Hand crafted jewelry at Carolina Creations by Liztech

Jill Elizabeth remembers the "floor sweeps". Those were the days when the fledgling jewlery designer swept the grimy, liquor bottle-strewn floors of New York City's bead merchants for whatever had fallen to the floor....

Jill Elizabeth doesn't do "floor sweeps" anymore. Now the entrepreneur, who dropped her last name from her professional moniker, buys by the gross from a sprawling warehouse in Providence, RI, "the costume jewelry capital of the US."

. The Liztech line has different pin designs and earring shapes that are all handmade. The pieces are inspired by the American Southwest, Egyptian and Indian mythology.