This morning when I looked outside everything had a coating of ice crystals. The grass, the trees, the buildings everything in sight was coated with a fine layer of white frost. My latest piece of jewelry is based around shades of white. Along the Emerald Coast of Florida is a beach community called Alys Beach. Inspired by the Mediterranean all the buildings are painted white. It is a beautiful place. The white buildings set along the crystal blue waters of the Gulf are a sight to be seen. I took this memory and created this necklace appropriately named Alys!

In creating this necklace I discovered a new material called Faux Bone. I love this material. It comes in sheets like plastic and you have to cut it, carve it, sand it etc. to make your own piece of art. The possibilities are just endless. There are many options in how you finish the product. It can look like bone, shell or ivory just to name a few things. I know I love it and I plan to use it again soon. I’m also finding I love using copper. For many years now sterling silver has stolen the show from most other affordable metals. When the economy took a dive, sterling silver prices soared. Many designers started looking for alternative metals to use in their designs. Over the past year we have seen gorgeous metals appearing in jewelry that were never serious options before. Stainless steel, copper and bronze are some of the metals coming forth in some beautiful pieces of jewelry. Properly used these metals are sterling silver contenders. You are no longer seeing everyone wearing either silver or gold……isn’t that nice:)