I am an independent artisan jeweler specializing in silver and copper jewelry embellished with hand cut and polished natural gemstones.
I started making jewelry in 2005 under the instructions and encouragement of my mother while looking for a way to relieve stress of my job. I started selling my designs in 2007 & opened my ETSY shop Simply Katie's in 2009 which I held until 2015.
My mother passed away in June of 2011 and I slipped into a deep depression. Yet I still worked at my bench teaching myself to solder and other design techniques to expand my jewelry making skills. In 2015 I found it too difficult to continue the everyday work of creating and marketing my ETSY shop while I was homeless. I closed it. Becoming homeless and being deeply depressed was a God send as it led me to get the help I desperately needed and started me on a journey to healing my broken heart and broken spirit.
In March of 2015 I started a course at Pinellas Technical College in Jewelry Making and Repair to strengthen the skills I had taught myself three years earlier and graduated in December of 2016.
There's one thing that has been the best part of the journey, it is that I was led back to the Lord during that challenging time. And I'm much stronger today because of my faith knowing that through it all, I was never alone. Though I haven't been working creatively consistently, I have been working on myself, as well as acquiring equipment and tools for the shop and office of the new KaLy Jewels. Here I am today, having come through those challenges standing strong and courageous I'm ready to try again.