OUR STORY
Every Great Gift Has A Story.
Ours Began With Familiy.
Where It All Began
The Engraving Lady wasn’t created in a boardroom or dreamed up as a business plan.
It began with a family searching for a different future.
When we were expecting our daughter, we started looking for a business that would give our family more flexibility and allow us to build something together.
We spent months exploring different ideas, but nothing felt quite right.
Then we discovered laser engraving.
The rest is a story we never could have imagined.
Against The Odds
In November 2016, we purchased our first laser engraving machine, a computer, and rented a tiny shop next door to Roswell Hardware.
It wasn’t glamorous.
The front window had a bullet hole.
There was no running water.
No heat.
No air conditioning.
When we couldn’t get internet installed, our neighbors stepped in with a simple solution—they shared their Wi-Fi with us.
But none of this mattered.
We finally had a place to begin.
In those early days, we called ourselves Roswell Area 51 Engraving. Between the tiny hidden shop, the bullet hole in the front window, and the late nights, it felt like the perfect name for our little operation.
Looking back, we didn’t see a busted-up shop.
We saw the beginning of a dream.
One Small Beginning
November 17, 2016, wasn’t just our opening day.
It was the day everything became real.
That morning, our engraving machine was delivered.
Kahla received about two hours of training before the technician packed up his tools, wished her luck, and headed home. Suddenly, it was just Kahla, a brand-new engraving machine, and a dream.
The technician had barely pulled away when Lou, one of Roswell Hardware’s vendors, stopped by. Pork U Seasonings & Rubs logo became Kahla’s very first engraving.
That simple stainless steel tumbler became the first of more than 75,000 personalized gifts that would follow.
At the time, it was just one cup.
Looking back it was so much more.
The Mission Continues
The weeks that followed were a whirlwind.
Every day, Kahla packed up our newborn daughter and headed to the shop. A crib sat beside the engraving machine, where our little girl napped while orders were engraved just a few feet away.
Kahla quickly found her rhythm, balancing the new machine, a growing list of customers, long hours, and being a new mom.
By January, we were engraving over 700 tumblers a month. For a business that had only been open a few weeks, it felt incredible.
There was just one problem.
We still couldn’t get internet service.
Once again, our neighbors at Roswell Hardware came to the rescue. They invited us to move inside their store, giving us a chance to keep growing while solving a problem we couldn’t fix on our own.
They gave us a small corner of the store, and I built a counter and cabinets for the engraving machine.
Built to Last
Our next step was to move inside Roswell Hardware.
The space wasn’t much to look at. It had been used for storage, so before we could move in, it needed a complete transformation. Out came the old shelving. In came a jackhammer, new flooring, fresh paint, custom cabinets, a handcrafted counter, and shiplap walls.
Before long, we had built a workspace that finally felt like home.
As the business grew, so did Kahla’s creativity.
What started with simple names and monograms quickly expanded into custom artwork, handwritten messages, photographs, and deeply personal keepsakes. Every project challenged her to learn something new, and every success built her confidence.
Her creativity was beginning to change what we thought was possible.
Around that time, we also decided it was time for a new name. Roswell Area 51 Engraving had been a fun beginning, but our business had outgrown it. We became Georgia Engraving, a name that better reflected who we were becoming.
We had come a long way from the little shop next door—and we were just getting started.
A Name Earned
Roswell Hardware eventually moved into a larger building and became Atlanta Grill Company.
Once again, we packed everything up and moved with them.
A custom Georgia Engraving sign stretched across the wall, complete with a wooden cutout of Georgia and a star marking the Atlanta area.
As the business continued to grow, so did our equipment. We added new state-of-the-art engraving machines and created a workspace where Kahla’s creativity could truly shine.
Before long, customers weren’t asking for Georgia Engraving anymore.
They were walking into the store asking,
“Where’s the engraving lady?”
We heard it so often that it eventually became part of our identity.
When we opened our Etsy shop in 2019, the choice was easy.
We named it The Engraving Lady.
It wasn’t something we dreamed up in a meeting.
It was a name our customers had already given us.
Beyond Our Walls
Word spread one customer at a time.
Soon, businesses, schools, first responders, and law enforcement agencies were trusting us with gifts that celebrated careers, milestones, retirements, and lives well lived.
Some of those orders grew into hundreds of personalized tumblers at a time.
Working in law enforcement myself, I’d travel to agencies across Georgia and see Kahla’s work sitting on desks, riding in patrol cars, and proudly displayed in offices.
People would compliment the cups without ever knowing I was connected to the person who made them.
I always got a kick out of that.
As the years passed, the business continued to grow, but so did our family.
In 2021, with our daughter getting ready to start school, it was time for another change.
We brought Georgia Engraving home.
The location was changing again.
But the reason we started all of this hadn’t changed at all.
Family.
The Next Mission
By 2022, Georgia Engraving had grown far beyond anything we imagined.
During the holidays, thousands of personalized gifts filled our workshop. Family pitched in wherever they could, and after graduating from college, my son even joined Georgia Engraving for a short time, helping with marketing before leaving us for a “real” job.
Life was busy.
Business was thriving.
But another opportunity was waiting for us.
We packed up our home, our engraving machines, and the business we had spent years building and headed west, beginning an entirely new chapter for our family.
Starting over in California wasn’t easy.
No one knew who The Engraving Lady was.
The relationships we’d spent years building were suddenly hundreds of miles away.
For the first time in a long time, we found ourselves starting from the beginning again.
But this time, we knew what was possible.
As Kahla settled into her new job, coworkers began asking about the engraved gifts they saw her bringing to work.
One conversation became another.
One customer became two.
Then three.
And once again…
Word was beginning to spread.
The Story Is Still Being Written
Looking back, it’s hard to believe where this journey began.
A tiny shop.
A borrowed Wi-Fi connection.
One engraving machine.
One stainless steel tumbler.
Thousands of personalized gifts later, those things have changed.
But the reason we started hasn’t.
Family.
Every order that leaves our shop is still created with the same care, the same attention to detail, and the same gratitude for the people who trust us with life’s special moments.
Whether we’re engraving a single gift for a birthday or hundreds of tumblers for a company, we never forget that every piece tells someone’s story.
We’re honored to become a small part of it.
Thank you for being part of ours.
Nearly a decade later, the story that began with one stainless steel tumbler…
…is still being written.