Etsy Love: Handmade Jewelry

I love sharing the amazing things that handmade artists make.  Click each photo below to go to the item on Etsy.  These are four pieces of jewelry that I love.

Wire Wrapped Copper Ring - $19

Garden Quartz Necklace - $28-$32

Titanium Crystal Point Necklace - $10

Vintage Floral Bouquet Bird Bracelet - $24.50

Honeybee Alley Jewelry Inspiration #1: Nature

The main inspiration for my jewelry since I started an Etsy shop in 2011 has been nature.  I have always loved the outdoors and I grew up in a small town on the edge of a national forest.  One of my absolute favorite things in nature is wildflowers.  They're so different from one another and yet all so beautiful.  Here are a few pictures that inspire my jewelry.  I could only find the source for one of them, so please let me know if you took one of these pictures and I will add you as the photographer.

Image via

You can shop my nature inspired jewelry at https://www.honeybeealley.com/shop

Lessons from my Chronic Illness

Living with a chronic illness means your life might not be how you thought it would, maybe not even how you want it to be.  It takes time to adjust but here are some of the things my chronic illnesses have taught me.

1. Doing nothing is a perfectly fine way to spend your time.

I always used to feel like I had to something "productive" every day, even when I was sick and it always just ended with me getting worn out and, consequently, even sicker.  I have learned that sometimes the best thing I can do for myself is rest and relax for a day, or even a week, instead of overdoing it.

2. You have to take care of yourself before you can take care of others.

I love to help people.  I want to do everything I can do in the world to make it a better place for everyone to live in.  Even without a chronic illness that is too much work for one person.  I have learned that I can't help every single cause in the world and that I can't help any cause if I'm too sick or tired.  I take care of myself first and then use extra energy and time to help others with chronic illness and/or mental health issues through my handmade jewelry.

3. Self care is wonderful for your mental health.

When my depression starts creeping in, despite my anti-depressant medication, I make sure to do some small act of self care.  Sometimes I even have to force myself to do it, or have Jordan get me to do it because I just don't want to, but after I do I feel a little bit better.  If I can notice as soon as the depression starts creeping in forcible self care helps me chase it off instead of sinking into the pit of despair.  If my depression goes too long unaddressed I'll feel like I don't even deserve to be happy or feel better so it's way harder to make myself do things to make myself feel better.

4.  Make the most of each good day and they will help you make it through the bad days.

The good days help the bad days more bearable.  I look for the good in every day because there is some good in every day, no matter how sick or tired you get.

5. I am so much stronger than I ever realized.

I have been through so much and I'm still here.  I have been through days, months, years that healthy people could never dream of.  I keep going because it's that or sink into depression and then still be sick anyway but feeling even worse because of depression.  So I make the best of each day and remind myself of all of the things I've made it through in the past.

6. There are going to be hard times but I'm not going through this alone.

The chronically ill community on Twitter and on Instagram have helped me through so much.  I feel so much support from everyone who is going through their own stuff and I hope I can help them through their hard days too.  We are stronger together.  Chronic illness is not a competition.  Everyone's pain is valid because they feel it.

7.
To accept my life with its ups and downs without feeling like I got ripped off or it's not fair.

I can still have a good life, and a happy life, even though I have a chronic illness.  Chronic illness is so tough but I wouldn't trade my life for one without it.  My chronic illness has made me the person I am today and I don't want to know who I would have been without it.

I Don't Have FND?

So on June 26 this happened:



And now I'm thinking that I definitely don't have FND, functional neurological disorder for those of you who haven't seen my last post.  Basically FND is caused by stress and your symptoms get worse when you're more stressed.  I was extra stressed on the day that I started being able to walk again and I've been able to walk ever since.  I definitely overdid it on the day I started being able to walk again, but I don't regret it.  My legs were so sore the day after that.  I've been walking just a little bit each day and using my wheelchair the rest of the time so my leg muscles can get built up slowly.

As far as what I have that makes my legs stop working sometimes?  I don't know for sure but it seems like gluten ataxia could be the culprit.  I thought that I just discovered gluten ataxia on June 26 of this year but a look back at my Facebook page showed me that I learned about it last year and then I completely forgot, because brain fog.  As far as brain fog is concerned that lifted too when I started being able to walk again.  If you've seen those Claritin clear commercials it's kind of like that.  The world was just in a fog all of the days that I couldn't walk and then on the worst brain fog days it was more like being underwater.  So now I am relearning how to walk and trying to get my stomach nonsense figured out.  I have a gastric emptying test on Friday and have been eating mostly only liquid foods for a month because solid foods haven't been digesting.

Processing my New Diagnosis

I have a diagnosis: Functional neurological disorder

"Functional neurological disorder (FND) is a condition in which patients experience neurological symptoms such as weakness, movement disorders, sensory symptoms and blackouts. The brain of a patient with Functional Neurological Disorder is structurally normal, but functions incorrectly." - Wikipedia

Basically what's happening, as the neurologist explained it, is my brain stopped sending messages to my legs for some reason. She said it's like if your computer freezes and you have to reboot it. I will be going through a process of both cognitive behavioral therapy and physical therapy to identify stress triggers and learn how to respond to them and also to learn how to trick my legs into doing what I want them to. It may take a very very long time but it is possible for me to get better. I am definitely willing to put in the work required.

I've had this for at least 6 years so it will take a long time to get better, maybe even years.  And it's weird to me because I should be happy that I can get better, and I am, but at the same time I had accepted the fact that I may never get better and I even believed that I would never get better but I was okay with that.  And I was used to it.  I connected with other people like me who have illnesses that there is no cure for.  And we supported each other and helped each other through the tough times.  And I still have a chronic illness but I kind of feel guilty because I can get better but so many of my friends can't.  It's almost like I don't know who I am anymore again.  I have gotten used to being sick all of the time and as weird as it sounds a future where I'm healthy seems a little bit scary.  I guess that's my anxiety and my difficulty responding to change.  I think that what scares me more is that if I don't get healthy then it's kind of my fault.  I'm honestly still processing everything and there are a lot of emotions involved and I don't understand all of them.

I am very grateful for all of the people who support me no matter what happens, for the community of chronically ill people who include me despite the specifics of my illness.  One of my first feelings was that I don't know where I fit in anymore but they assured me that I fit in there no matter what happens.  My immediate future holds a lot of pain, ups and downs, but also hope.  And all of the people who are happy with me during my ups and encourage me during my downs will help me get through this.

Easy Ways to Practice Self Care

If you've been on the internet and have a chronic illness or mental health difficulties (or even if you don't) you've probably seen people talk about self care.  There are all these lists of things you can do to take care of yourself and help yourself fell better over time.  And they're good suggestions and they do work, but here's the big issue: you have to be motivated enough to do the things.  When you have a chronic illness and you're having a low energy day or when you have mental health issues and you're lacking motivation it's really hard to actually do those things on the lists.  Real life example: yesterday my depression was pretty bad and my anxiety was really bad.  In my head I knew that self care would help me but I also lacked the motivation to do any of those things, such as make myself a cup of tea, do a face mask, turn on my favorite music, so I didn't do any of it.  The other huge problem is that when you're really depressed you might feel like you don't actually deserve to feel better so you just won't do anything that might help you feel better.  For these situations I have come up with a sort of self care cheat sheet.  This is a list of the easiest possible things I could think of that can help you feel just a little bit better.  It's great for low-energy days or days where you're lacking motivation.  I am personally going to try to do at least one of these things every day.  Some days you might be able to do every single one since they're things that don't require a lot of energy or motivation, and none of them cost any money!  So here it is, my list of small ways to feel a little bit better every day:

Drink water, go outside if even for just a minute (if you can't bring yourself to go outside, look out a window at outside for even just a minute), do something nice for someone else (even if it's just sharing someone's post online with your friends), take deep breaths when it gets difficult, rest when you need to. If you didn't do so well today try again tomorrow. Remember you're not alone.

Read more mental health blog posts like this one at my new blog: https://www.honeybeealley.com/blog

Life Lately #1

I'll be posting these every so often as a sort of check-in post to share what I've been up to lately.  These photos are mostly from my Instagram.

sketches of my crystals

new fashion: damask Nightmare Before Christmas long sleeve shirt that is so soft, and wheelchair gloves

my "office", love these big windows

bookshelf! still waiting to find the perfect bookends

one of my woven projects; originally made this for a friend but I tied it too tight at the ends, after taking this photo, and it squished the feather so I kept it instead

new products in my Etsy shop: spiral end hair pins and bracelet helpers

organized my stones and re-discovered some real beauties from before I knew stone names, including some on my wishlist: ocean jasper and crazy lace agate

one of my favorite decorated spaces in our new apartment; don't you just love the brick walls?!  This is my woodland animals corner with a ceramic owl, metal deer, sculpted wire bird and a rabbit skull

We moved in October and I love our new apartment so much.  The natural light makes taking product photos super easy, and I love how there is actually a space for all of our stuff.  We have so many cupboards and closets!  And the bathtub has made my life about 1000% better every day that I have super sore muscles.  I need to get more bath bombs though because I have used up just about all of the ones I had.

Makeup Favorites

I rarely wear makeup because certain conditions have to be met so I can.  In order to put make up on for the day I have to be staying at home and not planning to do a whole lot that's productive.  I have very little energy on a daily basis and most of it gets used wheeling myself around the house throughout the day in my wheelchair.  Most days I save the extra energy for working on my Etsy shop.  On the rare day that I have to leave the house I save my extra energy for riding the bus and interacting with people.  But on a day where I have nothing to do but relax and watch Netflix I like to play with makeup.  I don't have a whole lot of makeup.  I don't have any blush or bronzer, but I do what I can with what I have.  On those low-energy days it's always nice to look in the mirror and see my made up face and not feel quite so worn out.  Since I don't have a lot of makeup I don't have a lot of favorites but I do have a few, so here they are.

Brija Cosmetics:  a small business where all of the makeup and skincare products are made by one hardworking lady; everything is 100% vegan, gluten free, cruelty free, and dye free

The first thing I purchased from Brija Cosmetics was the blogger pack, which included four mystery products and one full-size eyeshadow of my choice.  I was immediately in love with the products.  They are so pigmented and wear wonderfully.  They never make my skin break out worse which is super important to me.  I purchased the Halloween Heroes(ish) Eyeshadow collection next and it is amazing.  First of all, the products are all based on characters from some of my favorite movies like Coraline, Hocus Pocus, and The Nightmare Before Christmas.  Second, the shadows are super unique shades but very versatile.

If I had to choose my favorite products from Brija Cosmetics that I've tried so far I would have to pick Lace Dresses eyeshadow, Glorious Morning Magic eyeshadow, and ESPN highlight.  I highly recommend all of three of these.  They're the ones I reach for just about every time I wear makeup.  Brianna is always coming out with new collections and her new Glamour to Go 2 collection is definitely on my wishlist.  I'll definitely blog about any products I buy from her in the future.

Glorious Morning Magic

Moon Glimmer Cosmetics: This is a cruelty-free makeup brand on Etsy.  Jordan's mom bought me a really pretty highlight from this shop and I love it.  It's the Persephone shade from this listing.  They also have it as a pressed highlighter if you like that better than a loose powder.  It is an absolutely gorgeous color.  It's super pigmented with great reflect and lasts all day.  I love swiping a little bit on my cheeks and feeling just a little bit magical when I see my reflection.  This shop has so many gorgeous shades of eyeshadow and highlighter and I definitely want to try more.  I am all about a good color reflect.  There's even a shadow that reminds me of my favorite stone, labradorite, with a grey base and stunning blue reflect.  That one is definitely on my wishlist.  Seriously, is it not stunning?

So those are really my only makeup favorites at the moment.  Some of the things on my wishlist include a good liquid foundation, the Real Techniques diamond makeup sponge, and Tarte lipstick, as well as pretty much any blush and bronzer.  I just signed up for Glambot so I have my eye on a few products there.  If you don't know about Glambot it's a site where you can sell certain kinds of makeup as well as buy makeup.  The makeup they receive is thoroughly sanitized before they sell it and it's a great way to get some cash if you clean out the makeup you don't use.  You can use my referral link to get $10 to use when you sign up.

Online Shopping for Special Diets

I was going to talk about Vitacost in my post about my favorite discoveries of 2016, but it really needed its own post, so here it is!  I actually learned about the amazingness that is Vitacost.com through the Youtube channel of the girl who makes Brija Cosmetics.  She had a video with a gluten free Vitacost haul of some really yummy looking foods and I had to check out the site.  I had heard of Vitacost before, but I thought it was an online drugstore type of site and it is that but so much more.  If you have any kind of specialty diet you can sort their groceries by those, and even more than one at a time!  For a few months I went without dairy entirely because it seemed to be upsetting my stomach, but then I learned that it's really just everything upsetting my stomach again (but that's not really important here).  During those months I loved being able to go to Vitacost.com and filter the food so I was only seeing things that were gluten free and dairy free.  They have the most specialty diet filters I have ever seen on a website, including Chemical Free, Soy Free, and Yeast Free.  There are so many products and they're always a lower price than anywhere else.  They also have sales all of the time, and every time you order you get a 10% off discount code for your next order.  I am not sponsored by them in any way; I just seriously love their site and know others can benefit from it too.

I think I've ordered boxes of food from them six times since discovering the site halfway through last year and I have also ordered my vitamins from them.  If you're gluten free these are my must-try products from Vitacost:

Vana Life Foods legume bowls, Pamela's Whenever bars, Seapoint Farms edamame snacks, St. Dalfour French Bistro beans and corn, and Daiya dairy free mac and cheese.

if I had to choose just one favorite this would be it

How I Spent My Christmas

Jordan and I had a nice little relaxed Christmas.  I had been sick and in bed with a cold for the previous two weeks and my parents' house had tons of snow so we didn't travel.  We didn't really do anything for Christmas other than opening presents.  We didn't have a tree either but did hang the few ornaments we had on our coat rack.  I got some amazing Christmas presents from my parents and from Jordan's parents.  Jordan and I exchanged gifts way before Christmas because we just can't wait when it comes to giving each other presents.  He got me season 1-6 of Adventure Time and I got him some chapsticks, including pizza flavor which he adores.  They're from Etsy and the scents on these are seriously so spot on, it's amazing!  Check out all of their chapsticks in their shop.  The peanut butter and marshmallow fluff and the strawberries and champagne are also amazing scents.  Besides that I only had enough money to get my little cousins handmade blanket scarves and none of the adults in my family presents, because I am forever broke.

I got a lot of presents and only photographed a few but here they are:

the cutest fleece lined leggings from my mom, love them so much!

an aragonite crystal for my collection from Jordan's mom, so pretty!

These adorable buttons from Etsy; they didn't open and close properly but after some fiddling with my jewelry pliers they do.  They are honestly so cute and maybe this was just a bad batch but I'm not going to link to the shop because of that fact.

My 25th Birthday and Etsy Sale

Yesterday I turned 25.  For my birthday I got dressed up and did my hair and makeup and then I stayed home and relaxed.  I was going to watch Tim Burton movies because that's pretty much my birthday tradition/favorite special day activity but Jordan and I got about halfway through Ed Wood, which we had never seen, and then fell asleep.  I just wasn't feeling movies a whole lot yesterday.  After our nap I watched a whole bunch of 2 Broke Girls and finished season 1.

My mom sent me a bag full of Christmas (haha, I mean birthday) presents and I opened them all yesterday morning.  She got me some jewelry supplies, 2 king size Pay Day candy bars, and an amazing adult coloring book (by this great artist lady, it's the Lost Ocean coloring book) with a pack of twist up colored pencils.  Jordan got me the new Dropkick Murphy's CD for my birthday but I got it the day it came out as a great surprise from him, because he pre-ordered it for me.

I intended to have pork chops and dairy free gluten free Daiya mac and cheese for dinner, but the pork chops hadn't thawed so I'll cook them today instead.  I had mac and cheese for dinner and treated myself to a Toblerone bar.

All in all, it was a pretty laid back birthday but it was great and exactly the sort of birthday I like to have.  Here are my pictures from the day:

I had Jordan take photos of my hair since this hairpin is a new item I'm making to list in my shop.

The thing that I was most excited about my birthday for is my annual birthday sale in my Etsy shop.  Every year I have a sale for the percent off of the age I'm turning, so this year for five more days everything in my Etsy shop is 25% off.  Here are some of the things on sale, all handmade by myself:

My Favorite Discoveries of 2016

This year has been kind of crazy.  I finally moved out of the terrible apartment building I was in, despite all of the stressful obstacles in the world trying to stop me.  Jordan and I moved into a nice apartment with a kitchen and a bathtub and a balcony!  I stopped being able to walk again, but this place is handicapped accessible.  I also found out that dairy makes me sick, so after trying to only eat it rarely I have cut it out completely.  So without further ado, these are a few of my favorite things that I've discovered in 2016.

Food:

Daiya Mac n Cheese: I want a lifetime supply of this.  So far I've only had one box and I immediately wanted more.  If you're not a big fan of sharp cheese this is like the perfect mac and cheese taste.

FeelGoodFoods Vegetable Dumplings: I found these at Safeway and bought one box, because gluten free foods are extremely hit-or-miss.  I devoured the whole box and the next time I went shopping I bought four boxes, because I don't want to run out!

Ben and Jerry's Dairy Free Chunky Monkey: I actually never tried Chunky Monkey flavor when I was eating dairy but this is the one dairy free Ben and Jerry's flavor at my grocery store that I can eat.  It's also a delicious flavor.  The almond milk base makes it super creamy and I doubt I could tell it was dairy free if I didn't already know.

Books:  I didn't do a ton of reading this year because my arms are super sore at the end of every day now that I'm in a wheelchair.  I did do the month trial of Audible and I loved it so much!  I really wish I could afford a subscription, but at the moment all of my money is for medication.  Thanks to Audible I was able to listen to

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children: I knew that I would love this book series from the first time I heard of it and oh, boy, was I right!  I was able to listen to the first and second book on Audible and I really want to read book 3.

Aside from Audible I haven't done a ton of reading this year but I have loved:

Drinking the Rain: during my brief time in the Inspired by Reading Book Club I loved this book pick about foraging for food and one woman's journey to find herself with the help of nature; I had to quit the book club because I was only able to afford to buy two of the books

Cabinet of Curiosities: got this one by judging a book by its cover and it did not disappoint; this book is chock full of stories and pictures of the curiosities in the collection of Thackery T. Lambshead

Youtube:

Twiggy Vittoria:  After having a seizure and hitting my head really hard on the bathroom floor Jordan insisted on not letting me sleep in case I had a concussion.  I discovered this channel that night and her videos easily kept me entertained all night and distracted from the pain in my head.  Twiggy is so nice and down-to-earth and I trust every one of her product recommendations.  She makes hair videos, makeup videos, story videos, videos about her dreams, and occasionally vlogs.  I had the luck to find her channel early enough to see it grow immensely this year :)

Rob Dyke: This guy's spooky videos are always well-researched and super interesting.  He does great top 10 videos, videos about strange things, and serial killers.  He also does comedy videos but I am here for the spooky.

Cayleigh Elyse:  Some would call her the female counterpart to Rob Dyke but Cayleigh has her own unique and wonderful things to offer, including: unsolved cases, spooky fun, creepy story narrations (including some stories she wrote herself), and videos about monsters and hauntings.  She does it all in beautiful dresses and with the occasional humorous bit thrown in when not talking about serious topics.

Good Mythical Morning:  In case you've been living under the same rock that I apparently was until this year I'll tell you about this channel, one of the most subscribed channels on Youtube.  Two guys named Rhett and Link host a show where they compete in different made-up games, eat weird food, and are just hilarious best friends.  Every episode has me cracking up from start to finish, and they even have extra videos like the show after the show and Good Mythical Crew.

That's all that I can think of at the moment but I'm sure there's a lot more I forgot.  What are some of your favorite discoveries of 2016?

Running an Etsy Shop while Dealing with a Chronic Illness

When I started my Etsy shop I never wanted to become famous or even so popular that I would need to hire employees.  And I haven't.  This post is not about my Etsy story; it is about how my celiac disease has affected the way I run my Etsy shop.  Most of you who are regular readers here know that I was diagnosed with celiac disease 3 years ago.  Celiac disease is a chronic illness and it's an autoimmune disease.  I haven't had enough energy to work a "real job" since September 2015, and I've accidentally ingested gluten twice in the past two months.  For me that means not being able to keep most food down, insomnia, sleeping for 12+ hours when I do sleep, brain fog, and constant fever, among other symptoms.  To really complicate things I haven't been able to walk since the beginning of September 2016, probably due to gluten ataxia.  All of these things combined mean that I'm really tired all of the time and my muscles are very sore as well.  Luckily for me I rarely get more than two orders a month and I always manage to fill and ship them on time.  Sometimes I send my fiancee to the post office if I can't do it but I always stick to my commitments.  If you also have a chronic/invisible illness I have some tips that might help you run your Etsy shop with less stress.

1. When you set your shipping windows make sure you give yourself enough time to definitely get it done.  You never want to ship orders late (and if you ever do have to ship late make sure you let the customer know why!)  I used to have mine set to ship in 1-3 business days but last year I switched it to ship in 3-5 business days.  That time works for me because it gives me a full week to pack and ship orders.  I can space it out through that week if I'm sick and not get stressed about missing the deadline.

2. Don't do custom made-to-order items.  I only sell ready-to-ship products.  I added a custom made-to-order item which was a $7 beaded dragonfly suncatcher during the Summer and I sold so many!  People were ordering as many as 6 to 12 suncatchers in each order.  Then I had to make each one according to their custom choices and I was struggling to get them all done and packed in time.  It really stressed me out and I removed them from my shop.

Add either custom or made-to-order items to your shop but once again make the shipping time longer than you think you will need to fulfill the order.  Keep in mind that sometimes you will have multiple orders to make at the same time.  If you do ever have more orders than you can fill in a time frame communicate it to the customers who have ordered from you.  If they aren't willing to wait longer they can cancel their order and if they're willing to wait the extra stress is off of you.

3. If your shop starts getting more sales than you can handle, increase your shipping times.  People tend to buy less often when shipping times are longer but it should help you get through all of those orders without getting completely overwhelmed.

4. If you ever get too sick to be able to fulfill any orders turn on vacation mode until you feel better.

5. This is one that I haven't done yet but super need to: come up with a low-price item that's super quick and easy to make and make them in a variety of colors and designs.  That way you'll get at least a little bit of money from the low-price items in between sales of higher priced items in your shop.

So that's obviously not an all-inclusive list but these are things that really help me.  Clearly my biggest Etsy stress is shipping, so I tried to make it as stress-free as possible for myself.  If you have any questions about running an Etsy shop with a chronic illness ask me in the comments and I'll try my best to answer.

What I'm Loving: Weaving

Everywhere I look lately there are amazing weavings.  I've found some really cool ones on Etsy and it made me want to try weaving.  Thanks to The Weaving Loom I could learn everything I needed to know to get started.  (The Weaving Loom is a really helpful resource for weavers of all skill levels, not just beginners.)  I'll share my first ever weaving at the end of this post but first let's look at some of my beautiful inspirations.  Click the big pictures to go to the listing.  I'll list shop links under the grid photos at the end.

This one is gorgeous and I love the unique style of embroidering on top of the weaving.

I love the eclectic bohemian style of this one.

I super love the look of driftwood at the top but this one also has driftwood woven into it, which I love!

I love love love the antler at the top of the upper right weave.

I'm also loving the idea of weaving in feathers.

gatherhandwoven | UnrulyEdges | Lepetitmoose | PineapplePhi | midgins | amandajfrench | FirandField | krystleweaves | lightsofeden | BarefootDrifter | LittleWeavebird | CakeSpun | byheartmade | TheWeavingLoomShop | ilLOOMiKNOTiWeavings


And here is my first weaving, not the colors I would have chosen but they came with my loom and then I bought the off-white.

 

Silly Spooky Skeleton

I got this amazing skeleton dress from Hot Topic clearance and the bones glow in the dark, so obviously every night when we're about to go to sleep I take advantage of the lights being off to dance around in my dress singing "spooky scary skeleton".  (Although I've actually been getting it wrong and singing spooky ooky skeleton because my brain got it mixed up with The Addams Family)  This is what I'm referencing, in case you don't know about spooky scary skeletons.  Anyway I've been being really silly because my options are pretty much to be silly or be frustrated and depressed so I try to be silly and I was pretending to be a spooky scary chicken skeleton flapping my arms like chicken wings.  I tried to make a joke about Jordan not being scared by it so he must have nerves of steel, but my brain couldn't think of the phrase nerves of steel so I said iron lungs.  Because even through the brain fog my brain knew the phrase involved a body part and metal.  Sometimes brain fog can make things funny.

It has rib cage bones and arm bones.  I don't think I knew that they glow in the dark when I bought it (or if I did I can't remember) but I love it even more because they do.  I got it because Fall weather is here and I only have two long sleeved dresses which is NOT ENOUGH because dresses are the easiest clothes to put on when you can't lift your feet off the floor.  Plus Hot Topic was having a buy one get one for $1 sale on clearance and that is too good of a deal to ignore!

By the way, I hope this is actually funny to other people and not just a you had to be there sort of funny story.

Friday Favorites: Etsy Wishlist + Youtubers + Instagram

I love Etsy forever.  I have a shop there but I'm also on Etsy every single day looking at the amazing things that other people make.  Here are some of my recent favorites that are definitely on my wishlist.  This week's theme is things that I want in my future jewelry studio.  Click the photo to go to the product listing on Etsy.

I always love everything that has butterflies or moths on it and this vibrant butterfly painting on wood will fit wonderfully in my future jewelry studio.

My grandpa was a hunter and his family of many kids were poor so deer and bear were common meals for them.  They would mount the antlers and have them around the house.  My grandma used one set to hang her necklaces from and I always loved how they looked.  These faux antlers are made of resin and look just like the real thing, but I don't have to wonder if a deer was killed for them or not.  I'm fine with people shooting deer for food, but never with animals being killed just to harvest parts of them to sell, whether it's antlers, fur, or bones.

I intend to have a wall full of different art prints that inspire me.  This one is stunning and perfect for my wall.

Another thing that I am forever in love with is beautiful dreamcatcher art.  I would absolutely put this one on my wall.

I love actual dreamcatchers even more than dreamcatcher art.  This one is lovely.

I make jewelry faster than I sell it so I am always looking for new jewelry displays.  I love this customizable driftwood one.  I would like them in a few different sizes.  They really go well with my branding.

How lovely is this tambourine?!  I would hang it on my art wall and then I could take it down and dance around playing it when I need some inspiration :)

I've also been discovering some cool Youtubers lately.  I've been watching at least as much Youtube as Netflix lately.  Here are some of my new favorites:

Twiggy Vittoria is my new favorite.  She's down-to-earth and nice and amazing and I trust every single one of her product recommendations.  Her purple hair is the best and she doesn't have nearly as many subscribers as she should!  She makes a lot of beauty videos and also vlogs and I just love listening to her talk.  I discovered her the night that I had a seizure in the bathroom and fell and hit my head really hard on the floor and had to stay awake as long as possible because of my concussion.  She kept me awake all night and even took my mind off my head pain.

Tommy Edison is hilarious.  He makes me laugh so hard watching all of his videos and I love it.  He makes videos about being blind, comedy videos, and film critic videos.  If you're having a bad day just go watch any of his videos and you'll be cheered up.

Claire Wineland really puts my life in perspective.  She has cystic fibrosis and I discovered her through her video on what it's like to be in a coma (and being in a coma and waking up as an old lady is my greatest fear).  She's sick but doesn't let that get her down.  She's sweet and has a great perspective on life.  Her videos make me feel happy too.

And last but not least my favorite Instagrammers.  I know that I once made a post about how I hate Instagram, but that was when Instagram was a little baby and nobody really knew how to use it well.  Sure there are still the people who just share photos of food forever but there are so many wonderful photographers and creatives on there these days that I kind of love Instagram now.  Follow me if you want.  These are just a few of my recent favorites on Instagram:

Witchy Stitching is so nice and creative.  She makes cool crochet stuff and I kind of just want all of it, especially the web dress.  Not only does she make amazing things but she's also the must social person I follow on Instagram, which is really nice.  Obviously any comments are cool but a comment that's more than an emoji or a Nice pic is just way better to get.  You should follow her if you like unique handmade products and actually social Instagrammers.

I discovered Midgins when I was researching my newest obsession, which I'll tell you guys about pretty soon.  She makes cool handmade products and also shares other people's handmade products and I love literally every product she shares!  That's super rare because I have some very specific tastes.  You should follow her if you like handmade products and discovering new handmade artisans.

I found melmadedooks in my recommended pictures feed (or whatever it's called).  He has a ton of followers and rightly so because he draws amazing pictures of real people of all shapes and sizes.  His art is just so good!  Follow him if you like art and appreciate diversity and real people of all sorts.

So those are some of my recent favorites.  Which one is your favorite?

Makeup Monday: Brija Cosmetics

After I was diagnosed with celiac disease in 2013 it was overwhelming enough just to figure out what foods I could eat, so I didn't even bother with makeup.  I just stopped wearing makeup completely.  Now that I can't walk again I am even more exhausted than ever and I got tired of just seeing a sick person when I looked in the mirror, so I started looking into gluten free makeup.  I ordered a few samples and I'll be talking about what I like and I what I don't in these Monday posts.

I discovered Brija Cosmetics after looking for vloggers with celiac disease on Youtube.  I discovered Brianna, a great lifestyle vlogger, and immediately subscribed.  She introduced me to the huge range of affordable gluten-free products available on Vitacost.com and I am so grateful, so of course I looked into her line of completely gluten-free beauty products, Brija Cosmetics.  My first order was for the Blogger Pack because I would get four surprise samples and one full size eye shadow of my choice, and I love surprises!  I picked the full size Lace Dresses eye shadow because I love the color and the name.  It's such a pretty color!  I also received three eye shadow samples and a highlight sample.

Please excuse the blurry photo.  I am wearing Brija Cosmetics eye shadow and highlight in this photo but the glasses glare makes it hard to see the eye shadow.  I also did a more natural and subtle eye look.

I learned how to do swatches!  From top to bottom these are: Consulting Detective eyeshadow, You Only Have to Do It Once eyeshadow, 90s Kid eyeshadow, ESPN highlight, and Lace Dresses eyeshadow.

Another blurry photo but it is not easy to take a photo of your eye!  I just used Lace Dresses eyeshadow for this look.

I love all of these products!  I will absolutely be purchasing more products from Brija Cosmetics.  The products are all really pigmented.  I only used the little bits of powdery residue on the baggies from the samples for the swatches and seriously just look at them!  These eyeshadows are going to last a really long time.  They're super affordable at just $5.50 for a 5g jar, and they're made of only natural ingredients.  The color really packs a punch and it stays on wonderfully all day long.  (I don't even use eye primer and it still stays perfectly.)  The highlight is really pretty and looks great on.  It really brightens up the corner of eyes and makes me look more awake and lively.  I love these products and highly recommend them for anyone who has celiac disease or just likes natural or affordable makeup.

The Brija Cosmetics products on my wishlist include: the upcoming glitter collection (all of the glitters are named after stones/minerals and the glitter is amazing! Like the I would buy all 19 colors if I had the money kind of amazing.),Can I Keep You? eyeshadow, the Gilmore Girls matte eyeshadow collection, and the Poise Cream Blush.

I also super love that most of the products have nerdy pop culture inspired names.  That just makes me love them even more.  She also has a monthly subscription box that I want to try.  So the final verdict is that you should definitely try Brija Cosmetics.  It's so incredibly affordable and really great quality all-natural makeup.