Lately

I've been so busy and kind of neglected my blog, but I have a lot of cool post ideas floating around in my brain.  I've had three job interviews in just two weeks, compared to last time when I was unemployed and had three job interviews in two years!  I had two job interviews last Tuesday, one for a job in a warehouse, a jewelry supply warehouse, but I don't think I would like it very much.  The second interview was to be a video game tester and I really want to do that!  Seriously, how cool would it be to play video games for a living?!  And the third job interview was to photograph products and list them online for a scuba shop.  It seems like a really cool job and the people who work there, including the boss, are all really nice and friendly.  I did the best on that interview and my fingers are crossed.

Aside from that I've been working as much as I can, because my boss got 19 orders after telling her reps to stop sending orders.  So we are filling these orders and then she is out of business.  I even worked on Saturday last week!  The good thing that has come out of this is that my boss gave me a whole lot of free jewelry supplies and jewelry, because she doesn't want to take the time to sell it or haul it away.  So I have been very inspired lately and already sold two out of three necklaces I made this week!  The supplies in the above picture are just a tiny bit of the stuff that I have ideas for making jewelry with but they aren't fully formed yet.

How have you all been?  Despite being so busy, I've actually been having really good days lately, especially yesterday.  I went to work, had a great job interview, hung out with an old friend, made some new friends, gave them some free necklaces and sold others, had a barbecue with them, and got ice cream, plus had a fun jam session.  It was the best day I've had in as long as I can remember.

Awesome Mail

My super cool blogger friend Luka sent me some mail and I photographed the opening of it so you could all share in the excitement.

She sent me the very first coin purse she ever made and it's fantastic!  She also sent me lots of cool stuff that I put on my art wall.  Luka is a super cool talented girl who makes cool clothing and jewelry.  You guys should definitely check out her stuff.  It's amazing!

Do you like mail?  I love mail!  If you feel like sending me mail, you can do that.  My address is:

Jessica Beebe
4547 19th Ave. NE Apt. 15
Seattle, WA 98105

If you send me something, make sure you include your return address and I'll send you something back.  And if you send me something you made, like art for my art wall, I will be positively giddy for at least a week.

Two for Tuesday: Vera's Eyecandy and NarjisDesigns

I'm still trying to figure out a format to share Etsy finds.  I'm going to try out this one and see how I like it.

Two for Tuesday is a new post series where I'll be sharing two great Etsy shops and two of my favorite items from each one.  Click the image to go to the product on Etsy.

The first shop this week is NarjisDesigns.  This shop is filled with some of the most unique and creative jewelry I've ever seen.  And I feel like the items are seriously underpriced, which means that you can get an amazing one-of-a-kind piece of wearable art for next to no money.  Here are my two favorite pieces from her shop.

Vera's Eyecandy is the second shop this week.  This shop sells some really cool clothing, including cute dresses made from band tee shirts.  And her prices are lower than you would expect for handmade clothing.  These are my two favorite items from the shop.

Gluten-free Granola Bars

I love to carry granola bars in my purse so I have something to eat in case I'm not around a store or just have to eat on the run.  However gluten-free granola bars are expensive!  So after buying them for awhile I decided to make my own.  This recipe seemed really easy (the same difficulty level as rice krispy treats), so I decided to try it out.  I didn't have all of the ingredients but I did have stuff that would work, so I improvised, and they turned out amazing!  I gave some to eight different friends, none of whom have to eat gluten-free, and they all loved them.  Their comments included telling me I should sell these and asking me if I would make more of them tomorrow.

What I used this time was: 2 cups gluten-free certified oatmeal, 2 cups of Honey Nut Chex (crushed up), diced pecans, a handful of craisins, 1 cup of chocolate chips, 3/4 cup crunchy peanut butter, and 1 cup of maple syrup (highly recommended!).

This recipe didn't make nearly as much as I thought it would!  Next time I will definitely double the recipe.  They don't really taste like granola bars.  They taste more like no-bake cookies (which is not a bad thing in my book!)  Next time I want to make some with more craisins, white chocolate chips instead of chocolate chips, coconut, almonds, and honey and corn syrup, because I don't want them to taste peanut buttery.

These were super easy to make.  They were done in ten minutes, aside from setting up.  I will definitely keep making variations of them instead of buying expensive granola bars.  The ingredients are way cheaper and last for more than one use.  I definitely recommend this recipe, especially for kids who have to eat gluten-free.  They can even help make it!  And it's really easy to customize to your own tastes and dietary needs.  Let me know if you make these and what you used in yours!

More photos: