Color Me Mine — Local services in Lower Paxton Township

A wonderful little shop to stretch your creative muscles with painting some ceramics. Parking is a little hectic due to the layout of the strip mall, but not too too bad. Essentially, you go in, give them your details, then pick a piece off of the shelves to paint. After you have your pieces, they'll explain the process, you sign some paperwork for later pickup and payment, and then you get your paints. If you need some help, the staff has always been happy to help when I've been there, be it demonstrating how painting with various brushes/sponges/tools work to explaining how layering works and final colors can end up.

Set aside 2-3 hours for this if you want to do a good job! It's definitely more fun in a group, but can be nice to do solo if you have an intricate piece you want to paint and don't want to risk getting distracted and flubbing it.

Pickup of finished pieces can take 1-2 weeks and then you just pop in, give your name and possibly show your credit card, and you're good to go with...

My child and I recently visited Color Me Mine for the first time. Here is the rundown of our experience.

The not-so-good. -Obviously, the cost will be a barrier to some. Our trip cost around $100, and we both chose smaller sized projects. -We were provided with very little guidance on how to make our projects look great. We were given basic instructions and left to do our thing. I, personally, would have appreciated if staff walked around the room to check in, refill glazes as needed, or offer up some tips.

The good -We had a fun time. It was a couple of hours of time for my child and I to connect and do something creative. -The staff were all friendly. -There was a variety of items to choose from for art projects. -Our projects were returned to us fairly quickly.

We will likely return...

In the past I have always loved color me mine. We have been loyal customers for many years but the past 3 visits this year have been less than acceptable due to rude staff. I had chalked it up to a staff member having a bad day but after it occuring with the same person 3 times it is not just a bad day.

When a family shows up and is told "there is not any room for them" to paint but there are 3 open tables with no suggestion on taking things home to paint or waiting for a table to open up, this is just bad customer service. Then when a customer asks about home painting kits and is greeted with unneccesary attitude seems like someone lost sight in why they opened color me mine in the first place...to spread the joy and love for art.

We left and took our...