Season’s greetings to my Sparkle On blog readers! Thank you for your continued support. My plan for 2023 is to bring you more educational content pertaining to gems and jewelry, and I encourage you to reach out if you think of any topics you’d like me to cover. Have a passion for pearls? Curious about clasps? Whether you’re stumped as to how to style your jewelry collection, or want to know more about what’s trending, just let me know. Today’s post is all about the recent Sparkle Squad subscription boxes, and the description of the goodies therein.
Bells bells bells bells bells!
I’ve been asked so many times over the years to design jewelry with bells, and as soon as I find some really beautiful, elegant bells that would look stunning on a piece of jewelry, I will. However, the holidays are a perfect time to jingle jingle jingle, so for the December Sparkle Squad boxes, everyone gets something featuring jingle bells.
The Sparkle Dots box:
I created a special accessory just for this time of year. It’s part of a growing collection called Charmed by the Holidays Touch of Celebration purse charm, and the first of these featured a Halloween theme. Sparkle Dots subscribers received our brand new Touch of Celebration Christmas purse charm, all decked out with green and red faux pearl beads, colorful crystals, and gold tone accents. We further decorated the design with enamel holiday charms, such as a wreath, a candy cane, a snowflake, a stocking, a Christmas tree, and others. No two purse charms are exactly alike. At the bottom of the chain is a grouping of three brass jingle bells, both in shiny as well as glitter finishes. Attach our holiday handbag charm to your favorite tote, clutch, or backpack for a festive flair, and jingle all the way!
A little experiment:
Another request I frequently entertain for my Elegant Insights customers is that of offering gift wrap, or gift boxes. That certainly seems like a good idea for lots of reasons; for sending a gift to a friend or loved one, and you want your purchase to look like a gift, for when you’ve run out of birthday/Easter/Valentine’s Day (or whatever) themed gift wrap, and for convenience, when for the life of you, you cannot find the tape/ribbon/bows anywhere.
Personally, I detest gift-wrapping. I’m terrible at it, and I’ve often taken the lazy way out and used a gift bag, which is easy, popular, and a somewhat hassle-free solution. It’s also not the same as presenting a gift all decked out in finery, when you want to give something special, such as jewelry or a treasured keepsake. We wanted to offer a way you can both request that your purchase be gift boxed, but also, to offer an elegant solution to a vexing problem: What to do when you give a beautiful gift of jewelry or other small item, and don’t have appropriate gift wrapping supplies at hand?
When you order from us, we can fit up to ten items in a box, and if sent to a single address, we can ship for one flat shipping fee. But if you wanted those items gift boxed, there’s no way that more than one box would fit in the shipping packaging we use. Sure, we could just buy cheap cardboard boxes from any online retailer or jewelry packaging supplier, but all you get is a typical white box with a pad of cotton inside. I wanted to come up with something that was practical, pretty, and convenient, and would enable you to pick up a supply you could have on hand, plus matching tags with a stretchy gold cord, and best of all, easy to assemble with no tape required. So, we came up with a design that fit all my criteria, and shipped flat, we can offer packages of 5 or 10 boxes, along with tags that are large enough on which to braille emboss, or to write in large print, readable for your gift recipients who have low or no vision.
I also wanted to create a box that was attractive enough on it’s own that it would not require that you add a ribbon or bow. As a blind person, I have no idea whether or not the ribbons, bows, or tags I’m using coordinate, and keeping all the gift paraphernalia perfectly organized, braille labeled, and accessible is just not high on my list of priorities. In fact, after the holidays, I can’t get rid of all the gift-wrapping detritus fast enough, and I typically shove it all into a bag until next year. I know, TMI.
To get to the point, all subscribers get a set of our prototype gift boxes. As you know from when I first started with the Sparkle Squad, I wanted my subscribers to give me feedback on new designs, so that I could create jewelry and accessories products that work for you. This is one of those items. The boxes are a brilliant, mirror-finish metallic, I’ll offer them in a choice of gold, silver, rose gold, red, and other vibrant shades, and they will all come packaged with a matching tag. Sparkle Dots subscribers get a set of red, and Essential Elegance recipients get a set of Christmas green. Every set will have only one color in it, so you won’t have to worry if this tag goes with that box. Plus, putting the box together is a breeze. It’s already scored where the flaps fold, and you can simply insert the tabs into the slots, and voila! you’re done. If you want to add tape for more security, you can, but you don’t need anything else to put the box together. We may even add coordinating stickers when we roll these out, so even hunting for the tape won’t be necessary. You’ll be able to add a coordinating metallic sticker to seal the boxes, if you wish. The tags are on a stretchy metallic cord that you can simply wrap around the box, or attach some other way if you do want to add a ribbon or bow. So, let me know what you think of our new gift boxes.
A sweet treat:
Everyone has a few pieces of candy in their box. I had to add a candy cane, because it’s just not Christmas without candy canes. There’s a few Hershey’s mint chocolate kisses in there as well, because, you know, I Heart you.
The Essential Elegance box:
All of the Essential Elegance subscribers received a 6-piece wine glass charms set. We will be adding these to the web site for next year, but I wanted you to see them first. Each one is both visually as well as tactually distinct, as each wine glass charm features a different enamel holiday charm and seed beads. Each also has a brass jingle bell attached to a ring that wraps around the stem of your wine glass, coffee or tea cup handle, or the base of a parfait dessert glass. These wine glass charms make it easy to identify your glass from among a group of others, and they add a bit of bling to your holiday table. Each wire ring is a shiny gold, and is secured with a simple hook-and-loop closure. Every time someone picks up their glass, a little jingle jingle makes the sweet sound of the season.
That wraps up the Sparkle Squad collection for 2022. Next year, our boxes will ship on the same schedule: March 10, June 10, September 10, and December 10. If you’d like to subscribe, start here. If you have any suggestions for future boxes, feel free to drop me a note. In the meantime, I wish you and yours a joyful holiday season, and a safe, healthy, and happy New Year!
Sparkle on!
Laura