Kermit the Frog to the Rescue of Young Girls in Africa

Posted on August 17, 2010 by rebekah

I had the fantastic opportunity to attend an event this weekend with my children! In Hollywood, that doesn’t happen everyday, and in Green Hollywood, that happens even less … and this event was green in every sense of the word. It was held at the Jim Henson studio lot located at La Brea and Sunset, right in the heart of North Hollywood. Jim Henson, remember him? He’s the genius creator Kermit the Frog and all of the muppets! Indeed, when we arrived, Kermit himself, or at least a one story tall likeness of him, was jumping right out of the side of the building to make sure that we knew we were in the right place.

The lot used to be the location of Charlie Chaplin’s studio lot, so it’s abounding with history and energy. Today was no different. When my kids and I entered the event, we were greeted by booth after booth of t-shirt decorating, jewelry and necklace making, mask making, face painting and hula hooping activities galore! My kids were in heaven and partook of just about everything. Being that her mama is a bit of a jewelry designer, my daughter took the opportunity to make me proud and make an entire ensemble of glittering rings, several sparkly bracelets, a gold necklace and faux diamond earrings using pipe cleaners, shiny beads and malleable wire. She looked maaaarvelous! She can take over as the jewelry designer of the family any day of the week!

The event was really all about “girl power” and it was a themed community event sponsored by NextAid (http://www.nextaid.org) and international fitness and self-esteem program KidTribe (http://www.kidtribe.com). They preform all over the world and had just been at the White House the week before with Justin Bieber. Their aim is to raise awareness of the plight of women and young girls in developing countries, where pregnancy is the largest killer of girls ages 15-19.

They had us all hula hooping and African dancing like crazy people. My kids took a little while to warm up to all of the festivities, but once they had I could hardly pry them away.

It was such a beautiful day and such a great social cause. I bought a gorgeous photograph of a darling little girl who was playing in her village while I was there. The proceeds went directly to the children that were photographed and other than the contributions that I make to my sponsored children in South America, I was so happy to offer at least a bit of assistance to a child in Africa who might be one step closer to receiving the education she needs to become all that she can. Go Girl Power! Go Green Hollywood!

Posted in Jewelry | Tagged , | Comments Off

Is Buying Recycled Gold Jewelry Really that Big of a Deal?

Posted on August 16, 2010 by rebekah

So, why on earth is buying gold jewelry made from recycled materials important? Is it really important at all, or is this just another form of “greenwashing” like a lot of people seem to do these days? How could something so small and relatively simple be that big of a deal? Well, I’m here to say YES, it’s a HUGE deal, NO it’s not greenwashing at all, and YES, it really is that simple!

As consumers in this country, a country blessed with so many choices for its consumers, spending our money is the most powerful and impacting way that we can vote for what we think is right and good. We do love stuff, don’t we? And I’m a big advocate for educating my customers that buying the right stuff really can make you feel fantastic and help change your life for the better. But it is so important to make purchases from companies and individuals who choose to be informed about their business and how it impacts the world.

The jewelry industry has a long history of sourcing its materials through highly destructive methods. Whether it’s by using child labor, or by funding warmongering regimes or by decimating entire regions of the earth through the extraction of precious metals and gemstones. It’s often referred to as a dirty and dangerous business, which of course is incredibly ironic given the fact that the end result is regarded as the highest expression of beauty and perfection.

These days consumers everywhere are beginning to connect the dots. They want to feel good about what they are buying, and they want to know that the companies who are manufacturing their goods are honest, transparent and responsible when they go about producing them. So, in my business I’m doing everything that I can to deliver on that intention.

The number one way that I can accomplish this is by using only 100% recycled gold for all of my 14K gold earrings and green jewelry. By choosing to work with a gold refinery who is a certified recycled gold refiner, I can guarantee my customers that not one child is hurt, not one injustice is committed and not one grain of sand is displaced from the earth when I produce my precious golden treasures. Instead, I choose to infuse the objects of beauty with my love and consciousness before I pass them along for you to enjoy!

I will write more entries in the future about how making green jewelry purchases from RebekahGreen.com helps eliminate issues of open pit mining, cyanide heap leaching, mercury contamination, land use conflicts, indigenous community devastation, and on and on and on. Please visit No Dirty Gold at http://www.nodirtygold.org to look into the issues more for yourself.

As much as I want women to feel amazing about how the look in the mirror when they buy my products, I also want them to feel connected in their heart that they’ve bought it from a company who cares about creating it in the right way. Buying recycled gold jewelry and buying products that are locally-sourced is one of the greenest fashion choices your can make as a consumer. Given that RebekahGreen.com does 100% of its manufacturing right out of downtown LA and our recycled gold refiner, Hoover and Strong, (http://www.hooverandstrong.com/category/HARMONY+Metals+and+Gems/) is based right here in the USA, you know that your cherished piece of jewelry truly is an expression of beauty and perfection!

Posted in Jewelry | Tagged , , | Comments Off

The 14K Gold Leverback Drop – The Most Versitile Earring in Existence

Posted on August 13, 2010 by rebekah

I love my 14K gold earrings. I really and truly do. There is not one pair of these little recycled gold gems that I don’t value and appreciate in the collection. They may be jewelry made from recycled materials … but they are definitely not “throw away” designs. Okay, okay, perhaps that last pun was a little over the top, but honestly. You will be extremely happy with any purchase that you make and amazed by how versatile each and every of them are. But there is one particular style that has even blown my mind by being to go-to accessory that works with every single outfit I own.

This style is the 14K recycled gold leverback drop earring. I carry it in both a round and a princess cut setting and offer it with a high quality cubic zirconia stone or an array of fair trade gemstones. Every one of these leverback drop earrings will finish your style in the classiest and most effortlessly elegant way. There is definitely something special about the gemstones, because their color and clarity are the best that you can find. Furthermore, the energy that they radiate really can be felt.

I do love the gemstones, but I’ve also found that my selection of low-impact, high-quality cubic zirconia – which looks virtually identical to diamonds – is the one pair that I find myself wearing over and over again. Since they are pure and brilliant in their clear color, they will match and enhance every color in your wardrobe. Their simple, yet perfect, design is such a clean and classic compliment to a woman’s delicate face, and they read as sophisticated and rich every time.

If you have the choice or budget for only one pair in my entire collection (aside from a classic round or princess cut stud that no one can go wrong with), I can’t possibly recommend more the purchase of the 14K gold leverback drop earrings. I guarantee that you will find yourself wearing them almost everyday. You may even become consumed with the desire of knowing an even greater joy by trying my gorgeous Sparkling Dew Drop chandeliers! More on those later…. :)

Posted in Jewelry | Tagged , , , | Comments Off

Green Hollywood sprinkled with a Little Green Glamour

Posted on August 4, 2010 by rebekah

This weekend I was invited to attend the “Green is Glamorous” event at the Libertine in Hollywood.  Given that those three words – Green is Glamorous – have been the center of my universe for the last ten years straight, I felt like it was a highly appropriate event for me to attend.

It’s great to see how incredibly far green has come in just a few short years.  The fact is that events like these, and even purely mainstream events, are being produced by green party planning companies who make sure that every attention is being paid to making the party favors sustainable, the h’orderves organic and the cause charitable.  This weekend’s event was no different and I commend the organizers at Extreme PR for putting their PR where their passion is!  “Green Hollywood” is the real deal these days.

What’s kind of funny though is that as a mom and a business woman, I have a million things to juggle before getting ready for walking the red carpet at events like this.  So, to prove that I’m exactly like everyone else, I thought that I’d show you my before and after pictures. I didn’t have much time, but somehow I managed to get ready in about 45 minutes.  Right before jumping into the shower, I was running around town to get my kids to their gymnastics class.  Then, we raced home to get them fed, we fit in a summertime reading session and then I got them set up with a number of activities for the babysitter to do with them that evening.

My “before” picture basically represents what I spent the first 30 years of my life looking like every single day … as a student, as a mom, as an “I’m too busy to pay any attention to myself”.  Then, a few years ago, I finally decided to take some pride in how I looked, and I finally learned how to put myself together.  It changed my life forever.  I started having a whole lot more fun, because I decided that how I felt actually mattered to me.  My “after” picture represents the new me, a woman who knows that all I have to do to create a new experience for myself is take a few minutes to slip on the right dress and step out of my mom jeans.  Just by taking off my glasses and choosing a great pair of my 14K gold earrings for the evening, I can change my attitude from ‘Who Cares?’ to ‘Who’s THAT?!’

Since having learned how important it is to take care of myself and not just focusing all of my energy on taking care of others, I’ve honestly become an entirely more well-rounded and happier person overall.  I talk about this idea often in my writings, because I feel that moms need this message delivered to them over and over in order to remember that their own sense of balance and vibrance is the true cornerstone of a healthy family.  As women, we are amazing and multi-dimensional, and we can’t forget to pay attention to all of our many sides.

If you haven’t done anything nice for yourself in a while, I promise that trying a pair of my fair trade gemstone leverback drop earrings will completely change how you see yourself in the mirror and raise the bar for how you know you deserve to look now.  There really is nothing like a little 14K gold jewelry around your face to bring out the light in your eyes and the sweetness in your spirit.  Then, as moms who want to protect the planet for generations to come, knowing that my 14K gold earrings and fair trade gemstones are actually jewelry made from recycled materials and stones sourced from sustainable suppliers, that should make your light shine that much brighter!

Posted in Jewelry | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off

14K Gold Chandelier Earrings – Glamour Feels Good

Posted on August 2, 2010 by rebekah

How does glamour feel?  Well, I’ve learned that it feels pretty fantastic, actually!

It’s been a fun process for me to end up where I have in the sustainable jewelry world.  That phrase “sustainable jewelry” is the perfect combination of words to describe where I came from and where I am now.  I suppose that you could say that I’m a bit of a hippie at heart.  I named my children Gabriel Bear and Lavender Meadow for that matter!  I do love the earth.  I do love health.  And I do love how taking care of the earth simultaneously takes care of our health!  The relationship between the two is truly inseparable and miraculous.

In my process of going from a hippie who was living off the land to a fashionista who is walking the red carpet, I have been determined to find a way that I can pull from all of my experience as an eco-conscious consumer to becoming a responsibly-manufacturing green jeweler.

I never expected to fall in love with fashion and jewelry in the way that I have over the last period of my life.  But I did, and this specifically happened because of how committed I was to feeling my best and living my best life.  I came to understand that being well-put-together and having an impressive sense of style gives you an air of authority and a spirit of confidence that cannot be duplicated in any other way.  So, my progression from hippie to fashionista and becoming sustainable jewelry designer by creating jewelry from recycled materials actually was organic and natural for me.

When I design a 14K recycled gold earring, I am hoping to create something that not only feels good from the inside out, but from the outside in as well.  Using recycled gold accomplishes that for me by not adding to the horrifically destructive process of mining precious metals from the earth.  This way, we get to feel great that our luxurious fashion accessories are not harming the planet – this is beauty from the inside out.  And by wearing a pair of my Cherry Tree Triple Mandala Chandelier Earrings, there’s no way that you could feel more glamorous, more put together and more spectacular – this is beauty from the outside in.  I consider this pair of chandelier earrings my most luxurious pair in the entire collection.

The great thing is that by selecting this amazing pair, you are getting your money’s worth in so many ways.  First, since the qualities of health, good fortune, prosperity and friendship are infused into the design and intention of the cherry tree symbol, you get to bless your day with these best wishes.  Second, the eye-catching brilliance of the 14K solid yellow gold are sure to grab every one’s attention for which you could possible hope.  And when you receive them, you will see and feel for yourself that we Rebekah Green Jewelry does not skimp on the construction of our earrings.  These beautiful baubles are worth their weight in gold, literally.  You will be able to enjoy this amazing sustainable jewelry as an investment in your eco-consciousness, your sense of well-being and even your bottom line, too!

Posted in Jewelry | Tagged , , | Comments Off

Triple Mandala Chandelier Earrings – Inspiration and Design

Posted on July 30, 2010 by rebekah

When I start the process of designing anything, like most designers, I first must find a spark of inspiration.  Artists have many ways of doing that by flipping through magazines, spending time in nature or perhaps visiting a museum.  The spark of inspiration that I found to create my Cherry Tree Triple Mandala Chandelier Earring came from close to home.

As the name suggests, I found the inspiration from the branding symbol of my company – the blossoming cherry tree.  I chose this symbol to represent my brand for several reasons.  First, I knew that I wanted a tree because trees represent everything that is glorious, symbiotic and life-giving about nature.  Second, I knew that I wanted an unexpected color for the leaves to eliminate the implied cliche of “a green tree = a green company”.  Third, the cherry tree has symbolized good fortune, beauty, health and friendship to many cultures around the world, so that seemed like a perfect association to have with my sustainable jewelry.  And finally, I chose the cherry tree because I simply love cherries and think that they are delicious, sensual and gorgeous.

If you look closely at each of the mandalas on these chandelier earrings, you will see ten cherries hanging from inside the outer layer of the design.  Then, in the center, you can clearly see the iconic cherry blossom with its five delicate petals in full bloom.  My choice to make three different chandelier designs using this core design – the single, double and triple cherry tree mandalas – was a way to make this kind of elegance and beauty available to everyone at every price point.  This way, you can get the same quality of design and workmanship with your choice of any pair, but the progressively more luxurious and glamorous options that you get with the double and the triple mandalas offer you the kind of high fashion and exquisite style that you need to make your most elegant ensembles really shine.

As a green jewelry company, my first priority is always to create sustainable jewelry pieces that I contribute to the health of the planet and not its destruction.  My way of doing this is by designing green jewelry from recycled materials.  The Cherry Tree Triple Mandala chandelier earring is therefore made from 100% solid, recycled yellow gold and requires absolutely no new mining of precious metals.  I feel that contemporary sustainable jewelry need not only be associated with woven hemp chokers and polished seed bracelets, but rather sustainable jewelry can include jewelry from recycled materials and fairly traded gemstones.

In the end, it’s my responsibility to be a sustainable manufacturer, but all I want you to experience as you wear these delicately-shaped and richly-appointed earrings is feeling like a million bucks!  So, here’s to your good fortune, good health and great style!

Posted in Jewelry | Tagged , , | Comments Off

Sparkling Stud Earrings – How It Feels to Wear Them

Posted on July 29, 2010 by rebekah

As women, how we feel everyday directly affects how we perform in our careers, how we take care of our families and how we perceive ourselves.  How we FEEL is everything.

Well, we have a motto here at Rebekah Green Jewelry … Feeling Pretty is Powerful!  When we feel strong, beautiful and confident, we usually perform our duties with authority, grace and competence.  I feel so strongly about this concept that it is precisely the reason why I decided to go into the fashion industry as a green jewelry designer.  I believed that I could touch women’s lives with the knowledge that I’ve gained along my journey about honoring our true natures by harnessing the power of presentation and personal style.

If there was one suggestion that I could give every woman if she were to ask me how to start building a timeless collection of classic jewelry which would bring out the best in herself and every outfit she owns, it would be to buy my 4mm or 6mm 14K gold stud earrings.  They are quintessentially timeless in their design, they are exceedingly reasonably priced and they raise the caliber of any ensemble by 8 to 10 notches.  They are the easiest possible thing to throw on without even thinking, and they look perfect every time.

Even though I made this mistake when I started discovering my own sense of fashion, I bought a bunch of junky, cluncky and trendy jewelry – stuff that cost as much or more than my princess or round cut cz studs – and none of that other trendy jewelry came even close to adding the kind of classic appeal that my studs offer me time and time again.  Trendy jewelry is just that, a trend.  It comes and it goes, and you’re usually left with a bunch of aged clutter in the end.

So, if you truly want to feel timeless, elegant and effortless, give a pair of these a try and watch how they change how you feel about yourself.  I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again … Feeling pretty really is powerful and simplicity is spectacular!

Posted in Jewelry | Tagged , , | Comments Off

Classic 14K Gold Stud Earrings – Inspiration and Design

Posted on July 28, 2010 by rebekah

I love simplicity.  I genuinely feel that quality style begins with classic and simple design.  That’s why there’s nothing like a high quality pair of stud earrings.  When I wear my 4mm or 6mm 14K gold stud earrings with eco-responsible cubic zirconia, I feel like a million bucks.  Nothing goes better with a crisp white shirt, a great pair of jeans and ballerina flats or even an elegant cocktail dress and sky-high stiletto heels.  Achieving a level of classic style is not always easy, but with sparkly studs, it’s a sure bet every single time.

Now, I’m certainly not the first person to invent a nicely made stud earring.  I’m definitely not saying that this idea is entirely original, but what I am saying is that in today’s fashion culture it is often under-appreciated.  All over the malls of America we are surrounded by loads of “trendy jewelry”.  They come in all shapes, sizes and colors and are usually far from delicate, elegant and precious.  I often find a lot of what’s out these to be bulky and a bit obnoxious.  I don’t feel that that kind of “trendy” style does much to compliment the features of a woman’s face or properly accent the clothes on her body.

I think that it’s time to start a fresh revolution and remember that less is almost always more!  My 4mm, 6mm and 8mm studs, whether princess cut or round, are guaranteed to compliment every single outfit you have, without fail.  They will also serve another purpose in you life.  If you are used to wearing gaudy and over-sized jewelry, putting yourself on a diet of these little sparklers, will re-train your brain to see that simplicity in jewelry design is quite spectacular.

I was inspired to include these simple pieces in my collection for that exact reason.  I wanted to help people, even young people, see that trendy jewelry has a very limited shelf life and that a small investment in my sustainably-manufactured 14K gold earrings will last you a lifetime.  The 4mm size are even sweet enough to work as little girl earrings.  It’s just enough sparkle to make your little angel’s smile and match the light in her beautiful little face.

In fashion, it’s always better to edit than to over-do.  You can’t go wrong with a classic 14K gold stud earring, and knowing that you’re contributing to the preservation of the planet by buying a pair of Rebekah Green earrings is something that you can feel proud about, at the same time!

Go see my whole line of 14K Gold Stud Earrings and find the perfect one to fit you or your little girl’s earring needs.

Posted in Jewelry | Tagged , , , | Comments Off

What Is The History Of Jewelry

Posted on July 24, 2010 by rebekah

Ahhh, Jewelry.  Isn’t it delicious?!  It represents so much, yet is so very simple in reality.  It’s usually pretty small.  We dangle it from our ears, our necks and sometimes our wrists.  It may almost seem trivial to those who pay it no mind, but to the rest of us … it’s everything.  It’s what completes an outfit in the most perfect way.  It’s what puts a sparkle in our eye when placed in just the right location.  It’s what elevates fashion to the next level when styled artistically and brilliantly.  And it’s what adds a spring to our step when we’ve found a piece that expresses our mood and enhances our confidence.

Do we really get all of that from shiny little baubles?  Yep, we do.  And that’s really only a small list.  The fact is that jewelry and personal adornment is something that has been around for years … and when I say years, I mean hundreds of thousands of years.  The first known record of handmade body adornment is right around 100,000 years ago.  It was a necklace made from Nassarius shells, and from there, the history of bracelets, rings, necklaces, earrings and various other piercings is as rich and diverse as are the tens of millions of people who have worn them.

In the very beginning, Cro-Magnons made jewelry out of bones, teeth, berries and sinew.  But as our species rapidly evolved and became exceedingly more sophisticated, we learned how to extract precious metals from the earth and make gleaming works of art that we placed in our hair, on our clothes and about our bodies.  Every region of the world has a different story of culture, status, art, design, mythology and power as told through its jeweled treasures and artifacts.

The original and most dominant purpose for owning these highly prized possessions was to display your family’s ranking and status in society.  It was also a way of storing your family’s wealth in ancient societies, prior to the construct of paper currency.  And most of the time, people were buried with their jewelry, because many cultures believed that a person could take the wealth and status with them into their next life.

Gold and silver, diamonds and gemstones have long been mainstays of the jewelry trade dating as far back as 5,000-6,000 years ago.  Copper was first seen used in jewelry making over 7,000 years ago, but after that gold became the most popular material because of it’s brilliance and ease of workability.  Many civilizations share detailed accounts of their cultural history through their jewelry, just like they did through other art forms and wall paintings.

Today, we have the privilege of using jewelry as an individualistic expression of our sense of self.  We no longer live in a hierarchical society which restricts which kind of jewelry we can wear, and instead, we have the freedom to wear any shape, size and color of personal adornment that we so choose.  Deciding what style of jewelry is right for expressing how we feel each day is a joyful and artistic endeavor.

I’m so pleased that I’ve found my true sense fashion identity through the pleasure of wearing lightweight, simple and elegant 14K gold earrings.  They matches my personality perfectly and allow my spirit to shine through even more.  And to add to that self-indulgence, I’m grateful that our industry now has techniques for manufacturing these pieces which can protect the planet for generations to come.

To help preserve our increasingly limited resources, I became a green jewelry manufacturer, myself.  By designing jewelry in this ecologically responsible way today, we may be able to tell our great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandchildren our jewelry story, just as we’ve learned of the history of culture through the jewelry of millenia past!

For more information on jewelry visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewellery

Posted in Jewelry | Tagged , | Comments Off

Eco-Friendly Eco-Hero Contest

Posted on July 23, 2010 by rebekah

For today’s blog, I’d love to bring some attention to the fantastic new contest that I have created for my website!  It’s your chance to win a pair of my 14K gold earrings – either for your kids in the Children’s Earrings section or – for YOURSELF!

In keeping with the spirit of my socially-responsible brand and eco fashion, green jewelry line, I decided to create a contest for people who do the green thing, even when no one else is looking.  Well …. now we’re all ears!  I want to hear about all of the ingenious and compassionate ways that our friends and community members are trying to make the world a better place.  I felt like it was about time to give all of us a forum to toot our own horns and even be rewarded for our efforts.

I want to hear about your work with underprivileged youth and how it’s changing your perspective on the future.  I want to hear about the trip that you took, on your own dime, to help with the clean up efforts in the Gulf.  I want to hear about how you travelled half way around the world to drill a well for a village to have clean drinking water.  I want to hear it all!

This is a place to celebrate our collective greatness and huge hearts.  Our generation represents a paradigm shift in global consciousness and community citizenship.  Philanthropy is the New Sexy.  Charity is the New Black.  But of course, we are fully aware of how looking good – while doing good – can change how we feel about ourselves in the process.  Everything we do is done in style, and that’s why I want to reward my Eco-Hero contestants with a pair of my 100% recycled gold, fair trade gemstone earrings for the best, most inspiring story.

So, get out there and make me proud!  If you don’t have a great story right now … solving that problem is as easy as thinking up something spectacular for tomorrow.  The contest runs every month and I’ll be reading every story, personally.  My favorite act of kindness wins 5 bonus votes, but if you get all of your friends to vote for you and get involved themselves, you’ll probably win in a landslide!

Please go visit and learn more about the Green Eco-Hero Contest

Posted in Jewelry | Tagged , , , | Comments Off