Make a fresh bay leaf garland

•Rotary tool such as Dremel Stylus, $69.97, by Dremel, from Home Depot

•Dried pomegranates, $26.99 for 20, from Curious Country Creations
•Fresh bay leaves
•Twine
•Big craft needle such as Jumbo tapestry needle (No. 44758582), $2.59, by Clover, from createforless.com
•26-gauge floral wire (No. 82822306), $2.29, by Panacea, from createforless.com
Current as of 10-23-2009

Step 3

Fill in the spaces between the pomegranates with bay leaves: Cut 6-inch sprigs, poke the ends into the hole in the pomegranate, and use one or two short pieces of floral wire to secure the sprigs to the twine. Continue, adding bay leaves between all the fruit. The "tassels" at the ends are leaves inserted directly in the holes.

Make Your Own Awesome Leather Belt - thanks Martha Stewart!

This fashionable leather belt achieves the look of a very expensive one -- for a fraction of the cost.

Tools and Materials
Measuring tape
Leather
Utility knife
All-purpose cement
15 grommets
Grommet tool kit
Ruler
Jax solution
Plastic spoon
Belt buckle


Leather Belt How-To


1. Measure your waist over your clothes with a measuring tape.
2. Cut two rectangles of leather that measure the size of waist plus 2 inches by 3 1/2 inches. Cut the two rectangles a little bit larger, since it is difficult to cut a big piece of leather perfectly. Using all-purpose cement, glue rough sides of these two leather strips. Stick together back-to-back and trim down to your true measurements.
3. Making the belt extender: Measure the crossbar of belt buckle. Ours was 1 3/8 inch. Make a smaller double-sided rectangle strip the same way as before so that it will measure 1 3/8 inch by 12 inches.
4. Using a plastic spoon, drop brass grommets into jax solution to give them an antique patina. Remove after 2 seconds and let dry.
5. Using your grommet hole punching tool, create 11 holes on top of the extender piece, each spaced 1 inch apart down the center. Fasten 7 grommets in 11 of the holes.
6. For the piece of leather that holds the buckle, cut one more strip of leather exactly 1 3/8 inch by 12 inches. Punch a hole in the center of the strip. Glue rough ends of the strip leaving one inch on each side of the hole free of glue. Pass the ends through the belt buckle.
7. Stick the prong of the belt buckle through the hole of the strip. Fold the strip in half onto itself, matching up the ends of the rectangle. Enclose the buckle.
8. Center the buckle to one edge of the larger rectangle and secure with glue and 4 grommets. On other end of the rectangle, center your extender piece 8 inches from the edge with the unfinished hole on top of the large rectangle. Glue area where the two pieces will be connected (about 4 inches).
9. Punch four holes through both layers. Put grommets through front and secure to back.
Resources
The 2.5 ounce chap hide leather is available from tandyleather.com, or you can go to any leather store and buy scraps from the "scrap" bins. The grommets and grommet hand tool used can be purchased from dritz.com. We used a 3/8-inch brass 8CT (9mm) grommet. The belt buckle (style # 37231, in Antique Brass) is available from M&J Trimming. The Petronio's all-purpose cement glue is available from instantshoeshine.com. Jax Brown Brass, Bronze, and Copper Darkener can be purchased from metalliferous.com. Martha also used a Fiskars clear ruler and a Breakaway blade knife.
From The Martha Stewart Show, April 2007

Make your own feather headband, thanks Martha Stewart!

Adorn basic headbands with beautiful feathers for a one-of-a-kind accessory.

Tools and Materials

Scissors

Fabri-Tac fabric glue

Scrap of ribbon

Needle and thread

Button

Plain headband

Clothespin

Hot-glue gun and hot-glue sticks

Feather pad (hackle) or selection of feathers to create one

Nonstick surface, such as a hot-glue mat or leftover label-backing paper

Fashion Headband How-To

To make a feather pad (hackle)

1. Select nice-looking feathers. Snip excess fuzz from around quill with sharp scissors.

2. Place a small dab of Fabri-Tac onto a nonstick surface. Arrange feathers with quills meeting in the dab of glue. Let dry for one hour. Peel feathers from nonstick surface.

To create a ribbon flower

1. Sew a running stitch on one side of ribbon with a needle and thread.

2. Pull thread while sliding ribbon down to create flower.

3. Hot glue button to center of ribbon flower.

To Assemble Headband

1. Look in mirror with headband on to determine placement of feathers. Mount feather pad to headband with Fabri-Tac or hot glue, and secure with clothespin until dry.

2. Add ribbon flower at base of feather hackle with hot glue and secure with a clothespin until dry.

Resources

All tools and materials available at most crafts stores.

From The Martha Stewart Show

Pretty Multi Colored Sapphires

September's birthstone is sapphire, but not just blue sapphire! This precious gem comes in a plethora of colors, such as pink, yellow, orange, light blue, dark blue, purple blue. I was never a big fan of the traditional dark blue sapphire, I loved the expensive medium blue, which is priced out of most people's reach.

I have begun making sapphire jewelry, in the multi colored sense. I love love love the micro faceted briolettes in all different colors and shades. The multi faceted brio's, sparkle more than diamonds! I have been combining them with different large stones to compliment the sparkle. So far the favorite center piece stones have been yellow topaz and praisiolite. I have made some great pieces, that are not cookie cutter styles. When I see friends, family and clients in these sapphires it takes my breath how beautiful they are on the ear and neck.

Your birthstone might not be your favorite color or gem, but keep this in mind, you can buy gemstones in different colors, cuts, facets and settings. I challenge you to look beyond the local jewelry store and look at designers online, such as Etsy, Ebay and 1000 markets. You will be pleasantly delighted to see how different your gem looks in different ways.

Most designers like myself, welcome custom orders from clients. We make a piece to your specifications, metal and size, and you are not obligated to purchase that design until it is perfect for you. Check out my Etsy site at www.verymaryjewelry.com and my personal favorite picks, I take the time to mark my favorite designs and designers.

New Jewelry Designs

Fabulous new designs coming! Check out my latest earrings and bracelets for summer. Almost all items have free shipping. I am also have a Super Sale, click on the category for sale items up to 50% off.



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Designer goods

Starting June 16 Verymary Jewelry has a new line of high end jewelry. These pieces were created around the cut and color of the stones. I will be back on Ebay full time with great designer brand clothing and accessories this month as well, vrymary726 (ebay name). Check out my David Yurman, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Burberry, Dior, Ed Hardy and more! It will be a fun summer of great goods! I will list some of my vintage designer pieces on Etsy as well, so check them out! verymaryjewelry.com

Vuitton, Gucci, Coach

Faux, Fake, Fuy, Knock off, etc. How to find them, spot them and maybe enjoy them! This is a touchy subject in the fashion world. Knock offs are stealing another company's designs and selling them as their own. (illegal) First : how to find a deal louis vuitton, gucci, coach, etc. The Internet is filled with neat sites with all kinds of different designer bags and goods. Don't be afraid to order, just have fun with it and order your first piece to get a feel for the quality.

 I always check out the authentic bag first, look at the lining, trademarks, etc. Also, the brand new bag might be just as affordable, in that case I suggest purchasing from the store.

 Outlets are great ways to find the designer goods you desire. I am located in the FL area and the outlets here are amazing. You can start at the Gucci outlet, a lot of the goods are more than 75% off retail prices! No need to buy a fake coach, they are affordable at the outlet and the real thing lasts for years. OFF 5th and Neiman Marcus Outlet's, wow, they have everything you could ever want in designers. 

You should sign up for the email lists and they send out coupons, sale announcements and great deals on designers for the month. I will continue on this subject in my next blog, stay tuned! verymaryjewelry, mary barber

precious metals and gemstones

Gemstones are natural and beautiful! We all need some natural minerals in our life. The fun having our birth stone or a stone with meta physical properties is really neat! Blue and green are colors of life, they make us feel happy and alive. Expand what you think blue and green are defined by, look at a large color wheel, there are endless shades of blue and green. When I see green I think of all things living, like plants and trees. Blue is calming, like water and sky. When we wear these colors in jewelry and clothing we give the signal to others we are happy and calm. We attract positive people and energy! Try an experiment with yourself and wear something in the blue-green family, see how your day turns out!

love,

verymaryjewelry.com

Jewelry for the new year 2009 precious metals, no costume jewelry, don't waste your hard earned money

We are all excited to start a new year! This year classic and timeless are the styles. People want to invest money in precious metals and artisan jewelry to seperate themselves from the pack. Make sure to buy pieces that will hold the value of the materials. Gone are the days of throwing money out on costume jewelry that will break or tarnish. We must spend wisely, and with that said, put your money in jewelry made of sterling silver, gold filled, 10-24k gold. Don't bother with vermeil, dipped or plated, they are inteed just costume jewelry.

Let's have fun this year, enjoy our family, our homes, and support artisans.- verymaryjewelry.com

Happy New Year!

Love, verymary jewelry.com
mary w. barber