Featured Artist: Papyrusaurus

We had the pleasure of catching up with Ashley Mankoski this past week from Papyrusaurus and Sticks and Tomes, located in East Brady, PA. When she's not knee deep in stuff for her two businesses she's chasing after her most handsome tattooed husband, Steve, and their two young sons Finn and Cabbie.

At Papyrusaurus, Ashley creates whimsical prints for your walls and funky stationery to send to far off places. At Sticks and Tomes she switches things up and bit and creates unique handmade jewelry ranging from earrings and rings to necklaces. 

Ashley has been making (and destroying) things since she was 5 or 6 when her grandpa showed her how to use a hammer.  In 2011 she started to make things to sell when she was facing a rocky time in her life. Having something to do kept her hands busy and her mind clear. She didn't know at the time that there would actually be people in the world that would want to give her money for the things she made

Even though Ashley hasn't been in business for too long she's already been asked to participate in some pretty exciting opportunities. The highlight of her crafty career so far as been getting to display and sell her work alongside her biggest inspiration in paper sculpture, Ramon Lascano. When Ashley received an email from the gallery asking her to be part of a show he was doing, she was literally shaking in excitement. 

One of our favorite parts of interviewing Featured Artists is when we ask them about their biggest craft disaster. In Ashley's case her had a major craftastrophe! She had just completed two collages for inclusion in The CraftStar celebrity gift bags. After taking photos and setting them aside to dry she ran upstairs for literally minutes to post them on Facebook.  When she came back down, her kids had found them, torn every piece off of the background and dunked them in the dog's water bowl! Needless to say, two small people got a time out while Ashley had to clean up and figure out what could be salvaged.

This big bold wreath was inspired by the wonderful zinnias that Ashley plants each year in her garden. When we asked her what her most favorite item she has created was, it was hands down this. Constructed from the pages of a vintage illustrated children's dictionary, the main colors are black and white, but there are little pops of bright hues here and there. Ashley let us know that when it sells she'll probably cry, but she hopes it goes to a good home! 

As we wrap this up Ashley shared with us that her favorite items on The CraftStar are currently this helmet crocheted hat from Illumikniti Designs, this whipped foaming coffee caramel cream sugar scrub from Pegasus Soaps, and lastly this multi-colored glass bowl from DLC Glass. 

If you'd like to follow Ashley and her businesses, Papyrusaurus and Sticks and Tomes, on social media, you can find them at the following locations: Over on Facebook: www.facebook.com/Papyrusaurus and on Twitter:  www.twitter.com/papyrusaurus Stop by, say hello, and let them know we sent you!