Outsource the craft but not the creativity with My Art Workshop (with discount offer!)

If you revel in being a scout leader on craft day, this post isn’t for you. If you find joy in helping Vacation Bible Schoolers turn crepe paper and rocks into Father’s Day presents, click away now. If your house is known by the neighborhood kids as the place to go when they have the urge to paint/decoupage/bead/weave, go read Martha Stewart instead.

But if you’re anything like Amber and me, if you break into hives when you even THINK about planning a craft day for your kids, let alone shop for supplies, if you can’t abide the thought of a trashed kitchen and cleaning up alone after your kids have run out of enthusiasm for the activity and of being left with beads underfoot and bills that end up glued together, then stick around. Have I got an idea for you.

My Art Workshop is a place in Littleton (near Bowles & Wadsworth) where you bring your kids in, choose among a dozen craft activities for each of them (and you), don a smock that makes you look oh-so-legit, get assistance gathering your supplies and receive instruction about your chosen medium. Then you imagine and create and….walk away your masterpieces.

What activities are available? I’ll let the tree do the talking (click to enlarge).

Choose from pottery painting, mosaics, sand art, wood projects, stepping stones, tie dye, clay play, memo/magnet boards, and more.

Let’s say that one of your children wants to, oh, paint a skull. A bejeweled skull. He picks out his ceramic canvas and a nice lady hands him a coverup, shows him where the acrylic paints are and helps him get started. Twenty minutes later, voila!

In the meantime, let’s say your daughter is feeling all peace-y. She wants to paint you a tranquil-blue flower vase (above) that she will soon fill with the neighbor’s irises. She uses pottery paint that requires a cook in the kiln and a return trip to pick up the piece.

And while you consider making a stepping stone with beautiful cut glass and handprints of your children, you instead go with your inner hippie and make yourself a tie-dye shirt. You are shocked that it takes only 5 minutes to pour on the colors because you always assumed tie-dye was a Big Deal. You bring your shirt home in a bag to let it sit for a day before rinsing and washing.

You load it all up (except for the vase that needs to be fired) and pay for it. Yes, it’s a little expensive*, but you realize you are about to walk out scot-free! No messes to clean up, no bills to unstick, no stained floors or clothes, just a simple strut out the door.

You are wondering why you didn’t know about My Art Workshop sooner, and you want the owner to franchise it so that there can be one in your neighborhood.

Kristin Hill, along with 2 other creative moms, opened My Art Workshop in 2006 . The studio is available for drop-ins, for birthday parties, camps, classes, and large group events. And from now until the end of 2010, she is offering a 20% drop-in discount to anyone with the secret code: “MILE HIGH MAMAS.” (Not valid on classes, camps or birthday parties; only one discount per transaction). My Art Workshop is on Facebook.

I am already planning my next masterpiece for when we make the drive to pick up Tessa’s vase. I think I see that garden stone in my future.

* For example, my shirt was $15, the skull was $20 and the vase was $35 pre-discount. Prices are inclusive of  the item, the supplies, and the activity.

Author: Lori Holden