Feature Designer

An Etsian, Shannan of Original Bliss has gotten a lot of comments on her recycled money jewelry. No wonder given the current global financial meltdown! She made them as a kind of political statement or joke. She said, "There was a stray dollar bill sitting on my kitchen counter where I was making earrings one night while watching the Presidential debates. It struck me that that dollar bill may be more valuable to me as earrings than as an actual dollar! Brilliant idea as those dollar earrings cost $15 in her Etsy store!! The dollar cuttings are protected with archival grade laminate.



But it's not just her dollar jewelry that first drew me but her range of wonderful and colourful recycled paper jewelry. She first started cutting up magazines to use as collages and to reference her drawings. She soon progressed to weaving strips of magazine paper and mixing them with other found objects and fiber. As with many truly creative artisans, she again moved on to the next artistic development - layering those small scraps of paper and making earrings out of them!



On her blog, she showcases her many passions including jewelry, photography, nudes and weavings. Shannan works as 911 Emergency/Police/Fire Dispatcher AND a mixed media/journal artist in Modesto, California , USA. Given her job, you can understand why her art is so important to her. She said in her Etsy profile, "I use art as a way of transcending all the negativity and stress of my vocation in order to uncover and commune with my soul for a while." That's really well said, Shannan. Many of us have a deep abiding need to create as it soothes the soul.



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