My Handyworks

I didn’t take the 20 minutes to read the negative review but me and my mom just finished out mosaic painting here. They made a class just for us two, 7−9pm. We brought wine, cheese and crackers. They had stencils and examples for our project which helped a ton. They were extremely friendly, helpful, but not overbearing! Me and my mom had a great time talking and bonding without feeling uncomfortable. Such fun projects for people of all ages !!! We will be back, absolutely

My husband and I came here a few weeks ago and absolutely loved it! We saw a Groupon (which is still available) for $ 29 and knew we had to give it a try. The $ 29 is for 2 people. You get to paint a picture on a kind of plastic material. You can then make it into a mosaic painting. Unfortunately, the picture on Groupon doesn’t do an accurate job of depicting what this Groupon entails. The owner stated that he has tried to get them to change their picture, but Groupon is absolutely useless (my words, not his). If you need more of an idea, you should check out their website.
I can’t say enough great things about this place. First, the people who work here are not only enthusiastic about what they do, but they’re also really patient and helpful. I absolutely hate doing things where I end up with a piece of artwork that I hate. They try really hard to make sure that doesn’t happen (and they do a great job of it!). You can do as much or as little work as you want to make your painting. For example, you can do your own drawing, have them do your drawing, or use one of their templates as an outline for your painting. For the painting portion, you also have the option of doing all the painting yourself or having them help/​paint part of it for you. Thanks to this flexibility, my husband and I ended up with two really great pieces of artwork that I’m not ashamed to hang around my house. The staff also stayed way later than they needed to in order to help us finish our projects.
In addition to great staff, they let you bring in whatever food and drink you want, which is fantastic. They also seem to have a ton of other projects to choose from, including crayon art, molded wax hands, flower pots, spray paint paintings, and tie dye t-​shirts. I’m sure this doesn’t even begin to describe everything you can do here (for more, you should really check out their website). Finally, they have a 20% off military discount, which is great.
In sum, I just can’t say enough about how much I enjoyed our experience. Everyone should give them a try (especially since the Groupon is still available!).

We decided to try something different for a date night activity and this was an excellent alternative to your normal dinner and movie. Classes are small, you are able to go at your own pace and able to explore your creative side (or lack thereof). The owner was very helpful to offer up suggestions to draw/​paint for our Mosaics creations.
I would definitely recommend this place for adults and children!

BEWARE OF THE MEAN OWNER!
So sorely disappointed in this place. Great idea– they take your child’s hand print and add to it to make an animal, snowman, etc– but seriously unfortunate leadership.
We came across My Handyworks’ booth at the Festival of the Little Hills. As a pretty crafty person, I have had intentions of making artwork of this kind with my child but have never got around to it. We decided to make a few items for Christmas gifts as the price was reasonable. We purchased two framed paintings and an ornament and spent about $ 40. Unfortunately, we had problems that ruined the experience for us with a woman who I’ve now realized is the owner.
The owner assisted us with the ornament while her employee handled the paintings. The owner rushed the entire process although no one else was in line, and in fact, we were drawing a small crowd and drumming up potential business. After painting the ornament, the owner immediately set it down. Afraid it would smear I quickly grabbed it. Giving a slight laugh, she told me that it would not smear and then placed it in a holder. When I questioned this she assured me again, repeatedly, that it would be fine and would not smear. Sure enough when I looked at it at home, the paint is all smeared. Even had it not smeared, the quality was seriously substandard. At the risk of sounding arrogant, I would have done a better job myself as could anyone with minimal painting skills. In fact had I done the job she did, I would have been embarrassed to give it as a gift and would never consider selling it. I really should post a photo. She just handled it in such a rushed, careless manner that it overall just looked messy.
What is more disappointing though, and even disgusting, was how this woman treated her employee. The employee was sweet in demeanor and did excellent quality painting, however she seemed to be new and was having some minor problems with her «sales techniques”– for example, she asked us to choose a background color for our paintings by just showing us the choices, rather than showing us what the paintings would look like with each background color. Nothing that bothered us as the customer. However, rather than reminding her of the sales techniques in a tactful, appropriate manner, the owner was incredibly rude to her employee, criticizing with shockingly sharp language, rolling her eyes, sighing, and saying things like «No! Show it to them! Ugh!». I understand that some of the corrections would have been helpful, but the way they were delivered was anything but.
Both my husband and I were so bothered by the way she treated her employee that we left the booth with a sick feeling. We had both been so uncomfortable witnessing the owner’s behavior that our main concern was to get our daughter away from the poor example the owner set. We have both regretted not sticking up for the girl at the time. Hopefully she will read this review and know that she never deserves to be treated that way by an employer.
Prior to writing this review, I sent the above information to the store via email. I wrote that because we did not live close, getting back to redo the ornament would be inconvenient (note– I did not say that it was impossible, just inconvenient). And because at the time, I did not know that the mean lady was the owner, I wrote that I hoped the information would be taken into consideration in training its employees, and if the person with whom we had problems happened to be a manager or an owner, that I hoped she would please be aware that she is driving customers away and setting a terrible example for her true customers– the children– about basic manners and how to treat other people.
The ENTIRETY of the response I received from the woman I now realize is owner was, «Thank you for expressing your concerns. I am sorry you do not live closer so we can redo the ornament.» No apology for the crappy painting. No offer of a refund. Really no offer even to redo the painting if we happened to be out that way again. No apology that my daughter had to witness her disgusting behavior. No recognition whatsoever that she had done anything wrong. Just a passive-​aggressive backhanded, «I’m sorry you do not live closer,» ‘apology’.
I am tempted to name names, but despite her disrespectful behavior, I’m going to assume the owner was having the worst day of her life and that her employee was actually a horrible brat when customers weren’t around and purposefully disobeyed instructions. I’ll assume that the quality of her work was intended to be abstract, and that snowmen with disproportionate noses will be all the rage this holiday season. I guess I’ll also have to assume that the owner was having the next-​to-​worst day of her life when she responded to my email, and that in fact she is not a spoiled child who cannot take responsibility for her actions.
What a bummer.

Charming locally owned art studio that also caters to kids. This used to be located one block south but moved to 104 South Main Street in downtown St. Charles within the past year, although the heading on their website still denotes the 200 block location.
We hosted our 6 yo birthday party here this past weekend and all 17 of the rugrats had a blast, at least as far as I could tell! The location is an old bike shop and there is plenty of space. The crafts that I identified include wax hands, wooden flowers, tie-​dye, crayon art, and hand print art. We opted for tie-​dying mostly for its simplicity.
Unfortunately the owners happened to be on vacation during our party but our organizer was wonderful. We were able to bring food and cake in. In groups of 4 the kids were funneled into lines for the activity. They do have a small toy area for the other kids to «blow up» but overall the store isn’t a «delicate» art studio with fine ceramics laying around that could be broken.
My 6 yo arts and crafts and I think this was right up her alley. I’ve already come up with some ideas for holiday gifts for grandparents!
The only regrets were:
1) Could have used an additional organizer/​helper to move through the craft quicker
2) I wish I could remember our «helpers» name