"Go big or go home." That's Amber Churchill's motto, and it shows in her work. This rock-shop regular uses substantially sized exotic stones and beads to make some big-ass, beautiful jewellery, garnering attention from local personalities as well as Hollywood's hardest-working fashionistas.

"I don't know what it is," says Churchill, calling from her Galiano Island boutique, Sweet Somethings Gallery (33 Manzanita Road), where, in addition to her own line, Designs by Amber Jewelry, she carries a selection of Canadian fashion and artwork. "I'm just drawn to anything big and bold. Whether it's art or clothing, I like it big."

Oddly enough, big isn't a word she'd use to describe herself.

"I'm 5'2", so I'm small and bold," she says with a giggle. And just to be clear, this is not a case of short-woman's complex. "No, I don't wish I were taller. I like being 5'2"," she says with yet another infectious laugh.

Originally from Ontario, the island girl with the celebrity-endorsed jewellery collection has come a long way since she "beaded her way west", as her Web site puts it, six years ago.

"The first summer I was here, I travelled around northern B.C. doing little craft fairs and music festivals, so it was kind of a hobby at the beginning," says Churchill, whose work is now sold through her Web site ( www.designsbyamber.com/ ) as well as several local galleries and boutiques including the Vancouver Art Gallery (750 Hornby Street) and Twigg & Hottie (3671 Main Street). "But people started buying it, so that was kind of a tip-off that I could make a living at it."

That's when she decided to enroll in Vancouver Community College's Jewellery Art & Design program. Before she graduated, stylists from local film sets were already buying her product.

" The Twilight Zone bought one of my necklaces," she says. "It was for someone playing an out-of-control, bad-ass teenager."

From there, her jewels just seemed to be on the right person at the right time—of course, it doesn't hurt that she's chummy with a group of very well connected people.

"A friend of mine was the buyer for Freddy vs. Jason , so she introduced me to the head designer and I met with him," says Churchill. "Through him, I got to do all of Kelly Rowland's jewellery and I got to go on set, where Freddy [Robert Englund] bought stuff from me in costume. It was freaky. I kept wanting to poke his head."

Then another buddy happened to be sporting one of Churchill's leather cuffs ($58) while lunching with none other than Halle Berry, who zoned in on the piece right away. And through another mutual acquaintance, Sarah McLachlan got her hands on one of Churchill's Vine necklaces ($58). For this piece, she weaves Japanese Delica beads and stones into one long drop cluster that resembles a bunch of grapes. This design is relatively aesthetically subdued compared to the Five Layer Coco Shear Choker ($85). Using slivers of predyed coconut shell, Churchill feathers out the brightly hued spiky bits from a one-size-fits-all neckband. Her other signature necklace is the Beadwoven Necklace ($200 to $500), which is centred around a flat Brazilian agate ranging in size from about two centimetres to 12 centimetres in diameter.

"Yeah, that one looks like a breastplate—like it could stop bullets," she says. "I mostly do those really huge ones for fashion shows or for photographs.…But I do wear one myself and I call it my Flavor Flav, because it's as big as one of his clocks. They [the necklaces] definitely take a while to find the right person."

Not to downplay her God-given talent, Churchill admits that she seems to have a knack for attracting good fortune when it comes to peddling her wares.

"It just happens—what can I say?" she says. "It just finds me, and I go with it." -