Inspiration Box Changes. Good? Bad? Who knows.

 This summer's box is volume 23. As these boxes happen quarterly, that's a mighty number, Y'all.

A lot has changed in the last almost 6 years. When I first made these, beady boxes were not a thing. For a while my boxes were super hot. Then, despite the fact that there was no inspiration box of beads before Kinga's Inspiration Box, they were suddenly everywhere. I really wish the competition would have used their own name for their own product instead of generalizing the name I came up for my baby, but hey. So does Q-Tip and Zipper and Xerox. I am in good company.I just wish the people who jumped on the band wagon would have had the originality to call their goodies something other than Inspiration Box... I also realize that I did not invent curated boxes, I just introduced them to my customers my way.

 So am I butthurt that they no longer sell like hot cake? Nope. Life is such.

It's just that I can't keep on investing thousands of dollars into supplies and shipping materials for them and hope they sell and then store them in my tiny room of a studio until they sell at a loss. It's not a good business plan. 

I am not upset with anyone who no longer buys them or only gets one once in a while. I am very grateful if they ever bought any or ever plan on getting any. It's just a matter of having to pay rent and such. If these things go on sale, it's a sure indicator that things are not going well for them. And they have been going on sale for a while. So now what?

Should I stand here shake my fists and complain about the beadiverse being unfair and unjust? Hell no. I am going to make one quarter of what I used to make. Sure I don't get the same deals on buying in quantity and Etsy raised their fees too, and so did  all my suppliers. So starting with the Fall Inspiration Box, (Not Summer, not this issue yet), the price goes up 10%.

Unless you subscribe.  Because now that is an option.:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1226948782/subscription-for-1-yearof-kingas?click_key=1056b56d9fca57a0f30d8df3ff7d00047fccd97c%3A1226948782&click_sum=7429bcfb&ref=shop_home_active_1&frs=1

You can subscribe for an entire year, and your price for this year stays the same old price, and it already includes shipping at $7, which is a flat rate, lower than what you would pay for it if you bought it individually. 

 So exactly what are the benefits of  subscribing for a year vs. buying them individually?

- You will not be effected by the $10 price increase that will take effect with the Fall edition of the box

-Your order ships before the remainder of the boxes are made available to the general  public

-You will never miss getting one. I am cutting down on producing these and there will be a lot less available than before. Chances are that they sell out if you miss them.

-You will get a special, additional item just for subscribers with every edition. I will only include things that I would personally use.

-As a thank you for your commitment to keeping this Inspiration Box effort afloat, you will get a felted pouch filled with 5 eyes from Nixcreations, 1 cabochon from my stash( varying types, but their value is between $30 and $80 each) and a Ruzanna Carter polymer clay focal. These gift wills arrive with your first box, which will be the Summer box, as shown on the pictures. It is ready to ship at the time of your purchase. For Fall, your special gift will be a pack of leather cuts, irregular sizes that would be good for smaller projects. I am not sure of Winter yet, we will cross that bridge when we get there.

                        This is what's inside the pouch. Stones vary from pouch to pouch.

                            This picture shows the variety of pouches I have in my stash.

-Your shipping price is already included in the total purchase price, so if shipping costs more, you are not charged extra. Your cost is $100 per box, $7 for shipping consistently, totaling $428.
 

Here is another picture to get your creative juices flowing about the new Summer Box. So let's see what is in this Summer box, shall we?

This is what it looks like on the outside. Matte silver envelope is what you should be looking for in your mail box.

                                                      Steampunk fishie on the outside....

                                                       Underwater magic on the inside.

   Sammy Dog and on a post card with a message covering the beads inside your box....

Beautiful Galaxy Cabs from Melody Cross, a leaf/heart shaped polymer clay focal from Ruzanna Carter, two pretty fishies from Anna Bronze: one a focal, one a clasp. Butterfly embroidery patch, lots of little embroidery flowers, a tye dye silk cord, three eyes from Nixcreations. ( These are assorted, your will be different from what you see on the pictures.) Czech shaped beads. ( Spiky buttons, Crescents, Teacups, Gingko leaves)

Two tubes (15 gram tubes) beads. The 11 mix is called Deep Sea and the 15 mix is Spring Meadow. The lever back earring findings are rhodium plated copper with CZ.  There is a stretchy fabric enough for covering a bracelet and a leather enough for a bracelet too. As the leather varies, I don't have that on this picture. 

Since I am not trying to sell hundreds of this box anymore and I have to consider not only how much money I invest in materials but how much time I spend on this project too, I am no longer offering an Inspiration Piece to go along the box. So you are on your own as to what you want to do with the beads.

After careful consideration I will keep the Facebook group dedicated to the effort open, and will keep the challenges going - for now too. I will have to restructure how many prizes are given out and at what value. That has to be in line with the decreasing sales unfortunately too.

For those of you who are reading this and are saddened: I am sad too.  I wish I could just keep on making these in huge volumes and hope they sell, just so they are there when you feel like getting one randomly. But if you like me making a living on what I love to do  which is dreaming up new bead embroidery projects for you, you will understand that I did not throw in the towel easy. I gave it 2 years before making these changes.

Also, if you don't subscribe, you can still snag one. The Summer Box for non subscribers will go on sale on June 1st at 9:00am Mountain Time. And to give you a reason to line up and get them ASAP, the first 20 people purchasing them will receive a special gift too: 3 assorted Nixcreations eyes. 

As always; thank you for your kindness, generosity and continued support. Cheers!