neckwarmer

Black leather lined in soft cashmere Black Triangle

Brown leather lined in soft cashmere Brown Triangle

Gray leather with fringe Gray leather with fringe

Gray Wrap Cowl in leather Gray wrap in leather

Deep olive suede infinity with lacing Suede infinity

Upcycled woolens & cashmere Wool & cashmere

Upcycled denim and cashmere Upcycled denim & cashmere

Upcycled ruffled wool & velour Wool plaid ruffles

Pizza From Scratch

We had homemade pizzas for Saturday night dinner! 

 

 These make a delightful fare for small dinner parties with close friends or family. For a little more fun, get them involved with choosing the toppings.

I used this easy recipe for the dough and mixed it in my (much treasured) bread machine on the "dough cycle". All I had to do after that was shape the dough, let it rise a few minutes and add sauce, cheese and toppings. 

Here's the recipe! Designers HAVE to eat!

Enjoy!

Pizza Dough Recipe 

(2 12-14" crusts)

1 1/2c water

3 3/4 c bread flour

1 1/2 T olive oil

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 T sugar

1 1/2 t active dry yeast

Place in bread machine on "dough cycle"

With floured hands, shape dough into a ball and divide evenly in 2 pieces.

Press dough onto lightly oiled pizza stone, pizza pan or cookie sheet leaving a thick edge.

Brush dough lightly with olive oil.

Let rise covered for 15 minutes. (I just placed mine in my cool oven for this)

Spoon desired sauce over dough.Cover with cheese, seasonings and toppings of your choice.

Bake in pre heated  400 degree oven for 25-30 minutes

!

Let me know how yours come out!

<3

 z

Bow & flower

 http://www.etsy.com/listing/95674735/black-patent-leather-bow-sash-belt

http://www.etsy.com/listing/93066664/leather-red-rose-headband-leather-flower A

Cape

             Leather Capelet

Leather Capelet

Tattered

                                

blog post

OFFBEAT BRIDE BLOG

                                                          Luscious Leather Flower Fashion Belt

Yellow & Amber Leather Flower Belt

Decadent Black Leather Fringe Neck Piece

Introduction

Mano Bello Fan Page 

New look.....different ways to wear your accessories....

Online shop for ManoBello
Transform your wardrobe. Have fun, save that cash for something else.....

This is two of the elegant and very classic Leather Rose belts at Mano Bello, from the Flowers Collection.....Morphed into Couture goddess level funkiness....wrapped and worn as a harness, ascot or bib. A really feminine fashion restraint!

 Here again...the same two belts, wrapped & layered, coiled around as a lush bib, or decadent necklace edging it's way towards "scarf".

Love......not war! 

A morphed bandolier. Much better to arm yourself with roses.....

A single belt wrapped into an edgy halter......Any of these would carry any plain button down shirt, tee or fitted wool blazer to heights teetering on haute!

I am going to ask the StyleBubble girl to a friendly challenge of "styling with accessories"....let's see if she responds!

I'm working on photos to show the different ways to wear what could otherwise be an intensely classic leather belt.

Not only a belt, but a harness, a sash across the body diagonally, a choker, even a necklace with lots of leather ribbons to play with and intertwine. I think I could use the help of Style Bubble!
Although I am no expert, nor want to be, on designing leather accessories for bondage purposes....I do like the harness look with the belt, over a tee or a wool jacket.

I love versatility in wardrobe pieces...I love finding creative ways to mix things up and morph the intended purpose of a piece into something else that ends up quirky, funky, fun and stylish.
Shown with Chan Luu Cashmere dress, Rozae Nichols lace skirt, Der Dau riding boots & fingerless gloves, wool tights & thigh high stockings borrowed from J Crew.
Red Rose Ribbon Leather Belt     
Online shop for Mano Bello belts

Models & Fashion on Etsy

Models & Fashion on Etsy

Here's a compilation of things I love on Etsy composed into a Treasury list, which is somewhat like viewing a magazine page with all of my loved things on 1 page.....available at 1 place!

I am busy designing and creating my new line of Leather Belts which will be ruffled and somewhat like a bustle.

They are coming out beautifully and I should be launching them along with photos to my etsy shop by week's end.

In the meantime, here is a new necklace design featured recently in my "Flowers Collection".

Mano Bello designs now in limited production

http://www.etsy.com/listing/60012960/leather-rose-ribbon-wrap-obi-waist-belt

Here in fabulous and luxurious goatskin. Unmatchable softness and texture. Rare in red. I have found that finding the right skins for the "Flowers Collection" is a difficult and time consuming task. Going overseas is a must for quality and color. I am getting ready to incorporate a "Volume" for limited productions of my leather wrap obi belts as a result. Each belt will be numbered and available in limited quantities.

Photography Advice for emerging designers

I am inviting critiques and comments on different photography themes for portraying merchandise using the best marketing options.......photos are utmost in importance! Don't be shy....leave your thought and comments!

Ruffled Leather Shoulder Bag
shop here

Wish it were a vacation!

I don't consider myself a "techie" and I often go to my 14 year old son for help with my computer glitches. Being on online retailer and that being my only "store" rather than a physical one in the dimension where gravity exists, I HAVE to learn techie stuff in order to operate.
Keeps me young, so I've heard....learning, that is.
I can change my printer.....no problem. Can someone explain to me how in the process of installing my new printer, I blew out my router? It was a perfectly operating router before my new printer install. It was even one of those super duper powerful & expensive ones. It did not like the printer, I guess!
Anyway...2 weeks ensued with shipping delays on the new router...and I had no internet except when I could convince my son to let me share his computer so I could continue to place food on the table.
Unfortunately, my blogging took the fall along with the router......
In the mean time, I had a lot more time to work on designs and came up with my Leather Flower Obi belts.
Trouble is, I like them so much, I don't want to sell them!   Where to see obi belts

Flying out the door - Specials at Mano Bello

 Wide Leather Cuff - Mano Bello

I had no idea this would go over so well....struggling as an independent Fashion Designer and trying to support 2 lives with only that....can be a challenge. Bringing more people to my site any way I can is something I spend hours pondering.....
Yesterday's 1st time ever special offering flew out the door in the first hour!
So, as long as I can and need to, I will feature daily sale items.....come and get to know me!

Leather Rose Ring, pale blue

Responsible Fashion

I am excited about joining a group where artists donate some of there sales to charity with the purpose of "Artists changing the world".
I look forward to doing a part in this great idea!
http://www.beautifulidea.us/

Leather Rose Ring

                                                   Shop for leather brooches & corsages

Using antique glass or rhinestone buttons, combined with leather that is hand sculpted to ruffle into "petals", these rose pins,cuffs and rings have become one of my best loved lines this fall. Seasonless for wear through Fall, Winter, Spring or Summer. Pin these brooches on your purse, scarf ,shawl, headband or blouse for an instant  finishing touch to whatever you're wearing. Available at www.manobello.com .

A day in the life of a single Mom, Fashion Designer, Blogger, Homeschooler, DIY'er

I would love to write about how exciting and fulfilling my creative life is....how I get to focus on fashion and my pleasure in designing & making beautiful clothing & accessories and the satisfaction that comes when a buyer loves my products and buys more.....
But......with a capital B.....
I am also a struggling single Mom, middle age adding to the feat. My significant partner walked out on me unannounced, with no warning, about 4 months ago. Leaving me with a 2-income set of mortgages & bills and now with only 1 income to survive on, my  future is anything but certain, to say the least, it will definitely be different from what is would have been.
So, now, what was serious pleasure and "take my time" endeavors in my creative studio, has had to become serious hard work, get out there and network, put up that website, produce product and SELL!  Every day.
Although I would have eventually gotten to the point of having a website and blogging and such, I am now limited with time and resources and facing many challenges.
I have secured my domain, ManoBello.com. and have made attempts at creating my website and have read about the ease and simplicities of the task and have been left feeling daunted and a bit stupid. I think I'm going to need some help.
I have started my Blog and been surprised at all of the "success" stories out there and what a wonderful opportunity it is to network, make friends, show your products, share common experiences and even find monetary gain. I had no idea.
I'm on my second full day of trying to interpret the website design....so far, all I can do is link my website to my  web shop on etsy. Although I think etsy is a cool place to showcase my wares.....it has limits and thousands of other artists trying to sell their wares as well.  It's easy to get lost in the crowds.

Our annual Home school evaluation is done each year with a certified teacher. We've seen her every year for several. We arrived at her door tonight to find no one home and waited around for awhile...she has 4 kids...she's probably running late. No, I got the wrong day & time.....of course. It's scheduled for tomorrow night, even though I read my calendar 3 times throughout the day. It didn't sink in until after we got home. We'll go again tomorrow night. That didn't help my feeling adequate much.

I received an email from a customer who made a purchase earlier in the week. She loves the purse, but, it's the wrong color...she's returning it. Not good for my ailing budget. Not good for my feeling adequate as sole support for my family.

Leather cuff with bows at  www.manobello.com

SO, if I can be interesting enough to eventually find some followers of my blog, maybe they will get to see the real life of a designer from the bottom to hopefully up! I'm not giving up.

Anthropology invite

 Working on my proposal for Anthropology Stores. Spending the entire day on photo cropping and pasting, labeling, calculating, making new files, copying to new files, running to Staples to buy more ink......and pricing.

I see the makings of a job position here. Growing from the ground up is a process which sometimes requires jumping over the edge without any time for thought. Things can change quickly with 1 order. Suddenly I'm no longer designing & creating, but, writing emails, proposals, answering requests for a brochure, responding to comments left by admirers, pricing new items, logging time & materials, and the list goes on.

My heart lies in the designing & creating.