Over the past months, every time I scroll through Instagram, I see at least one post with an adorable hand-painted banner in the background. As my birthday party came up, I dug around to find out who had been painting them and landed on a name: Charlie Watts (’27). For Watts, painting signs started out as a fun favor for her friends, and soon it began blowing up.
“Over the summer I was bored and I realized it was a good idea to paint signs because I really like painting and making things for people, plus I figured it would also be a good way to get some extra money,” Watts said, “I had done some signs before for people in the past, and then I kept getting more requests for people. After that, my family encouraged me to start an Instagram, and then the business just kind of started from there.”
With variety within her banners, like graduation party banners, gender reveals and party backdrops, there is seldom that Watts can’t create. Her process is very thoughtful, always keeping the customer in mind.
“First, when people ask me to make a banner, I’ll ask them what the occasion is or if they have any specific requests. From there, I create a mockup draft on Canva, then send it to them to make it look the way they want, and if they don’t like it, I adjust it to what they want,” Watts said. “Once it’s right, that’s when I begin painting.”
Even though she has had immense success so far within this business, Watts admits this is more of a passion project. With hopes of becoming either a nurse or going into business, she says that she hopes to continue this side-hustle all the way through college. One of her customers, Mia McCluskey (’26), ordered a banner for her birthday party and was pleasantly surprised.
“Charlie was so easy to talk to and flexible! She gave me exactly what I wanted based off my reference picture for my 18th birthday party. Her prices are so affordable for the amazing work she does,” McCluskey said.
Watts manages to always keep customers happy, considering she currently has a tight schedule between being extremely involved at Robinson, being in the IB program and filling out her sign orders.
“During the school year, I’ve been getting three or four orders a week, which is a lot less than I could manage during the summer,” Watts said. “But it is still hard. I make sure that I dedicate my time on the weekends, mostly Saturday nights, since I don’t have time between practices and activities.”
Practices and activities are practically an understatement. Some of the extracurriculars Watts juggles is being on the cheer team, playing lacrosse in the Spring, being a member of SGA, JSU and IB ambassadors. Despite this, she still makes time for friends. A close friend, Ashlin Sullivan, reveals that Watts still makes time for friends.
“Charlie does spend a lot of time each weekend on her signs, but it never comes above already-made plans,” Sullivan said. Because of her extremely tight schedule, pricing has varied, but Watts makes sure to keep her signs at reasonable prices.
“If it’s an intricate design and it’s going to take two hours or more, I can’t charge less than what my time is worth. But if it’s a simpler design that takes about an hour, that would be cheaper. It also depends on who the client is, I definitely wouldn’t charge my friends and family more than a random person,” Watts said.
If anyone considers buying from her business, Watts’ favorite banners to create are any one with cursive, flowers or bows. She is extremely talented and hardworking, yet still can create her art on short notice. I highly recommend checking out her work, which can be found as “signs.by.charlie” on Instagram.
