Showcasing Vanessa Floyd, PaintinByFaith

Good Morning~

I hope you enjoyed seeing Jan's design for the Bracelet Challenge http://www.blissfulgardenbeads.com/2011/06/bracelet-challengeand-winners-are.html yesterday.  Today I am featuring the bracelet made by Vanessa Floyd of PaintinbyFaith.

I met Vanessa through another jewelry designer, Anna Grace Designs http://www.facebook.com/AnnaGraceDesigns .  She sent me a pendant that she had made in a class with Vanessa.  I love the pendant and while we were chatting about how she made it, she sent me links to Vanessa's work.  I was so intrigued and still am.  I love the metal work she does and was very excited to see how she would incorporate my beads.  It is funny because I had an idea in my head of what she would do and she did something completely wonderfully different than what I expected. 

Here is a little info about Vanessa, I grabbed this from her facebook page, http://www.facebook.com/paintinbyfaith .

"I have always had this huge passion for creating things with my hands. I discovered metal & fire about a year ago & I haven't been able to stop playing since. I absolutely adore the way sterling silver & copper look together.

I have a tendency to push limits - so I am always reaching outside of the box to create unique & original piece of handmade jewelry.

My favorite metals are sterling silver & copper but I do occasionally throw in other things to finish off a piece if it isn't just right.

As mentioned I am a mixed metal jewelry among other things - mother of 5, full time employee, I teach jewelry making classes & I have a passion for the outdoors. So I keep my plate fairly full. But it keeps my imagination on the run as well."

Vanessa said this piece was a true challenge for her, she rarely uses beads or color in her pieces and that addition was a true challenge. I am glad she took part in the challenge and love what she created.

She has also recently started adding metal etching to her pieces and says it is becoming a new obsession.  I can see why, I am very intrigued by it from looking at her work. 

Vanessa also offers a tutorial if you are interested in learning about the processes she uses, http://www.artfire.com/modules.php?name=Shop&op=listing&product_id=2986211

To see more of Vanessa's work, please visit,
http://twitter.com/PaintinByFaith
www.facebook.com/paintinbyfaithhttp://www.paintinbyfaith.com/
http://paintinbyfaith.blogspot.com/

New beads now available on http://www.artfire.com/users/blissfulgardenbeads

Sign ups for my next challenge will be after July 5th, more details to follow.

CHARITY AUCTION being organized, please consider donating a piece of jewelry.
I also wanted to tell you about an auction that is being put together featuring designs made with my beads. Valerie http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=670025135#!/pages/Antiquarian-Boutique/222499227769498 and Karen http://www.facebook.com/karensnydersO.Sebastian are putting it together. They are in the process of organizing it now. It will be hosted on Karen's site sometime toward the end of August to early September. They are currently looking for designers who have made a design with my beads that would like to donate a piece of jewelry.

When they asked me to choose a charity, it came at the perfect time. I had just talked to a friend who had just returned from a mission trip with her son to Ethiopia. She told me the most heart breaking story about an orphanage they had visited and babies that were dying because there just wasn't formula to feed them. Luckily they were delivering formula in the supplies they had brought over as part of the trip. I knew as soon as Valerie asked me to choose a charity that I would like the money raised to go to this orphanage. You can read more about it at http://www.ordinaryhero.org/Ordinary_Hero/Home/Home.html and the orphanage at http://ordinaryheroblog.blogspot.com/2011/05/immediate-need-in-ethiopia.htm