Strands that deliver

MARBLEHEAD -- As Kati Enscoe opens the door to the small office in her home, she excitedly points out her tack board, buried behind string after string of candy-colored stones.

"Before every season, I hang up all my new stones on the board," Enscoe, 28, said. "I just sit and daydream new combinations."

Garnish, Enscoe's six-year-old jewelry line, may be best described as chunky, fun, and sophisticated. It also reflects the designer's eclectic personal style. There's punchy strawberry quartz strung casually into a necklace and bauble bracelets dripping with aventurine and cool crystal quartz. Green freshwater pearl, goldstone, and olive and emerald glass mix and mingle in a six-strand necklace.

Enscoe looks to her favorite designers -- among them, Milly and Tibi -- for inspiration when picking colors and materials for her handmade jewelry. This fall, she worked with her stone broker to pull in burgundy and fuchsia stones, dark green turquoise, and tiger's eye.

"Color and texture are two things I think about every day," she said. "I really want my pieces to pop."

Even the more conservative Enscoe creations -- a sterling silver charm necklace with small teardrop stone detail, for example -- incorporate her sense of fun and whimsy. Alongside the more traditional starfish, sand dollar, and tennis racket charms are pigs, cowgirl boots, deer, and a revolver with spinning barrel.

"I picked them," she said, laughing, "because I would wear every single one."

Enscoe, whose full-time job is in marketing, strings each piece in her ever-changing line in her spare time. She sells her collection at 30 boutiques -- including Beauty Mark on Charles Street and at Mint Julep's locations in Brookline and Cambridge -- and on her website, garnish.us. Each season she puts together at least 600 pieces to sell in stores.

She started her company by chance, really. Enscoe, who has made jewelry, skirts, and handbags for herself and friends since high school, was wearing her now-popular pink quartz bauble bracelet while shopping at Match Collection in Beverly Farms in summer 2001.

The bouncy stones caught owner Shannon McNabb's eye, and she asked Enscoe for some of her pieces to sell.

"As a retailer, it's hard to find things that are distinctive," McNabb said, adding that Garnish is now her best-selling jewelry line. "Kati has a great eye. She picks the best stones and mixes colors in an unexpected way."

Enscoe didn't have a line at the time but quickly assembled 30 pieces for Match. They sold out within a month.

She then met with more boutique owners and attended trunks shows. She put together her own website, carefully crafting her brand, and worked into the wee hours of the morning finishing orders. In late 2005, Enscoe started a wedding service, consulting with brides from all over the world to create custom jewelry for their bridesmaids and flower girls.

Fast forward to March 2006, when fashion blog Daily Candy mentioned Garnish. The item was posted at 10 a.m. By 3 p.m., Enscoe had 300 orders waiting in her inbox.

She's even had fans buy necklaces right off her neck.

"There have been a ton of pieces that were hard to part with," Enscoe said. "Half the time, I seriously almost cry. I try to wear as much of my own jewelry as possible, and sometimes people will ask about a necklace and end up buying it right there."

Garnish is still an after-work operation that Enscoe hopes to take full time one day. She's planning to grow Garnish in a few different directions -- a children's line or home décor, perhaps.

And it all stems from her desire to add a little funk and embellish the everyday.

"From the beginning, my motto has been, jeans, T-shirt, and a little bit of Garnish."