It has been almost exactly 4 years since I was moving Paint Party Studios out of our location on Upham St in Midtown Mobile and into my home studio to offer paint-at-home kits and try to plan for what was to come next. A big thanks to all of you that ordered from me and met me at Bucees and Costco for your family paint party, kids birthday paint party and couples paint date night at home kits! I also made canvas painting videos, shipped lots of custom canvas kits and had some Zoom paint parties. As I said in that 2020 blog post announcing the closing of the Midtown location, stay tuned and see what a wild, creative adventure it will be…
Well it has been. I worked out of my home for almost a year while also volunteering at the Holy Spirit Thrift Store. In February 2021 I had my first big socially distanced church event, a Family Valentine’s Paint Party in Mobile and gradually returned to church and school parties throughout that year.
In the fall of 2021 I signed a lease with OWA to reopen Paint Party Studios there. We ran into multiple hurdles but finally were able to again start hosting in-studio paint parties in February 2022. We had many wonderful customers come in for birthday parties, teambuilding paint parties, paint & sip dates and just painting for the fun of it as well as shopping our retail arty gifts and local art. While we learned from the experience and met some wonderful customers, that location was not a good fit for us and we were grateful OWA let us out of our lease so we could move on.
We are now located in Orange Blossom Square in Downtown Foley in the courtyard behind Hollis Furniture where we share a space with Raw Amor Jewelry. I feel so blessed to finally feel like the studio has a home again. As much as I miss my amazing Midtown customers on Upham Street, after all the ups and downs of the last 4 years, I’m grateful to have landed in Downtown Foley where the neighboring businesses and the city officials are so incredibly supportive of the local businesses.
As we roll into summer I’m excited to announce we’ll have walk-in hours from 1-5pm on Tues-Friday. The first half hour (1:00-1:30pm) will feature a daily art project for littles ages 3-7; from 2:00-3:00pm we’ll have a daily art project for kids 8-12 and from 3:00-5:00pm we’ll have All Ages Make & Take where you can choose whatever you want to paint from our many wood and canvas options. Friday Glow Paint will have seatings at 5:30pm and 6:00pm (additional seatings will be added as needed). We will continue to be open by appointment after 5pm on weekdays and all day Sat & Sun. Please text Courtney at 251-343-2423 to schedule your private kids birthday party or Adult Paint & Sip party.
After hinting to many of you about introducing candlemaking, I’m pleased to announce that candle maker Rhonda Harbison of The Prickly Pinecone will be teaching a Candle Making Class at Paint Party Studios on Sunday, June 23rd from 2-4pm. Please visit her website to register.
In addition to being almost exactly 4 years since moving out of our Upham Street location, I’m also coming up on 10 years of owning the studio (in July). As I reflect on these anniversaries, I’m grateful for how blessed I am to still be in business and have the best job in the world being able to share these special occasions with my amazing customers! We’re meeting new customers every week and still seeing some of our Mobile customers at school & church paint parties and even when some make the trip to see us in Foley! It’s because of all of you that Paint Party Studios is still here and going strong and I thank you all!!
Stay tuned here and follow our Facebook and Instagram for updates as we keep the creativity flowing!