Deborah J. Birdoes was born in Whiting, Indiana, the second of ten children and the oldest of five girls. Her family moved to Phoenix , Arizona in 1960 where she attended grade school, high school, and college. Phoenix was also where her artistic talents were first showcased on “Romper Room”, a local talent show for kids. Upon graduation from college and marriage to her high school sweetheart, she began the long and rewarding task of raising a family and developing her talents as her faith grew. When her children were in school she began using her talents by decorating homes and then was soon asked by an owner of a large boutique to help her do the buying and merchandise displays.

Also during the years that her children were growing up, Deborah often wrote poetry to express what she saw happening in them such as first day of school, letting them go, etc. “I was born with such a great sense of emotion and could feel what a person was going through whether it be joyous or sorrowful. I wanted to always give someone a gift that they could relate to and would also encourage them.. As I look back I can see how the wheels were in motion for what lay ahead of me.” From interior design, to arts and crafts, to finally designing her own “Jewelry With A Message TM”, she continued to grow and develop the unique abilities given to her.

About her company and designs Deborah says:

“The name of my company “for You Designs” came about early in my child hood. Since I was little, I always doodled the words “for you”. I wrote them first with my right and then my left hand. I would also make the words as fancy as I could. I wrote these two words constantly through my life, until they made sense to me one day. For You as I see it, means “Unto YOU Lord!” As I was brought through my life’s journey, I can see my talents were developed just for this purpose. I had a passion for jewelry because my husband blessed me with jewelry as an expression of his love all of my married life. Each piece I received, I always went back to change it so it would have some meaning to it.

One night, while going through a personal tragedy with my husband, I got up in the middle of the night and opened up my bible. Randomly, I paged through it to a passage which said, “ I have held all of your tears in a bottle. I have counted each one.” That night I visualized a bottle with a hanging tear as a reminder of what I read and began to draw it out. More than anything in the world, I desired to create designs that would give people comfort and hope. Ideas began to come to me and I just kept writing them in a book until I could develop them one at a time. I had such joy in writing the poetry that went along with the pieces that usually expressed feelings of what the piece now visually meant. Thus, for You Designs by Deborah J. Birdoes was started..

One of the greatest joys I have is using my abilities to help different charities and the causes they support. I was asked to developed a pin and a cross for the Crisis Pregnancy Centers of Arizona that they auction each year to raise money to support their centers and recently, I developed a Sapphire colored rainbow with three pave stars called “Dare to Dream” for Freshstart, which takes care of women who have to start all over. They are using the poem that went along with it. Next year they are bringing in the piece so the women going through all sorts of problems will be reminded that to move ahead they have to “Dare to Dream”. When I thought it could not get any better, early this year, the Arizona chapter of the American Heart Association accepted my design and the message for their “Woman in Red” campaign to let people know that heart disease is the leading cause of death for women .

I take no credit for the designs I create. I just make the words dance with visual concepts. The “desire of my heart” is that the words comes alive for people as they wear the jewelry which has for them a “special message or meaning” . The for You Designs’ “Jewelry With A Message TM “ jewelry pieces were created to be unique to the person who buys them or receives them as a gift. My wish is that they bring our customers the same joy wearing them or giving them as gifts as I received in creating them.”

Deborah J. Birdoes