Our second Sparkle Squad subscription boxes have shipped, and if you’ve opened yours, here is your quarterly post describing the contents. Everyone received a piece of jewelry, but there’s a non-jewelry item in the box that I’m sure has left you mystified. It amused me to imagine your reaction as you tried to guess at its purpose. Read on!
The theme this time around is “pretty in pink,” since all of the packaging, as well as the contents, is a variation of pink or rose. The tissue paper is a metallic pink with a polka-dot pattern on it, which is Cheree’s favorite. For those of you who don’t know, Cheree is one of the artists who has worked with me over the years, making jewelry, and now, has helped me to come up with some great Sparkle Squad box packaging. In addition to the metallic tissue, Cheree made the little boxes that contains one of the items you received. The box is a gleaming rose gold foil, and Cheree used a special tool to imprint either Essential Elegance or Sparkle Dots on the boxes, then she added a “thank you” sticker. The jewelry is tucked into our usual purple satin drawstring pouch.
I’ll begin with the items that everyone received in their box, the mystery item that, if you did not immediately know what it was, you might think it was a plastic sandwich bag. No, it’s not meant for your lunch. Pull all of them out of the box, and you’ll notice there are actually two different sizes of these plastic sleeves. They are cell phone and tablet protectors.
My thinking was that with the onset of fall weather, you might find yourself out in the elements with your phone or tablet. Maybe you have to wait at a bus stop, call for a ride share vehicle, or find yourself locked out, and in the rain or snow. Or, maybe you work in an office setting with cold and flu working its way through the people in your department, or the person sharing your cubicle or desk is a germ factory. Or, maybe you find yourself surrounded by little ones with sticky fingers who want to play with your tablet. Or, maybe you just got a brand new gadget, and while you are awaiting the arrival of the new case and screen protector you ordered, you need something to protect your device.
Just slide your phone or tablet into the sleeve, fold over the top with the adhesive, and you can keep your gadget safe from the elements, dirt, fingerprints, and who knows what else. You will be able to use the touch screen while the sleeve protects your expensive tech. They are reusable, although you received 5 of each size, so keep one in your purse, desk, or kitchen drawer for those situations where you need to use the device with messy hands. You can even tuck one of them into a pocket on your phone case, if you have an expensive leather case you don’t want ruined by the rain, or you can use them to protect whatever fits in it — chargers, cords, whatever. You never know when one of these clever sleeves will come in handy.
Now, on to the jewelry!
The Essential Elegance Box
The Essential Elegance Box includes a beautiful gem station convertible necklace. It’s about 24 inches long, and the rolo link chain and toggle clasp are a gleaming stainless steel. The bead stations consist of 3 beads, a large, natural nugget-shaped rose quartz bead that is flanked by blush pink genuine freshwater pearls. Each station is separated by about 2 inches of chain.
The reason the necklace is called “convertible is that you can wear it two ways. If you wear the toggle clasp in back, the necklace is a simple and classic look. If you wear it with the toggle clasp in front, you can add a pendant to it, using an enhancer bail that clips over the ring of the toggle clasp, changing the necklace into a more casual style. We’ll have several pendants from which to choose on the Elegant Insights web site. One is an exact match to the necklace, which you can use with other chains you may already have. It features a large nugget rose quartz bead, and a little dangle grouping of the pink pearls that exactly match the necklace. Another interchangeable pendant will be a cross pendant, again, using the same pretty pink pearls from your necklace, and 8mm round rose quartz beads. We can even engrave the cross with a special message, or add a few braille characters of your choice.
The Sparkle Dots Box
The Sparkle Dots Box includes leverback dangle earrings that are an exact match to the necklace described above. They feature a stainless steel leverback finding, with a pretty little dangle of rose quartz and blush pink pearls. The overall length is about 1 and 1/2 inches. The Sparkle Dots box also contained the set of 10 gadget sleeves mentioned above.
If you want to augment your jewelry with additional items, they will be available on the Elegant Insights web site soon. If you have the earrings, the dangle drop pendant would be super cute clipped to a bracelet or neck chain you already have. If you received the necklace, the earrings are an exact match, and would be a knockout set. If you want more of the phone or gadget sleeves, I won’t be putting them up on the web site for sale, but let me know if you want more, and I’ll send you another set of 10 for just the cost of shipping.
We’re already working on the designs for the next Sparkle Squad boxes, which will ship December 10. We’ll also have a holiday gift bonus box that you can purchase for friends or family, which will include jewelry and accessories items you can keep for yourself or give away as separate gifts. We hope you love the items in your pretty pink Sparkle Squad box, and as always, don’t hesitate to drop us a note if you have any subscription box or jewelry design ideas.
Did you miss the deadline for the September Sparkle Squad subscription? We’ve got you, don’t worry. If you want to become a Sparkle Squad subscriber, start here! Or, we will have a one-time-only box available for you, if you just want to check out the boxes, and decide whether or not a subscription is for you. Look for the one-time-only box in a few weeks.
Sparkle on!
Laura
