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Fashion & Style

Hillary Houston

2013-03-01 14:39:55

Q-What are the most affordable and popular jewelry trends today?

A-One of the hottest trends in fashion is handmade jewelry. People are moving away from mass produced pieces and opting for the individualized look of custom crafted pieces. One of the reasons mass produced items have reigned in popularity for so long was the affordability factor. Naturally, when produced in bulk, the price of pieces comes down. While beautiful and stylish, such pieces are also very common. Today, the art of custom jewelry has come of age. With the widespread availability of tools and supplies, jewelry artisans can now create affordable custom art with wide appeal. Talented designers use a variety of materials, such as copper, bronze, pewter, and leather in addition to the more common gold and silver in creating stunning one-of-a-kind pieces that serve as both fashion accessory and art. The best part about the custom crafted jewelry craze is that they come in a marvelous array of styles, textures, colors, shapes and sizes with no two the same. You might see stamped silver, sea glass, or shell figures as beautifully and proximately as any expensive gem would be in traditional jewelry lines. The pieces can be simple or exotic but all of them beautiful. Because of the individuality of the designs, most pieces become treasured heirlooms over time In addition to uniqueness, another wonderful feature of custom jewelry is that it is available at every price point and offers an outstanding value for your dollar. You can find pieces from very well known designers on the upper end of the spectrum all the way down to local crafters who offer their work more affordably. Pieces are priced according to the materials used, the intricacy of the design, and of course the maker. These factors together have made custom jewelry a hot trend that will not end in the foreseeable future.

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Fashion & Style

Tina Engle

2004-02-01 16:25:00

: Each morning is a hassle getting the children ready for school.  Do you have any suggestions to help me organize their clothes better?

Tina Engle Question: Each morning is a hassle getting the children ready for school.  Do you have any suggestions to help me organize their clothes better?Answer: This is an answer for every parent or grandparent who's dealt with a 7-year-old girl who wants to wear that summer dress in the middle of December!  Or better yet, the little boy who insists on wearing cowboy boots with his sweatpants and no shirt!  Children today have many more options for their apparel than we did say, 20 years ago.  This brings with it more battles over what is acceptable and what could border line as child abuse!  A helpful hint that may seem time consuming at first, but it will pay off in the long run, is to sort their clothes when you do the laundry.  Match outfits when you put them in the drawers or hang matching outfits together in the closet.  The less time the child spends sorting through the clothes the easier it will be on you, and the less time you will spend trying to explain why you don't wear a Hawaiian style shirt over a Kansas City Chiefs jersey!  One other small tip, as the seasons change and you are folding that laundry, PULL OUT the clothes that you know will not fit next year and automatically put them in a (dark) plastic bag to be given away.  This will save you from pulling the clothes out of the closet and the children noticing (even though they were seldom worn, it will surely become their favorite as soon as they realize you might give it to someone else!).  Hopefully this will help you in the battles of parenthood!