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Blueberry Cove Beads Subscription Box Review – July 2018

Ragan Buckley
ByRagan BuckleyJul 24, 2018 | 1 comment

closed Blueberry Cove box

Blueberry Cove Beads
4.8 overall rating
4 Ratings | 2 Reviews

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.)

Blueberry Cove Beads July 2018 Review

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 July 2018 Review

Blueberry Cove Beads shipments always center around a theme. This month had a rainstorm theme:

There isn’t a traditional information card with this box. This month’s challenge was to make a necklace inspired by drops of rain.  (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!)

Blue and White Marbled Accent Beads

There were a lot of what I’d call “accent beads” this month, or longish strands rounds in shades of blue and gray. I haven’t used these yet because the blue is brighter than I was going for in my project this month, but these will be easy to match up to something in my stash (I have a lot of blue seed beads and firepolished beads, for example).

Silver Tone Centerpiece

Silver Tone Centerpiece

I don’t really know what to call this but I like it, a lot. I knew that I wanted to use it this month. I was hoping to set flatback stones and cabochons in the silver depressions but I couldn’t find the size I needed so I came up with something else instead. I think it worked. You can see my idea below. I wonder where I can find more of these or other similar items?

Ceramic Rounds

I think these are ceramic. They actually go pretty well with the first beads shown, and the bits of gray are decent bridges to some of the beads to follow with more gray in them. There were a handful of larger bead types in this box, but there were more of these than of some of the others. I wonder if I can dig up some smoky quartz and aquamarine to go with these?

Ceramic Rounds

I really am not sure what these are made of so I am just assuming they are ceramic. But they could be some kind of painted or dipped glass, as well. Anyway, they make me think of denim. I guess it’s the color. I would use these with plain accent beads so the interesting pattern here was really showing.

Chinese Crystal Drops

Chinese Crystal Drops

I am making an assumption about the material here since this box does not come with a materials list (though I wish it did!). (But it is an educated assumption!) Anyway, these were, again, a bit of a brighter blue than I was going for, but I have several trays of Chinese crystal beads, including many in similar colors, so I know these will go to use soon.

Faceted Rounds

I don’t have any idea what these are made of. Possibly some kind of stone? At any rate, the faceting on these provides an interesting textural difference when compared to all the rounds. I think they might look nice with the first set of ceramic rounds pictured above.

Silver Tone Bead Frames

These could be used in pendants (they’re pretty big, quite possibly too big/heavy for earrings, if other beads are included with them). These are sort of like bead frames, although you’d probably have a piece of wire with multiple beads going down the middle instead of just one. I don’t know how I will use these yet so they are going into my stash until I get an idea.

Glass Fringe Beads

Glass Fringe Beads

These look like something from one of the major bead manufacturers (Miyuki?) or something meant to imitate that style, but I couldn’t tell you for sure what they are called without spending a lot of time with a magnifying glass and my stash. At any rate, this is a type of bead commonly used for beaded fringe and that is probably how these will eventually end up.

Glass Accent Beads

These are dark gray/black glass round with a gray or silver line pattern on them. I used some of these in my necklace this month since I was sticking with non-bright (I hesitate to call them dreary, though) colors so as not to take anything away from the centerpiece.

Glass Accent Beads

Glass Accent Beads

This is another strand of glass accent beads. You can see in the necklace below that these are a bit smaller in diameter than some of the other accent beads. This color fits well into the color palette I’ve been buying lately so I know I have lots to match these in my stash for future projects.

Silver Tone Drops

I don’t really know what to call these. They are large-hole beads so they could go over a heavier cord. This month, all the metal tones matched (they were this silver tone, though almost certainly not actual silver at this price point), which is not always the case, so it is helpful to have findings in a variety of finishes if you subscribe to this box.

Glass Accent Beads

Here are another dark gray accent beads with detailing; this time, the embellishments are black speckles. I used these in my necklace this month, where you can see that they are not exactly the same color as the other dark gray accent beads, and they sort of bridge the gap between the colors of the two other accent bead types I used. I might make a matching bracelet with some of the leftover beads.

Here is a necklace I made this month. I started out with the idea to glue Swarovski flatback stones and cabochons in the silvertone centerpiece, but I couldn’t actually find the cabochons I was looking for (they will turn up when I least expect it – yesterday I found all my Czech glass buttons with shanks after 9 months of searching) so instead I put some Zoya Pixie Dust nail polish in the depressions. I think it turned out better than I expected.

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 12 items (if I counted right) so you are paying about $2.25 an item once you factor in the cost of shipping. I think that is reasonable, especially since there were quite a few more glass beads than usual (and they were of somewhat better quality than past months’ accent beads).

To Wrap Up:

Can you still get this box if you sign up today? No, your first box would be August'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: At $27 for this box, including shipping, you are paying about $2.25 per item.

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 June 2018 Blueberry Cove Beads? Do you subscribe to any beading or craft boxes?

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Ragan Buckley
Ragan Buckley
Ragan stumbled across My Subscription Addiction in late 2013 and immediately subscribed to way too many beauty boxes. She's now focused on boxes for her cats and dog, vegan/vegetarian food boxes, and craft subscriptions (and she didn't give up beauty boxes entirely).

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1 comment

Darya

I always scroll down first to see what you made, you’re so creative!

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