About the Artist

Hello, my name is Ashley Willis ! 

When I was younger, I grew up gardening with my parents. Our house had the most beautiful garden ever in the front and backyard all because my mom absolutely loves flowers and because of that I ended up really loving flowers too. Each year more and more pots and flowers would appear.  Eventually, there was flowers everywhere and it was truly a fairy garden in my eyes.

Growing up, my dad taught me about work ethic! It is so important to have great work ethic! When I was younger, I did two major sports that taught me teamwork, determination and hard work! I did cheerleading for nine years, my team and I grew up with each other always the same girls. That made it really easy to work well together! As we kept learning and growing together, we became Champions over and over. My last two years of cheerleading, I was one of the captains, my team and I ended up going to the world’s competition called Summit in Orlando, Florida!! It was an extremely tough competition, but we got second place and only lost to the first by .04 of a score! It was truly one of the best times of our lives and we celebrated pretty hard lol!
 As I grew up, I got a job in high school and that was at our local nursery called Means nursery. It was the most memorable time in my life. There wasn’t one bad time there. It was something that I really enjoyed and I loved all the flowers  and the smells and the people that would come and go! This was the first time I was introduced to flower arrangement and design! My mom was especially happy because I would give her discounts on all the plants and most of the time I would give them to her for free lol ! And when my brother got older I got him a job there aswell!! 

In high school is where I started my Next big journey partaking in a whole different sport! Wrestling ! 
Wrestling taught me a lot about dedication and hard work as well but a ton about Self worth, will power and self control! wrestling Gave me another huge family, one of my core memories for sure! I don’t think I would be this strong without it !
I started woodworking in high school my freshman year. I did woodworking through all four years of high school and I absolutely loved it. By my senior year, I got into the R&R program. Which means renovations and remodeling. We would go off campus and remodeled a whole house! It was incredibly fun to learn all that we did! We got to learn a lot about each trade. I ended up being a designer of the landscaping in the backyard and front yard. Because I worked at a nursery for Most of my high school years, I was able to get everything donated and by the end it all looks so beautiful with tons of flowers and some trees !

Also, during my senior year, I was in the independent carpentry class. That was the most advanced class in woodworking at our high school. It’s where we can make whatever we want. I made a couple really cool projects, but towards the end of the year I wanted to do my very own epoxy table. The school wouldn’t fund that project for me so I decided to fund it myself. I really had no room in our house to make this big of a table so I decided to replace my brother’s gaming table with my very own handmade epoxy table! It ended up being one of my most stressful but fun projects yet! I absolutely loved how the table turned out. Everybody was so impressed. It ended up being done on graduation day. I was one of the speakers at graduation so I talked to a little bit about that tabe and the challenges I had to overcome. I wanted people to know to never give up! I realize that it was so amazing to me how you can take materials that look honestly not the best and turn it into something so beautiful. I ended up making one more smaller table for myself and I put some flowers inside and that was really eye-opening to me because for the longest time I didn’t know what I wanted to do when I grew up , especially since high school was coming  to an end. These epoxy projects really made me realize that this is what I wanted to do in life, and I wanted to make my own woodworking business and create something everlasting with beautiful flowers or anything that relates to nature!

When I realize this is what I wanted to do, I had no clue how to achieve this goal while also learning a living. But… My uncle lives out in Bend, Oregon and I asked him to give me an opportunity to work for him because he does finish carpentry and framing out in Sunriver, Oregon. I went out there for a week after I graduated high school I worked my butt off to show off my potential and work ethic! I was really pushed to the test I climbed on a roof, I  framed almost all the walls at this one house, and probably sweated about 3 gallons lol. At the end of the week him and his partner, Jason Allen, ended up really liking me and they hired me! So about a month later, I ended up moving out to Bend, Oregon, but because of how expensive it is I wasn’t capable of living on my own. I tried to convince some friends, but it just ended up not working out. I didn’t know how I could pay for an apartment on my own. So my uncle ended up remodeling half of his house and it became a huge duplex where I live on one side where his daughters used to live and now I have a two bedroom bath and a beautiful little kitchen! Because I Live on his property he gives me shop access every day so I can work on my Business! This is where I have been working ever since teaching myself everything and became a master at my craft and then I got the confidence enough to sign up for a couple festivals. I ended up doing the the Fall and the Sisters Harvest Festival! I ended up doing five custom table orders, two custom cutting boards and five more Christmas bazaars! All in my first year of selling. This has really shown me that I can do it. I just have to keep pushing and keep going.

But then…… BOOM    May 7th 2025

I was heading to work and this man had a seizure on the highway and hit Me head on with his truck! He was Uninjured, but I was in the hospital for four months! 
I had a traumatic brain injury where I wasn’t the same for two months, I was not the same person. Had a Cervical tendon tear, fractured scapula, Left arm laceration And tendon repairs, broken right arm Repaired with plates and screws, Multiple internal injuries to include ruptured spleen Kidney damage repaired with stent, liver, and lungs tissue damage, Small and large colon resections, Complex pelvic fracture, broken in seven places repaired with plates and screws, Extensive Open wounds On the right thigh, Broken leg tibia and fibula Repaired with rods and screws, lost most of my hair… + more.

I was so stressed because I was signed up for so many art festivals for the summer 2025 and while I was in the hospital, I received multiple orders that I wasn’t able to complete my family. Didn’t know how to help because I wasn’t able to do anything For so long, Pissed so many people off And tried to make amends! The pain that I went through every single day because of my open wounds was unbearable, when you are so damaged internally they can’t just Stitch you up… I had to relearn how to walk and for so long I didn’t think I could. But then I did! I kept pushing kept walking, kept doing physical therapy constantly every day! I have lost so much hope and will, but for some reason I kept going. I had to live with my parents for so long I was out of work for a year and four months. I thought I lost everything. I was getting to a point Where I can bend over and get on my knees without hurting, I was getting my strength back and my weight back because I lost 65 pounds in the hospital I wasn’t able to eat. But we were preparing for another surgery after a year since the accident because my open wounds were not healing. I had so many major infections because of The rubble in the accident that got inside of me. Then I did and got the MRI results Back and the surgeon said no need for another surgery!! For me to just take antibiotics for two months and then things should start to come together!! 

That was the news that brought me back to life! So I signed up for the Bend fall festival and got in !!!!  I also contacted all my clients and going to be starting back up again!!! 

It’s like I have a whole new life again, and everything just got so exciting!!!  Just have to keep going and don’t give up !!!

 

Thank you for listening to my story!