Post Card Winner!!!

We have a winner in the Uprinting Postcard drawing!!! Danielle Caylor of Charcoals by Danielle has won 100 FREE postcards just in time to send holiday greetings to her customers!! Congratulations Danielle!!
Don't miss out on your opportunity to win some great FREE business products during our fun Giveways sponsored by Uprinting.com, and if you can't wait for what you need, please visit their website, they have great offerings at great prices. Nothing but quality for my girls! If I don't believe in it, I won't promote it!

When I'm not hosting Girls Night Out, you can find me creating jewelry at www.runakojewelry.com

Wednesday's Word ....Or Not!

I choose to remember tonight. One of my favorite songs and a total classic. Each time I hear it I get chills...how about you?

When I'm not hosting Girls Night Out, you can find me creating jewelry at www.runakojewelry.com

Tuesday's Treasure - Too Cute for Cute!!!

GI Jo's, wrestling men, footballs, soccer balls, Leggos, dinosaurs, robots and cars! That's what I've been buying for the past 12 years, but boy, what I wouldn't give to be able to purchase a few of these cute little outfits for some little girls cute little doll! Christine Broach over at Lavenderlore on Etsy makes each of these and more little outfits by hand. Christine is a lifelong Crafter with a passion for needlework. She combines her beading and sewing skills sometimes as well. She loves custom orders and as you can see, she does beautiful work!!

So, if you're a doll collector or need some cute ideas for one, two or three little girls this holiday, check out Lavendorlore and see what more she has to offer, at great prices!!!...Too cute!!!

When I'm not hosting Girls Night Out, you can find me creating jewelry at www.runakojewelry.com

Monday's Mesmerizer - Sunset Dream

I absolutely Love this painting! I could just sit around and look at the colors and movement all day long. This beautiful work of art was created over at Color Blast on Etsy. This artist uses both Eastern and Western patterns to create her stunning work. In her own words, she creates art that connect to the inner soul and change the tone of our living space. I can certainly agree with that!

Please visit Color Blast and check out all of her other works, I'm going to sit here and look at this one a little bit longer!

When I'm not hosting Girls Night Out, you can find me creating jewelry at www.runakojewelry.com

100 Free Postcards for One Lucky Winner

I am very excited and happy to announce that I will be sponsoring a giveaway right here for 100 FREE postcards from Uprinting.com. One lucky winner will be drawn on October 28th, just in time to send your order in for holiday postcards. Uprinting offers Eco-friendly printing at affordable prices, and they would like to introduce you to their business by giving away a free set of 4x6 cards. As a sponsor, I will also be receiving 100 Free postcards, just for introducing you to this wonderful company. Their products are wonderful, and I have business cards to prove it!

Uprinting Postcards are a wonderful way to introduce your business to potential clients and/or customers. They also make great invitations, thank you cards, note cards and more!

Giveaway Details

Size: 4x6
Paper: 14pt Cardstock Gloss
Printing: Full color both sides
Shipping: FREE UPS Ground Shipping in the US (Canadian residents pay shipping and taxes. Offer not available to residents outside of the US and Canada at this time)

Drawing will be held October 28th, here on this blog.

Giveaway Directions
You can join this giveaway by leaving a comment to this post, along with how you would use the postcards if you win. You must tell me what you plan to do with your winnings for an official entry.

For extra entries, you can tweet this post and include an @runakodesigns so that I can receive a copy each time you do so. If your use of the postcards is really original, your name will be entered an extra time in the drawing.

Good luck!!

When I'm not hosting Girls Night Out, you can find me creating jewelry at www.runakojewelry.com

We Have a Brilliant Winner!!!

This weekend I challenged my girlfriends to blog about 5 things you were going to be doing to reignite your genius and find your brilliance. Each entry would be entered into a drawing for a free e-book from Simon T. Bailey and a special brilliant gift from me.

Congratulations to Trish Austin for winning this weekends drawing!!!

special appreciation goes out to Phenessa Jones for participating and posting a blog entry as well. Both ladies wrote great posts, that I encourage each of you to take a minute to read. Trish please contact me with your mailing information and email address for your winnings!

So, I didn't get to post my entry this weekend, but here goes my 5 things below:

1. To get serious about getting some tutorials or jewelry pieces publicized in at least one professional publication. I will submit at least 4 entries before the end of the year.

2. Design one new Signature piece of jewelry before the end of the year.

3. Complete my third Simon Bailey book "Release Your Brilliance" before the end of October..I have to keep thinking brilliantly to make this all work..

4. Sit for my SPHR certification exam in January 2010. This will enhance my professional career as well as complete a personal development goal towards brilliance in my HR profession.

5. Help my son find his brilliance in his first year of Middle School. The start has been a l-i-t-t-l-e bit challenging, but I believe in him and his capabilities. I just have to help him find his genius and allow it to shine!

When I'm not hosting Girls Night Out, you can find me creating jewelry at www.runakojewelry.com

Make it a Brilliant Weekend!!!

I'm still pumped from Simon T Bailey's conference presentation and I'm going to carry on Thursday's Thought through the weekend with a fun little meme.

I don't know about you, but when I think of brilliant, a big shiny diamond comes to mind. What's more brilliant than a perfectly cut "rock"! Simon Bailey says that the potential for assessing and releasing your brilliance lies in the 4 C's, hence the "rocks"! That my friends would be Clarity, Color, Cut and Carat. You can read more about the 4 C's here.

You can also purchase "Release your Brilliance", Simon's latest 5 star book on Amazon for ONLY $15.56! It's a small book packed with powerful information. Simon is a celebrated author and speaker who went from a career at Disney to build the Brilliance Institute, and has shared his powerful message and system with over a quarter million people around the world.

In the meantime, I'm going to challenge you this weekend to think about 5 things you plan to do to reengage your own genius, reignite the fire that fuels your talent and recharge your desires that will lead to the releasing of your "Brilliance".

Here's the weekend challenge:
Post about your 5 things on your own blog this weekend, then come back here leave a comment and then leave the link to your post. You can post with pictures, words or whatever inspires you, I just want you to begin thinking about releasing your own brilliance! After leaving your own link, visit any other links that are listed and see what they have to say.

On Sunday night, I'll draw a name from the list of comments for a winner for my very own special little Brilliant gift and it just might include a special Rock! The winner will also receive a free email book from Simon himself entitled... "Meditate on Your Professional Brilliance"..now how cool is that for a Brilliant weekned I ask?
I'll be back later to post my 5 things, but don't wait on me to begin...have fun. And if you get a chance, stop by Simon's blog and leave him a message!

When I'm not hosting Girls Night Out, you can find me creating jewelry at www.runakojewelry.com

Thursday's Thoughts - Be Brilliant

She's a free spirit, she's a rock, she's a survivor, a dreamer, a doer and a listener...she's your girlfriend! And what do girlfriends do? They talk about life, laugh, cry, reflect on the past and they share thoughts. Grab a glass of coffee and leave a comment or two. For today's thought... Simon T. Baily says..

"Be Brilliant"

I recently had the opportunity to hear Simon T. Bailey speak at a conference, and since returning home, I've thought of myself no less than Brilliant. Hey, If I don't who else will? Thinking of yourself as brilliant is a mindset, and becoming brilliant is a process as Mr. Bailey puts it. It's something that happens over time, you polish it, work on it, perfect it here and there, and on and on. If you don't continuously look at yourself as something more AND work towards becoming what you envision, you'll never reach your goal or attain something more for yourself. But if you reengage your genius, and relight those fires that fueled you when you were twenty and follow some of Simon's advice, I bet you'll be introducing yourself as "Hello...I'm Sally the Brilliant One" someday soon!!

Simon has just released his newest book entitled....Release your Brilliance (4 steps to transforming your life and revealing your genius to the world), he also has a blog

and an e zine. Visit Simon's website and learn about releasing your own brilliance, because if you don't...nobody's going to do it for you!

When I'm not hosting Girls Night Out, you can find me creating jewelry at www.runakojewelry.com

Treasures from my hometown...

I stumbled across a great little Etsy shop this week, called Artistic Creations, and it's owned by a designer right in my own back yard! Andrea lives in Richmond, Virginia and she makes the most adorable designs out of PMC Silver Clay. The thing that caught my eye, other than the fact that her pieces are simply adorable, are her descriptions and the stories behind the designs. Two of my favorites are The Swan and the Beauty Within Necklace as well as her Queen Anne's Lace Trio.
In Andrea's shop you'll find other jewelry designs and more of her PMC work. Now, take a stroll across the street to another little shop on Etsy called Artwork by Andrea , and what you'll discover is that her second talent is painting!
Pair that with taking care of a spouse and two boys, you can easily see that Andrea is one busy lady! Please take the time to visit Andrea's shop, and bookmark some favorites for later when you start your holiday shopping. You can also keep up with her latest happenings on her blog, here.

When I'm not hosting Girls Night Out, you can find me creating jewelry at www.runakojewelry.com

Monday's Mesmerizer - Red Bean Chili

I'm back!!! And while I was away I Found this beautiful bracelet over at Risky Beads on Etsy. Lori makes the most beautiful "risky" bracelets! The color selections are to die for. Lori describes her designs as beads + soap opera tucked inside a fortune cookie that's masquerading as a greeting card which is then accidentally run over by the Scooby Doo Mystery Van. Not sure what that means, but it equals beautiful eye candy to me!
Lori is also the mastermind behind Handmade Highway, "a living, dynamic directory of handmade sellers". After visiting Lori in her Etsy shop, stop by Handmade Highway and see what all the talk is about and become one of the hitchhikers. You'll get your own Exit while you're at it. Tell Lori hello and let her know I hitched you a ride!


When I'm not hosting Girls Night Out, you can find me creating jewelry at www.runakojewelry.com

I Want To Party....But I can't !

A girl can't party when she's down and out with the Flu. Please excuse the lack of posts while I get over this bug I brought back from the beach. Guess it's true in that as careful as you are with your own hygiene, it's the others you come in contact with that you have to worry about.

When I'm not hosting Girls Night Out, you can find me creating jewelry at www.runakojewelry.com

Let's Celebrate Pink This Weekend!!

Happy Friday Everyone...Let's Celebrate Pink!

This is the first weekend in October, so I felt it most fitting to celebrate this weekend in Pink, in recognition of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Many of us, if not all of us have known or know someone who has been affected by this disease. Breast cancer is the most common cancer to American women according to the American Cancer Society. It's probably the most common in most places, but these were the most readily available statistics. While incident rates have been on the decrease, this is still a very wide spread disease that affect thousands of women each year.

In memory of the many women who have lost the battle, are still fighting the battle and those who Celebrate life each year, I would like to Celebrate Pink this weekend on Girls Night Out, by holding an Awareness Party...Blog Style! Is there any other way on GNO?

Here's How:

All you have to do is blog about Breast Cancer awareness this weekend on your blog. It could be a blog about your experience with the disease, offering of statistics, an educational post, an awareness post, an organization or non profit that you support, any past or future expected experience, a link, an online event or even a special awareness product that you have for sale in your store this month. All I ask... is that if you decide to participate, please make it a meaningful post that you link to. And don't post your link, until you're post has been published.

Once your post is up, please leave your name and the direct link to your post (not your blog) below in the Mr. Linky box, then take the time to check out others posts. If you're early, do take the time to stop back by later this weekend to check out other bloggers posts. And don't forget to leave a comment to let them know you stopped by...oh and I love to know my visitors were here, so please leave your comments for me too :).

When I'm not hosting Girls Night Out, you can find me creating jewelry at www.runakojewelry.com

We Have an Expo Winner!!!!

Thank you to everyone who participated in the Expo this past weekend, vendors and guests. It was a great first event, that has opened up the opportunity for bigger and better ones to come. I really enjoyed visiting and learning about the participating shops. We don't get to toot our horns like that too often. I Picked up some fun and interesting blogs to follow and met some very savvy business women!

If you haven't had the opportunity to visit some of the booths to the right, they'll be up at least another week. Please take a stroll and visit when you get a chance.

So, I guess you really dropped by to see if you'd won anything right? well, the door prize goes to (drum roll please.................) Patricia Vener!! Congratulations Patricia. Please contact me with your mailing information and I"ll put your prize in the mail.

When I'm not hosting Girls Night Out, you can find me creating jewelry at www.runakojewelry.com