Diamonds may be a girl’s best friend but it doesn’t mean that she shouldn’t check out Emeralds, Rubies, Pearls, and Garnets as well. In fact, the most beautiful jewelry is that jewelry that is designed specially for you in whatever metals and gems you like best. There’s no better place to design that jewelry than Gemvara and we are lucky enough to be giving away a $150 gift certificate to their site!

I spent a little while on the Gemvara site today and was amazed. There are so many reasons to customize your own jewelry. Here are just a few that I came up with as I was playing around with their design tool:

• Create “family jewelry” such a s Mother’s pendant with the gemstones for everyone in the family–dad included.
• Create a special initial or birthstone piece for a daughter’s 16th birthday.
• Design a piece in the colors and metals that match most of your outfits so that you have a “go to” piece of jewelry that you can where almost any time.
• Create jewelry that matches a certain outfit that you really want to accessorize to wear to a wedding or reunion.
• Customize a piece of jewelry in such a way that it will fit your own personal budget.
• Create a family heirloom that can be passed down with a personal touch because it was created by the family.

I just love this site and I know that you will, too. Combine their beautiful jewelry with the Gemvara coupons and cash back that we offer on Sunshine Rewards and you will have an exquisite, high quality piece of art for yourself or a loved one that will be cherished over time. Watch the video below and see how you can get entered to win a $150 Gemvara gift certificate.

To enter:

1) Visit Gemvara and create your own piece of jewelry. Leave a comment below with the link to the piece that you design (one entry).

2) Post on Twitter about the contest and leave a comment below with your Tweet (one entry).

3) Blog about this contest or post the contest in your giveaway section and leave your link to the post below (two entries).

Drawing will take place November 15, 2011, at noon Eastern. Must be a US Resident, age 18 or older to enter. Winner will be notified via e-mail and have 24 hours to respond or a new winner will be selected.

January went by so quickly that this was our first podcast of the year. Just in time for February, we decided to review Valentine’s Day merchants. Cindy led most of the podcast because she has been knee-deep in planning the upcoming Sunshine Rewards Valentine’s Day promotion.

Show notes:

* Quick recap of Affiliate Summit and some of the benefits of attending this year.
* Flowers always work for Valentine’s Day and 1-800-Flowers has a lot of different options. Be sure to understand the difference between having your flowers delivered by FedEx and those delivered by local florists.
* Bath & Body Works and The Perfume Spot have good options for both men and women. I got my favorite new perfume (Pink Sugar) from The Perfume Spot. Bath & Body Works has a terrific new Godiva candle available only online.
* Crazy for Bargains is great for fun pajamas for women, men, and kids. Personally, I like the boxers for holidays. Romantic Gowns (new SR merchant!) actually has some great lingerie, including some cute pink and red sets that would be perfect for Valentine’s Day. (Here the mother/daughter podcast got a little bit awkward).
* Jewelry is traditional for Valentine’s Day and May Leigh has some nice options. Women seem to be wearing more jewelry these days, including multiple bracelets and necklaces at a time and mixing silver and gold. Things Remembered has both jewelry and other items available for personalization.
* You usually can’t go wrong with food (especially if the gift is for me). David’s Cookies makes homemade tasting cookies that can be ordered through the 10th. Ghirardelli is an impressive brand name with high quality chocolates.
* From the customer standpoint, these were all merchants that we personally like to shop through.

Lots of great Valentine’s Day gift ideas today. Hopefully a little something for everyone. And you can get cash back from Sunshine Rewards for shopping at all of them!

With summer weddings and anniversaries on the horizon, we took an opportunity to talk about wedding gift ideas. With about 55 years of marriage total between the three of us, we had a lot to talk about! Even if you don’t have any weddings on the horizon, you don’t want to miss this review of three great merchants.

Show Notes:

• History and tradition of June weddings (ladies…are you ready to help with the harvest?).
• Main types of wedding gifts: cash, registry, non-registry.
• Cindy walks us through the Personal Creations website and the types of personalized gifts to give for weddings, anniversaries, and wedding attendant gifts. Personal Creations offers a lot of coupons throughout the year. (Sunshine Rewards offers 5% cash back)
• Tricia discusses MyWinesDirect and the different between it and other online wine sites. Quality wines at lower prices but they may not be brands that you necessarily know. (Sunshine Rewards offers 8% cash back)
• Angie talks about Kohls and the Kohls wedding registry program. Great for household gifts and decor. (Sunshine Rewards offers 3% cash back)

Check out our entire Wedding and Anniversary Gift section. Next podcast, Father’s Day ideas!

Things Remembered is a great place to buy gifts that will celebrate a life, an occasion, or a memory. With the Things Remembered coupons and cash back from Sunshine Rewards, you will be giving a gift that is affordable yet memorable. Check them out for wedding gifts, anniversary gifts, and all of the other moments in your life that you want to remember. Here’s a look at my special gift from Things Remembered.

Don’t forget to check out all of our photo merchants for coupons and gift giving ideas during the Picture This promotion this holiday season!

In the past I have created “photobooks” at Shutterfly, but they were primarily text and a few pictures. When I started looking through their Gallery of books, I realized that I have been missing out on a great opportunity to make easy scrapbooks. Shutterfly has two easy options for those who want to “scrap” digitally. First, you can create your pages through another program and have Shutterfly print them on 8X8 or 12X12 paper for you. Second, you can use their Photobook functionality to add images, text, and backgrounds to your pictures and have whole books printed. Whether you are making a book for your wedding, a trip, your new home, a new baby, or just life in general, these books will remind you of memories for a lifetime.

Shutterfly often runs specials on shipping, prints, and photobooks. Watch the video below of a sample book and then check out SunshineRewards.com for the latest Shutterfly coupons and discounts.

View this Photo Book & See More Here