Deb Fitz was born and raised in California. She served in the United States Army from 1974 to 1977 as a laboratory specialist. She received a Bachelor of Science degree in Medical Technology from the University of California, Sacramento in 1980.

She moved to Puyallup, Washington in 1991 and worked as a microbiologist at a medical laboratory in Seattle. After thirty years working in health care she decided it was time to explore her artistic abilities.

Deb met her husband Mike, a forensic engineer, in 2005. Mike's passion is scuba diving and in 2006 Deb took classes and was eventually certified as an Advanced Diver. Deb describes the beautiful reefs and walls of the cold waters of the Puget Sound as being "Almost Paradise" and thus the name of her business, Almost Paradise Designs.

Deb and Mike now reside in a lakefront home near Shelton, Washington surrounded by trees and birds that, along with the colorful marine life seen in her diving adventures, are models for her nature inspired art. While never regretting a choice that made her a part of a team that saves lives, the arts continued to call with their siren song.

She sketched, she painted, she dabbled in the paper arts as a hobbyist. Deb learned lampworking and enjoyed making beads of glass. Then she discovered a new medium, precious metal clay, and the siren song beckoned again louder than ever.

The thrill of carving, sculpting and molding the clay and then firing it to create artwork that is virtually pure silver was a joy that she had to experience. Today Deb works with glass, silver and stone to create unique pieces of art jewelry with organic themes that celebrate her love of science and nature.

Deb is now a jewelry artist/designer and teaches jewelry making from her studio on Phillips Lake. She also does freelance writing for several art jewelry publications; designed and maintains two websites; where she has posted online jewelry making tutorials that are a source of information and inspiration for aspiring artists from numerous countries all over the world.