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Kidsburgh: Jellybean Street Turning Kids' Art Into Masterpieces

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - All parents love their kids' artwork, but not all kids are great artists.

Now, a company based in Australia is branching out here in Pittsburgh with a new way to turn your kids' paintings into masterpieces deserving of hanging over the mantle.

Jellybean Street has a new franchise in Pittsburgh, which is leading painting workshops that become lasting memories.

Jen Erfley, who owns Jellybean Street Pittsburgh, knows children are natural artists. They're creative; they don't worry about what others think; and they have no preconceived notion of what art should look like.

She leads hour-long workshops that let kids unleash their creativity. It starts with a paintbrush, but then gets unique. The kids dip a water balloon in paint, a whisk, a cooking brush for splattering paint, a salad spinner for spinning paint, even confetti sprinkled on top of paint.

Abby Baer, 10, of Mount Lebanon, says it's different than painting an image of an object.

"It's just whatever you really are feeling," she says.

The kids can pick the colors.

"I have pink, purple and a really light blue," Baer says.

"I did silver, gold, bronze, purple and pink," says 9-year-old Chloe Griffin.

Erfley has held many workshops inside Piccadilly Frozen Yogurt in Mount Lebanon, but she can hold workshops anywhere someone wants -- in a home or a rec center or business, for $30 a child. Erfley says parents love that she's the one who sets up, provides supplies and smocks, and then cleans up.

"It's very messy, but it's really fun," Baer says.

"Kids are messy," adds Erfley. "They like to get paint everywhere, and it's nice that it's one thing they (parents) don't have to worry about -- the cleanup and having paint on their ceiling."

After the workshop, parents then take home the artwork after it dries, but it's what Jellybean Street does next that turns it from refrigerator art to masterpiece.

Graphic artists take the children's artwork and transform it into beautiful works on canvas. "

It's all the child's artwork. They're only allowed to change the size, color and orientation so it's pretty amazing," Erfley says.

"I think that would be really cool because it would be on a big canvas, and everyone could see it, and it would be really good," Griffin says.

You can even take a dog's paw print, and the graphic artists will turn it into a beautiful painting as well.

And here's a unique bonus:

If you get your child's art made into the canvas, the revenue from future orders will go back to charity and the child. Forty percent goes to a charity of the child's choice, and 20 percent goes to the child, or if you choose, it can go to the charity as well.

It can be a great way for relatives, or even businesses, to support a non-profit and get some amazing art too.

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