Sometimes the simplest pieces of jewelry can highlight a woman’s best features and attract an admiring eye from across the room.  Lizzy Flanagan takes inspiration from the little pleasures and uses it to create inspired necklaces, earrings and bracelets for her jewelry business, Pieces of a Girl.

Sterling silver pendants that tell the wearer to “Claim your heart’s desire,”  a classic shell charm bracelet with a bead of new jade,abd mini pearl loop earrings are just a few of the glorious finds that await you at Flanagan’s online store, www.piecesofagirl.com or in any of the 150 stores in the US and Canada who stock her creations.

For Flanagan, most of the design process is following her heart.  She knows what she likes and will often play with design elements ~ a bead, a charm, the type of chain ~ until the right combination of pieces makes itself known.
A lover of jewelry from day one, Flanagan, 38, remembers the trip that first inspired her to take her talent and start a business.

“Pieces of a Girl was part serendipity, part ingenuity,” she recalls. “The idea resulted from a cross country trip I took with my cousin. During our wild six-week adventure we shared everything. I was the jewelry enthusiast, but my cousin Kristin started wearing pieces I had with me and became attached to the designs by the time we got home.”

Upon their return, Flanagan’s cousin asked her to create a necklace that would remind her of the trip.  Flanagan obliged and also wrote a small poem of friendship.  She put the two items into a silk bag and presented her cousin with the gift.
“When my cousin opened the gift she exclaimed, ‘I love this! This is what you need to do full time!’” according to Flanagan.  “It was a defining moment for me, and the start of the Pieces of a Girl concept.”

Flanagan attended Emerson College in Boston where she majored in Communication Studies and, despite loving the school experience, says that her most memorable moments occurred when she was traveling abroad.  She taught herself beading and different design techniques using Softflex wire and attending metalsmithing classes at Snow Farm in Williamsburg, MA.

Today, she has “settled down” in her lovely design studio ~ spring green walls, lime green tables, amazing art and a vintage filing cabinet that she found in Worcester complete the space and keep the creative juices flowing as she works on her website which features “real girl models.”

“‘Real girls’ are just as beautiful as models when you think about it!” Flanagan says.  “A few of the girls have said that because they sense my confidence in them and my appreciation of their beauty, they feel comfortable offering up something super beautiful ~ something elegant, raw and true. My clients absolutely respond positively to the ‘real girl’ models.”

When Flanagan takes a break from designing fabulous filigree stone tear drop earrings and the like, she enjoys Sunday brunches, taking a walk with her dog, hitting the Todd Farms Flea Market and spending time with her friends and family who, according to the entrepeneur, have both consistently inspired and supported her.

At this time, Pieces of a Girl is going through a major growth period, says Flanagan.  Amazing and top secret projects are occuring “behind the curtain” and will be uncovered in the near future.  And even in her humility, Flanagan is quite comfortable speaking of her favorite piece of jewelry – the one that was never sold, but instead kept for herself.

“I made a beautiful turquoise bracelet that featured a vintage carved jadeite piece that came out of my Grandmother’s jewelry box,” Flanagan says.  “It was one of the first pieces I made and I still wear it regularly.”

For more info on Pieces of A Girl, go to PiecesofaGirl.com