BeadCrate Subscription Box “April in Paris” Review – April 2019

Bead Crate is a monthly subscription box for beading enthusiasts. Choose from “The Enthusiast” for $18.99 a month or “The Collector” for $35 a month. Save with longer subscriptions. You can also buy a single box to see if this subscription is for you.  

This is a review of “The Enthusiast.”

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

About BeadCrate

The Subscription Box: Bead Crate

The Cost: $18.99 a month + $5 shipping. Save with longer subscriptions.

The Products: A selection of beads curated around a monthly theme (or beads that are just cool and random).

Ships to: US (free for “The Collector,” $5 for “The Enthusiast”)

BeadCrate April 2019 “April in Paris” Review

Bead Crate is great for stash-building if you are into seed beads and Czech glass, and you’ll also usually get some useful supplies:

This letter/information sheet accompanied the shipment. This month has a lot of spring colors of Czech glass and a few silvertone charms with a French theme.

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. I couldn’t find a lot of these exact beads from common sources (e.g., Fire Mountain Gems) and it’s of questionable value to pick something similar because a slight difference in grading or size or material and you are looking at half or double the price (or an even greater difference). Even different colors of the same size and shape of glass beads are priced differently due to materials needed to make the colors!

6mm Firepolished Rounds, Matte Light Sapphire (Czech glass, 25)

You’ll usually get a variety of fire polished rounds in this subscription. I often stick to 3mm and 4mm but wanted to challenge myself to use somewhat larger beads this month, and these fit the bill nicely. I ended up with only one left!

4mm Matte Rosaline AB Rounds (Czech glass, 100)

I hoard 4mm rounds. I used a lot of these in a necklace this month but I still have a few left over for use in patterns or to make matching earrings or something. I am really liking the combination of the matte and AB finishes here.

12 x 11mm Quest Antique Pewter Fleur de Lis (USA pewter, 2)

You’ll usually get a few small charms in this subscription. I haven’t used these yet but they will be perfect in a delicate bracelet or necklace with the Eiffel tower charm (see below).

10mm Berry Jasper Coins (6)

I love these. I think they look just like some kind of candy. They are so smooth. (I am a fan of flat discs in general.) I haven’t used them yet as they seemed a bit vibrant in contrast with the pastels this month. I think I am going to try to find some coin pearls in a similar size and make a strung bracelet out of them.

3mm Firepolished Rounds, Peridot (Czech glass, 50)

These are pretty small but worked out great for what I wanted to use them for this month. They were a good size for starting a chenille stitch with 11/0 seed beads. I used all of them but two (which I will throw into my bin of other 1- and 2-off 3mm fire polished rounds for a future mixed color project).

12 x 18mm Table Cut Crystal/Rosaline Drop Window (Czech glass, 3)

These actually go really well with this month’s 4mm fire polished rounds (see next item) so I’m going to try to come up with a design using both. I think they might look good with some vintage lucite or something of that nature.

4mm Fire Polished Crystal/Rosaline Rounds (Czech glass, 50)

Since I used the 4mm druks (pressed, not faceted rounds) in my necklace, I still have these. As I said above, I think they look quite nice with the larger beads pictured directly above so I plan to try to use them together.

8 x 12mm Table Cut Light Sapphire Polished Rectangles (Czech glass, 10)

These are fun. I really like flat shapes like this, though (and discs, squares, etc.). They go with several of the other beads this month including the 6mm fire polished rounds and the squares (see below).

Toho 11/0 Seed Beads, Transparent Gray (Japanese glass, 15g)

You’ll always get seed beads in this subscription, usually Toho, usually size 11/0 or 8/0. These were great for learning chenille stitch and I used some of them in my necklace this month, which you can see below. The rest will go into my stash where I really do not have much gray already so they will fill a hole there, too. (I like to have as many colors of seed beads as possible so when I am trying to follow a pattern I can choose my larger 2-hole beads first and then just have appropriate seed beads already on hand).

9mm Light Sapphire Flat Squares (Czech glass, 25)

These are the same color as the rectangles above and I feel like I should use them together. I think a pair of simple earrings on headpins is one way to go, but I also feel like I could do a bracelet (maybe multistrand; I certainly have enough of them for that). I think these would look good with white freshwater pearls.

24 x 10mm Quest Antique Pewter Eiffel Tower Charm (USA pewter, 1)

This is how the whole box is really tied back to Paris. I am probably going to use this in a bracelet (it’s small enough for that) with the fleur de lis beads. I have not one but TWO Unique Vintage dresses with Eiffel tower prints that would go well with a bracelet like that, as a matter of fact.

8 x 10mm Bright Green Vertical Hole Leaves (Czech glass, 25)

I like to do various things with leaves, but one of them is turning them into drops by adding headpins and then making mixed metal/glass necklaces with different colors of leaves (i.e., these with antique copper, etc.). I have some branch and acorn elements that would also look good with these. That’s more of a fall thing, I know, but it’s what I think of first when I look at these.

6mm Light Rosaline Lentils (Czech glass, 50)

I have so many one-hole lentils (also 2-hole lentils and quadralentils), I really need to start looking up some things to do with them. They work well as petals in floral design elements and also in fringe. These will go great with other items in my stash (when I go to put them away I may find I already have some of this color – I wouldn’t be surprised).

Here is a necklace I made this month. I wanted to learn the chenille stitch and I figured this would be the box to do it with since this subscription typically includes a variety of rounds and/or fire polished beads as well as seed beads. My strip of chenille stitch ended up too short and bulky for a bracelet so I turned it into a necklace. This stitch was really easy and I can’t believe I never tried it before. You will probably see it again in other bead box reviews. If you want to learn it, check out this book, which is a great reference for lots of different stitches.

Verdict: I did not calculate a value for Bead Crate, as explained above in my note about prices. If you divide the cost of the box plus shipping by the number of items (I counted 13), you get about $1.84 per item. I got the opportunity to try out a new beadweaving stitch, which was something I wanted to do anyway and was able to use four different items from the box in the process (but I still have a lot left with which to make other pieces of jewelry).

Please note that no directions are given and you have to supply your own needles, stringing materials, tools, and findings.

To Wrap Up:

Can you still get this box if you sign up today? No, your subscription would start with the May box. Destash items and excess inventory (and sometimes whole boxes) may occasionally be available in the BeadCrate Etsy shop.

Value Breakdown: At $23.99 for this subscription (counting shipping), you are paying about $1.84 per item.

Check out my past Bead Crate reviews and more of our favorite Arts & Crafts subscription boxes!

Keep track of your subscriptions: Add this box to your subscription list or wishlist!

What did you think of the April 2019 Bead Crate?  Do you subscribe to any beading or craft boxes?