That realization came crashing down on Mari Palmer of Apex when her daughter needed money for a high school chorus trip a few years ago.

Rather than doing all the usual fundraising activities — car washes, bake sales — Palmer and her daughter decided to learn how to make earrings. They sold them to friends and family.

“We were having to be creative,” Palmer said of that time in their family’s lives. Her husband, Davis, had been laid off from Nortel.

Fast forward a couple years and the Palmers’ son, Jesse, was ready to head off to college. A smart, vocally talented student who had performed in theater at Apex High School, he chose Elon, a private school near Greensboro. Even with scholarships, the tuition was hefty.

It was about the same time that Jesse was graduating from Apex High, in spring 2008, that Palmer had another creative brainstorm. She tried her hand at making and then selling vintage jewelry at a local wedding show.

In the last year she has gotten organized, gotten more and more clients and created a Web site. With her home-based and online business, she buys vintage jewelry and repurposes the pieces into hair combs, necklaces, bracelets and more. She found that plenty of brides want to fulfull that “somethng old” part of the wedding day equation with rhinestones, pearls, stones and crystals found tucked away in grandmothers’ jewelry boxes.

Palmer said she was able to foot the bill for Jesse’s second semester at Elon with the money she has made.

Palmer said that at first, she thought she’d just be “dabbling” in vintage jewelry. But the venture has “kept me pretty busy,” and college tuition is a nice incentive to keep it going, she said.

The name of her business, Bel Canto Designs, is taken from her first love: music. It means “beautiful singing” in Spanish. A graduate of Boston Conservatory, for years Palmer has been working out of her home teaching voice to students from Apex High and other local schools.

Some of her students, now grown and of marrying age, have become clients for the vintage jewelry that Palmer will custom make to match brides’ dresses as well as those of the bridal party.

Online, Palmer has received orders from as far as France and Australia.

Prices are in the $50-$90 range and higher for more elaborate pieces.

“Vintage is very popular right now,” Palmer said. “I really enjoy working with the brides.”

Palmer said she also enjoys scouring antique shows and estate sales for just the right pieces for her collection. All her pieces are true vintage. Davis, an engineer, has even gotten involved, carefully eyeing each assembled comb or necklace, making sure the construction is good and the rhinestones are perfectly in place.

And Jesse, who just finished his freshman year, does seem appreciative of his mother’s efforts to help pay the costs of college. Even with all of his scholarships, “it’s still quite an expensive place to be,” he said.

He’s showing his appreciation in a concrete way, too: his GPA for the year was over 3.6.

To see some of Palmer’s jewelry visit belcanto.etsy.com.