Şifa Toptaş was born on 1 April 1981 in Sultanahmet, Istanbul. She started illumination art with Serap Bostancı at the Birlik Foundation in 1995, where she received five years of training. Afterwards, she continued her specialisation courses with her teacher Serap Bostancı at the Turkish Islamic Arts Library in Hekimoğlu Ali Paşa Library. In the same period, she took classes from Semih İrteş and Mamure Öz at Topkapı Palace and graduated from the Turkish Islamic Arts Library, taking miniature and flower painting classes from miniature teacher Orhan Dağlı. Later, she attended specialised courses on the 15th and 16th centuries under the direction of Cahide Keskiner at the Şale Mansion of the National Palaces.

She worked at İSMEK between 2002-2006 and started to give lectures at Birlik Foundation where she started illumination art in 2005. In 2006, she opened her first workshop in Sultanahmet, the quarter where she was born. Upon the offer from Hilal TV, she prepared a illumination training programme called "Motifs in the Brush" ("Fırçadaki Motifler"). In 2010, she expanded her workshop and opened a larger workshop in Çengelköy. The artist, who is the mother of two children, worked as a course administrator and master instructor in Gaziosmanpaşa Municipality between 2016-2022. In September 2022, she left her position at the municipality and opened Şifa Art Gallery in Balat, where she provides both gallery services and art education. She also continues her workshops in the same building.