This is...

my new favorite thing!!!!

My Wilder necklace. Purchased from Kylie with Early Jewelry, a Lawrence, KS-based business. My neighbor, who's the talented artist's sister, introduced me to the line. And it's amazing. Here's a snippet from the site:

Kylie Earlene Grater’s farm beginnings in Riley, Kansas lend a unique aesthetic to her original pieces. Growing up in the rural Midwest, she was able to look out onto the Plains, their vast horizons, and crops that rotated with the seasons.

The simplicity of rural life, the changing of the weather, and the cycles of planting, and harvesting have all influenced Grater’s approach to creating jewelry. Her close contact with these organic influences, in part, determines her materials: feather, cow bone, and leather, to name a few.

This necklace is sterling silver, hand engraved with a "W" and hand-stamped with a broken arrow symbol.

I wear it every day.

And proudly so. What momma wouldn't?

Click here for a link to Early Jewelry's blog. "In 2009 Kylie will blog the creation of 300 designs as an expansion of her current collections throughout the year. This new project is born of a desire to document a more interactive creative process with the Early Jewelry audience and all 300 designs will be available for purchase thru the blog."