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 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.)
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: the US and Canada
Blueberry Cove Beads May 2019 Review
Blueberry Cove Beads shipments always center around a theme. This month’s theme was “Childhood Daydreams”:
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!)
Plastic Candy Beads
These are cute for novelty beads. I did actually use them to make a bracelet. I can see how they would appeal to a kid, too, so I suppose they are right on theme for a childhood-centered box.
Silvertone Cat-in-Moon Charms
You’ll usually receive a few different charms with this subscription, but the metal tones won’t always match. These would work for some earrings if there weren’t many other components (add much more and they’d get heavy) or you could make a pair of matching necklaces and use them as pendants (something useful if you don’t want two people fighting over the same item – I have a younger sister and we fought over things all the way through high school…).
Frosted Multicolored Glass Rounds
I also used these in a bracelet this month, which you can see below, although I have a few left over. I like the vibrant colors of these.
Silvertone “Live Your Dream” Charms
I feel like this is the kind of thing you might use ONE of so it is a little weird to get so many. I also sort of feel like these could be adapted for scrapbooking or use in non-jewelry beaded items like bookmarks or purse charms. I, personally, don’t like words on my jewelry, so I would probably use these to make a gift.
Opalescent Glass Rounds
You’ll usually receive a few strands of accent beads in any given month. These are a milky, opalescent color of glass (they don’t have the weight of stone). I used some of these in a bracelet.
Silvertone Butterfly Heart Charms
These are some of my favorite items for the month and it is probably because they would work for adult pieces, too. (I don’t have kids or spend time around kids, so kid-themed things are often a miss for me.) I think you could wire some seed beads in there to add color if you wanted.
Antique Brass Horse Charms
I was never one of those kids who wanted a pony (one tried to eat my hair on a preschool trip to a farm, and I’ve never been good at riding horses, either) but I know a surprisingly large number of people who own horses and these would be great in a gift for a horse-lover.
Pearlized Beads
I am pretty sure these are some kind of plastic because they are quite lightweight, and it appears the coating was applied after the beads were temporarily strung (it does reduce hole size on some of them, but none were stuck together). I used some of these in a bracelet this month as well.
Glass Pendant
This is kind of cool. I think it could be good in a simple strung necklace with some green beads in matching colors.
Plastic Rainbow Beads
These didn’t make it into the first picture. The baggie stuck to the inside of the black bag and they are so lightweight, I didn’t realize they were still in there. They fell out later so I snapped a photo for you. I don’t really have a lot of good ideas for using these but they would be good for inexpensive Pride-themed jewelry (since June is LGBT pride month).
Enameled Rainbow Charms
I am not sure how I would use these, but I do think they are adorable. They are small enough for earrings or for use in a kid’s charm bracelet.
Resin Flower Pendant
I wasn’t sure this would come out in a photo but it actually looks pretty good. (I think this is resin but the flower could also be glued between glass cabochons.) This would be great in some minimalist jewelry by just stringing it on a silvertone chain to match the bezel.
Purple (Plastic?) Stars
These are very lightweight. Sorry, I am not very specific about materials but this box doesn’t come with a materials list. They do provide one after the shipment but you can only access it in a Facebook group and I don’t have a Facebook account so I can’t see it. Anyway, I used some of these in a bracelet as well.
I was struggling to come up with ideas for this month so in the end, I just made some casual stretch bracelets. They make me think of rave kandi, to be honest. (This is something I encountered on Etsy when searching for jewelry supplies. I am not interested in actually attending a rave.)
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 (if I counted right) so you are paying about $2.08 an item once you factor in the cost of shipping. This was not the best month for me. This can happen from time to time with Blueberry Cove Beads, if the theme isn’t up your alley. I am not really into kid-oriented things (I don’t have kids and choose not to spend time around other people’s kids) and I felt like there was kind of a lot of plastic this month. Although I can get into some vintage Lucite and acrylic, plastic is not a material you’ll find much of in my bead collection.
To Wrap Up:
Can you still get this box if you sign up today? No, your first box would come in June. 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 about $2.08 per item.
Check out more Blueberry Cove Beads reviews, and our favorite arts and crafts boxes!
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What did you think of the May 2019 Blueberry Cove Beads? Do you subscribe to any beading or craft boxes?
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