Cheryl Williams’ plan was to teach for 30 years, but at 28 years the Multiple Sclerosis (MS)

got the best of her. 

“So I retired, came home and said, ‘Now what?’ I lost my creative outlet,” said Williams. Until, one day her daughter said, “mom you make such beautiful things and you just give them away. Why don’t you start a shop?” That is when CopperBerry Design was born.

“I got a hold of Jenny Thacker who runs Simple Treasures and I applied,” Williams said. “Now, this is the sixth show I have done. I have been doing very well. At this winter boutique alone, I have sold 287 items. I am liking this, it fills a void, but teaching was my favorite thing in the whole world.”  

Most of her teaching career, Williams taught special education and was the school librarian for K-6th grade. “The school had a great curriculum, but I had to learn to adjust it for seven grades,” she said. “I created these amazing lesson plans and visual aids. I created little curiosity corners in the library where the kids could wander about and expand their minds. I got to create and create, forever.” 

One of Williams’ most rewarding teaching moments was when she worked at a low-income school. “I worked all year with one of my students who was over six feet tall in the sixth grade on his math skills and confidence,” she said. “On the last day of school, his parents came in and he came up to me and said, ‘This is my favorite teacher!’ He gave me the biggest hug and said ‘I always feel so smart when I am with Mrs. Williams. She tells me I can do anything.’ That is what I loved – to see that spark in my student’s eyes. I miss it.”

Williams has had MS for the last 15 years. “When you have MS you have lesions in your brain and down your spine,” she said. “Lesions are dead spots. MS is in your brain and body, so it is very easy to get depression because there is a lot of pain. A LOT.” 

At her last MRI, Williams decided she did not want to hear the prognosis anymore. “There are things you just have to accept that you can do it anymore, but if I am engaged in something then my brain can’t feel the pain because I am thinking and I don’t notice it. That is how I deal with the disease,” she said. “I am living for now. And just taking what I have now and not worrying about what is ahead of me. If I can keep reading, learning and creating then I can keep my brain alive.”

Not even MS can slow down Williams’ creativity. Many of her ideas come to her in her dreams. “I woke up the night before the boutique with the idea for these cute snowball jars, so I got up and made several of them and brought them to the first day of the boutique and they all sold out!” she said. 

Williams wants any person who enjoys her work to be able to afford it. “I try to attract all income levels and sell different items at different price points.”  

She loves to make different types of trees on candle sticks, but she also likes to find unique boxes and make big statement pieces. “They are my favorite things to make,” she said. “Even though they are big and not everyone has room to store bigger pieces like this, they are my favorite, so I make them.” 

Williams has done the summer and fall boutiques also. No matter the season, it seems that people just can’t get enough of her work. “In the September show my witch hats just flew out of here,” she said. “I must have made 90 of them and they called me on the second day because they had all sold!” 

As a teacher, Williams poured her heart into her students and now with each piece she creates, she does the same. “Each piece I make has a piece of my heart,” she said. “Every piece does. Yesterday, I had four of my customers send me photos of the pieces they bought from me and where they put them in their house and all of them said something along the lines of, ‘It’s so funny, but we can feel your love radiating from it.’ That is what I hope people get out of my work.”    

For now, Simple Treasures Boutique is the only boutique where you can find William’s work. You can find her on Instagram @Copperberry_design or Facebook page CopperBerry Design to learn about her upcoming boutiques.