My oldest daughter loves crafts, painting and being creative.  She’s almost 4 and if you say the word paint, she’s smiling ear to ear.

Our family was going on week 3 of 4 of our visit home in Canada and not only were my kids going without TV and toys at their disposal, but they were also lacking arts and craft supplies.

When a friend told me about 4 Cats Art Studio in Montgomery I decided a “Mommy-Daughter Date” was in order to check it out.  Let me tell you what to expect if you get a chance to visit.

When you arrive to the studio, you’ll notice how very cool and unique it is inside, but even before all the art studio fun catches your eye, the first thing you’ll see is the warm and welcoming smile of the owner, Sherry Harper, as she invites in to get your paint-on!You can rest at ease about these activities being age appropriate.  Sherry is also a teacher, which was evident the moment she began working with my daughter and I.

We did a private family Jackson Pollock Splatter Party.  After a quick chat about what we’d be doing, we got to the exciting business of choosing our colours.  Pink for my little princess and turquoise for me.Sherry warned us ahead of time to wear clothes that we wouldn’t mind getting paint on.  That was our only instruction before arrival and as we walked into the room where we’d be creating our masterpiece I could see why.  There was a lot of paint everywhere.  But like good students we came prepared and were ready to start splattering.

I have to say, my daughter was a bit of a natural.We each painted our canvas, yet to get messy at this point.Then that’s when the real fun started!  Our instructions were clear, “Splatter!”So splatter we did, and we had a ton of fun doing it.Colourful sandals were made even more colourful and every time my daughter now puts them on she sees that little bit of paint left behind and asks if I remember when we did “spray painting” together.

“I sure do!” I say with a smile knowing that in true 3 year old fashion I’ll be asked again in the next couple of days.

Our finished products were definitely wall worthy.As my little Picasso cleaned up I browsed around the studio and the teacher inside of me swooned at all the brushes and paints.  It was the art supply stash that dreams were made of!Now, because Sherry knew of our pending move across the planet, we didn’t do the giant living room size canvas.  But if we were staying in Calgary, the private family Jackson Pollock Splatter Party normally comes with a smaller canvas for each person, like we did, and also one giant canvas that the family makes together.  It’s larger than life for your mini artists and it’s perfect for a family room masterpiece.  Such a great idea for a family date night!With a bit of time left before we had to get back to our packing, Sherry brought on more smiles as she pulled out the spinner.  Squeals of delight echoed through the studio, followed by, “Can I make another one?”I briefly considered getting one of these for home.  It seemed like it could provide hours of entertainment, but then reality kicked in and I remembered that I couldn’t fit another sock in my suitcase….

But sometimes exceptions need to be made and memories are meant to be saved.

So when we got home we unzipped the suitcases, unpacked the socks and now, from our home in Indonesia, we have two beautiful memories waiting to decorate our walls.  All we need is a hammer and some nails and we’ll have 2 priceless masterpieces on our wall!

Many thanks to Sherry from 4 Cats Studio Montgomery for sharing her passion with us and hosting us as guests in her studio.  All opinions are my own.