Blueberry Cove Beads Subscription Box Review – December 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 Products: A curated selection of beads and findings centered on a theme.

The Cost: $27 ($22 for the subscription + $5 shipping)

Ships to: US and Canada

Blueberry Cove Beads December 2018 Review

Blueberry Cove Beads shipments always center around a theme. This month’s theme was “Town in Winter”:

There isn’t a traditional information card with this box (i.e., you don’t get an item list). The card typically contains a photo or piece of art on one side and information about the theme on the other.

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 if you live in the US since it is shipping from Canada. (Blueberry Cove Beads uses the Chitchats shipping service so now you can track your packages, though!)

Agate (?) Rounds

I don’t know what kind of stone these really are because the information card doesn’t say, and I don’t have access to the Facebook group where the materials list is posted (because I don’t have a Facebook account). Hence the guess. They could also be Jasper instead. Anyway, I like the earthy colors here – they actually do make me think of winter, probably because I live in Georgia and you can see similar colors if you have a bit of exposed red clay dirt, some evergreen trees, etc. (In other words, if you look in my backyard right now…)

Brown Cylinders #1

These were difficult to photograph, sorry about that. I am not sure what the material is. But they make me think of sticks or tree limbs and I think they might look nice with some leaf beads – you could go with either green or some fall colors.

Small Stone (?) Cubes

I love these. They are faceted although not terribly regular in shape and they are small and cute and I also like the color. I used some of them in a necklace this month.

Brown Cylinders #2

These are a bit smaller than the cylinders on the strand and I think they are ceramic. I would probably use them in a similar way to the other ones.

Gunmetal Filigrees

I like the scrolls here, but I didn’t use them this time because I just don’t have that much in my collection in a gunmetal finish. (Maybe I need to buy a few things?) I can get behind mixed metal pieces when they are done deliberately, but I don’t care for “eh, close enough” when I use, say, black because I don’t have anything with a shiny dark gray finish.

Howlite (?) Rounds

These have the look of howlite but they are not very heavy. They have something of a matted appearance that does kind of remind me of snow (or maybe a light dusting of snow over a stone or concrete surface).

Large Red Beads

I have no idea what these are made of (they are kind of heavy so maybe some type of stone; they don’t have the feel of ceramic). I do think they are festive and cheery and I am going to try to use them in something with the yellow beads below, which are of a similar size.

Round Brown Beads

These may or may not be ceramic. There are a lot of round beads this month and I will probably take all the extras and put them on headpins and use them as necklace or bracelet dangles together, because the colors do work well together.

Silvertone Snowflake Charms

You’ll often get a few charms in Blueberry Cove Beads. They always match the theme quite well, although they won’t often have the same metal tone (remember the filigree links above were gunmetal, whereas these are more of an antique silvertone). These are lightweight and a good size for a charm bracelet (maybe with some of the howlite beads from up above?).

Speckled Round Beads

I can see incorporating these into a winter piece or using them in something more modern and colorful (they kind of make me think of abstract art). I *think* these are ceramic but again, that is just a guess.

Streaked Round Beads

These have the same colors as the ones up above but they are smaller and I think they are probably some type of painted or dyed glass. If you are into pairing different patterns of the same colors, these would work well in a piece of jewelry with the ones from above, or I think they’d also be an interesting contrast with the howlite.

White Rounds

These are again ceramic (I think) and although they are a pure white, I like the cracks in the glaze, which provide an interesting texture. I will probably use these in a piece with some of the other larger rounds from this shipment.

Yellow Ceramic Beads

These are quite large and I think they would look good in something festive with the red beads (not exactly this month’s theme, but sometimes in winter you just need a few bright colors).

Here is a necklace I made with the agate (?) rounds and the little green cubes. I used black chain and findings because the street lamps in the photo on the information card made me think of wrought iron. This is a pretty simple necklace but I wanted something I could wear to the office without looking like I am getting ready to go to some flashy event. (It is fun to make more statement-like pieces but ones like this will get worn more often…)

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 13 items so you are paying about $2.08 an item once you factor in the cost of shipping. There were a lot of round beads this month but those are sometimes the easiest ones to come up with uses for. Also, I really liked the small cubes.

To Wrap Up:

Can you still get this box if you sign up today? No, your first box would come in December. However, 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 $2.08 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 December 2018 Blueberry Cove Beads? Do you subscribe to any beading or craft boxes?