RCR Summer Classic Horse Show

We hosted a horse show at our barn last weekend and I set up my jewelry booth. I can't say it was a huge success for me, but the horse show was nice, and I had a great spot for viewing and cheering on my friends. I opted not to show because it is too difficult to run my jewelry booth and ride. I have done that before and unless I have help it is nearly impossible.

I donated a $50 gift certificate for one of the championship prizes and the winner picked out a beautiful sterling silver, chalcedony and pearl necklace.

My trainer worked tirelessly for the past several months organizing the show, building new jumps, and getting sponsors. There were tons of great prizes, a hunter derby classic, an equitation flat challenge, and an equitation derby classic.

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April Birthstones: Diamond, Opal, and Sapphire

If you were born in the month of April, certain gem stones have more vibration power for you because they are associated with the time of your birth. There are numerous traditions that have been developed over the centuries that connect a particular gemstone to your birth month.

Tiny Pearls with Marquis Shaped Faceted White Topaz Dangle set in Sterling Bezel $30

Diamond (modern, traditional, Ayurvedic) : The Diamond is a category unto itself. The world's most popular gemstone and the world's hardest material make sparkling, brilliant and timeless. Diamonds are a wonder of nature. Their cold sparkling fire has held us spell-bound for centuries, inspiring rich passionate myths of romance, intrigue, power, greed, and magic. Ancient Hindus, finding diamonds washed out of the ground after thunderstorms, believed they were created by bolts of lightning.

Shimmering Tide Bracelet - Swarovski Crystals & Sterling Silver Bangle $70

Sapphire: (Ancient Arabic, Hebrew, Italian, Roman, and Russian April Birthstone) Sun Sign (Star Sign) - Taurus. The sapphire is most often linked to qualities of loyalty, faithfulness and honesty.

Cool Water Bracelet $40

Opal: Mystical April Birthstone. Opals symbolized hope, good luck, happiness and truth. Opal lore reveals that many feel that this gem can improve insight into the future as well as improve your eyesight when you wear it. Many also believe in the lore that opal gems will help others see your inner beauty as your patience and confidence is heightening when wearing opal gemstones.

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March Birthstones: Aquamarine and Bloodstone

Ocean Drive Bracelet and Earring Set

The gemstone Aquamarine is the modern March birthstone as adopted by the American National Association of Jewelers in 1912. It is also the birth stone for the Zodiac sign of Scorpio.

Shimmering Tide Bracelet

Folklore, Legend, and Healing Properties:
Since early times, aquamarine has been believed to endow the wearer with foresight, courage, and happiness. It is said to increase intelligence and make one youthful. As a healing stone, it is said to be effective as a treatment for anxiety and in the Middle Ages it was thought that aquamarine would reduce the effect of poisons.

A gift of Aquamarine symbolizes both safety and security, especially within long standing relationships. Some people even say that the Aquamarine reawakens love in a tired marriage, so if you want to bring back that spark in your partner's eyes, you might consider this gem as an anniversary gift!
Social Circle Necklace - Aquamarine with sterling silver circle & wire wrapped charms (chalcedony & jade)


An alternate birthstone for March is Bloodstone, a dark green opaque quartz flecked with red spots. The name Bloodstone derives from the legendary belief that the red coloration resulted from the blood of Christ spilling onto green jasper during the crucifixion. For this reason, too, the stone has been called "martyr's stone." Bloodstone is mined in India, Brazil, Uruguay, Australia, and the United States. Ideal for carving into cameos and beads, this stone symbolizes courage.



Bloodstone & Sterling Bracelet with 9ct Fine Madagascar Malachite & Sterling Toggle Clasp

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Grateful

Wow, I had a fantastic boutique today. So many wonderful friends came to support me and I really felt so blessed to be surrounded by them today. My fantastic friends helped me host, prepare food and drinks, and then clean it all up. I have an amazing friend, Sandy, who kept track of all my transactions, collected the money, and packaged up the jewels, I couldn't have done it without her. Many, many thanks to everyone who came today!!! Everyone did something to make the day bright for me in some way.

For anyone planning a boutique for the holidays, a few tips that may help...
1) Put up signs at some of the main intersections nearby. We got quite a few people out for a drive that saw our signs, came by and turned into customers.
2) Advertise in your local paper.
3) Offer incentives for your friends to bring their friends. I organized door prizes with additional entries for bringing friends, making purchases, and rsvp-ing early. We did drawings throughout the day for the door prizes.
4) Offer refreshments so your guest feel comfortable to socialize for a while and stay.

I have more, but I am exhausted....

Susan and I

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Jewelry Boutique Tomorrow - Pasadena, CA - PLEASE COME!

Please join me tomorrow, December 6th from 10:00am until 4:00pm for a Fabulous Holiday Jewelry Boutique!
Tara Cornelius of Five O’Clock Somewhere and Susan Kelso of Luna Grace Designs present their beautiful handcrafted artisan jewelry…

The holidays are fast approaching, avoid the congested parking lots, crowed stores, and pushy salespeople while shopping for unique one-of-a-kind items.

Drinks & hors d'oeuvres

Plus, great door prizes!

Increase your chances for the door prizes:
Bring friends = 2 tickets for each friend
Make a purchase = 1 ticket for every $25

(cash or check only, please)

for more information www.fiveoclocksomewhere.us

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Artfire

Looking for a new way to promote? Hopefully this will be the next most amazing thing!!! ArtFire calls itself “the premier online marketplace for handmade products designed by artisans around the globe. Our free community is designed for artisans to buy and sell their works, while celebrating unique handmade items and designs. ” Also, according to the site they are already buying advertising online & in print magazines to bring in traffic to the site. (It's already got almost as many hits to the front page as indiepublic.com gets per day!) They have already bought ads on the back cover of Craft Magazine! Online they are purchasing ads online on Facebook.com, Craftster, Myspace, Mother Jones, Craft Bits, Craft Gossip and Gala Darling! & MORE IS COMING!

So why ArtFire? Well, for one, ArtFire has STATS for shop views so you know where your customers are coming from! Also, Artfire allows 10 images per listing, a vacation mode, and a markdown manager. With things like auto posting to Google base in the works.

Artfire’s pricing is simple. Right now, you pay $7 a month (for the first 5000 artists) to list & sell as much as you can FOREVER. That’s it. No additional listing fees, no final value fees. I signed up on that alone!

It is important to note, however, that the site is still in beta testing. And because it’s new, it has bugs. And by definition, that’s why its in beta…to test and find and kill the bugs. But, that’s also why the $7 a month offer is in place.. once the kinks are worked out, sellers will pay $20 per month.

If you create an account right now, and then get 10 other people to create accounts by the end of 2008, your shop will be free for life. No monthly fees. Ever!!! If you are interested, click the link below. I’d love it if you used me as your referrer. Then pass along the love. Click here to register at Artfire.com

Register on ArtFire.com

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Boutique Planning

I heard from Chad this morning and he should be coming home later today. Yippee!

Last night I had a planning meeting for the Fall/Holiday Jewelry Boutique I am hosting on Saturday Dec 6th. If you are in the Los Angeles area, please come!!! There will be drawings for fabulous door prizes (Increase your chances for the giveaways: RSVP by November 29th = 1 ticket, Bring friends = 2 tickets for each friend, Make a purchase = 1 ticket for every $25). I will be making some wonderful hors d'oeuvres and libations including a Gingerbread Cocktail :-). More details about the event here: http://www.fiveoclocksomewhere.us/Fall_Boutique.html.

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Flintridge Autumn Classic

The weekend was a success for my jewelry booth and a success for my barn mates who all had shining moments...especially Jennifer Jacky who won the PCHA Medal Finals. I set up my jewelry booth in a perfect location with a great view of the rings. It was a perfect place for my friends to gather and watch the show. I was happy to catch up with some old friends and meet some new ones. Thanks to everyone who supported Five O'Clock Somewhere!

Hopefully it will be a repeat success next weekend at Foxfield!

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Flintridge Autumn Classic Horse Show Sept 27-28th

Flintridge Autumn Classic (La Canada Flintridge, CA), host of the PCHA Victor Hugo-Vidal Adult Horsemanship Finals and Equine Insurance/SFVHSA Challenge Medal Finals. Five O'Clock Somewhere will be set up for business so please come buy and browse our new collections. There are lots are new designs not on the website. Hope to see you there! Click here for directions.

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Lots of new jewelry

I have been making lots of new jewelry designs for my two upcoming shows at Flintridge Autumn Classic Horse Show, La Canada, CA Sept 27-28 AND Foxfield Medal Finals and Jumper Derby, Westlake Village, CA Oct 4-5. I have not posted any of my new designs on the website, I am saving it all for the shows. I have created many new equestrian designs, including a new line of sterling silver wire horse heads. I have also been making cool glass tile pendants.

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Sawdust Art Festival & Buca Di Bepo

Chad and I had a fun-filled day. We drove the Corvette down to Laguna Beach to the Sawdust Festival. It is an enchanting outdoor canyon paradise adorned with waterfalls, eucalyptus trees and talented art and crafts people . I bought a cute little pearl and sterling pinky ring. We had a nice walk back to the car and then drove down PCH to Newport Beach to visit Trey. We met him at the popular and crowded Sharkee's and had Fish Tacos for lunch. Yum. After lunch we headed back home to get ready for Dinner at Buca Di Beppo. Kim A. & Pete, Gary & Lauren, Dave, Kim T., Chad and myself got to sit in the "Pope Room". We enjoyed Ravioli, Chicken Parmesan, and a Margarita Pizza. We were all pretty tired from a busy weekend, but it was a nice time. Justin and Paul stopped by while on duty. I capped off the night catching up on some of the Olympics.

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ETSY

Have you every heard of Etsy? I am now an official addict. Etsy is a website which focuses primarily on providing the general public with a way to buy and sell handmade items. The site follows in the tradition of open craft fairs, giving sellers personal storefronts where they list their goods for a fee. Some of the wonderful things they sell are jewelry, handmade soaps, clothes, dog collars, homebaked treats, quilts, woodworking, candles.

I just opened my shop http://fiveoclocksomewhere.etsy.com/. I have yet to make a sale, but I am hoping one will come soon. There is also a link on the side of my blog with some of my listings.

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Rainbow Canyon Ranch Schooling Show

I set up my jewelry table at the Rainbow Canyon Ranch Schooling show today, and it was a huge success. I am very grateful for all of my friends and supporters. I got a new tent and my set-up looks pretty good now.
My niece Ashley showed today, which also made the day special. She and her horse Gallatin placed 2nd & 3rd in the Green Rider division.

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