

Wood Beads

I think these are wood? (Or possibly cork, or coconut shell, or something of that nature.) They are super lightweight and I used them in some earrings this month.

Antique Brass-tone Dreamcatchers

These have little loops for adding dangles. As it happens, I have a lot of feather charms that would look great with these. They are a little too big for my taste in earrings but they’re not super heavy so if you like bigger earrings, you could certainly use them that way. You could also add some seed beads for color.

Horn (or Bone) Cylinders

Since the information card doesn’t list the items, I really have no idea what some of them are made of. However, when I have seen beads like this in the past, typically the white and off-white ones are bone and the black and reddish-brown ones are horn. These would look good with some of the “crow” beads from up above, and can be strung on the twine.

Imitation Turquoise Beads

I don’t know what to call these, maybe center-drilled dog bones? These are probably magnesite or howlite (and I don’t have enough of either of those in my stash to say for sure which these are). This strand is substantial and heavy and I probably wouldn’t make a whole piece of jewelry with these, but just add in a few as accents here and there.

Round Silvertone Beads

These match the “crow” beads from up above and also have a little pattern stamped into them. I used a few in earrings but I have some left over to try other projects with.

I felt like making some brick stitch earrings with the seed beads. I had to remind myself how to do brick stitch as it has been like 20 years since I last tried, but I think they turned out well in spite of that (and in spite of the fact I ran out of Fireline and had to use Nymo instead).

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 15 items (if I counted right) so you are paying about $1.80 an item once you factor in the cost of shipping. I think that is reasonable, especially since the imitation turquoise beads were so large and heavy.

To Wrap Up:

Can you still get this box if you sign up today? No, your first box would be April's. From Blueberry Cove Beads:

Members are billed on the 3rd of each month and boxes are mailed out around the 9th of the month.

Sometimes leftover monthly boxes show up in the Blueberry Cove Beads shop and they occasionally have sales, too!

Value Breakdown: This box cost me $22 + $5 shipping, which means that each of the 15 items in the box has an average cost of $1.80.

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!

What did you think of the March 2018 Blueberry Cove Beads? Do you subscribe to any beading or craft boxes?