Dear readers,
You may be visiting for the first time, or perhaps you're a returning customer of ours... either way, I'd love to welcome you to our new website!
We have desperately needed a new makeover for many, many years. Susie, the founder of The Party Artist, created the first version of our site in 1999 using a free Shutterfly Share Site. Although she was actively posting events and other information, there were some things that slipped through the cracks (I'm looking at you myspace link...). This was especially apparent after Susie's passing in 2018.
I'd been thinking of creating a new site for many years, as the original hadn't aged well and was more akin to photo sharing than business information or professional services. Well, ironically - I visited the site at the beginning of March to review the old lady again, when I noticed a banner at the top - Shutterfly had announced that they would be retiring the Share Sites. Now was the time (especially as all navigation and buttons were leading to 404 errors)!
My cousin who owns artonthegeaux.com was kind enough to give me a crash course on what she'd done to pull up her own site, and I went to work on the new "The Party Artist" website.
I'm so thankful that in recent years I've been dipping into the tech industry and was able to utilize those skills to get things rolling. Within five days, I had a working prototype utilizing a template from Wix.com as a starting point.
After some back and forth on text and other design elements, Chris, Susie's husband and now owner of "The Party Artist", gave the okay and the new site went online.
Success!
My main goal was to keep the site modern and clean, while also offering a responsive mobile experience - and I think I've managed to accomplish this. It's now a whoollle lot easier to navigate as the entire navigational menu was re-imagined. Plus, we've got several options to connect with us - chat, the contact form, phone, text, email, and Facebook!
If you have any suggestions or feedback, comment below. (I'm sure there might be a typo somewhere on the site or perhaps a wonky element in mobile. 👀)
P.S. Future blogging will consist of website, business, and artsy type news! Thanks for joining me!