May 27, 2008, 12:57 pm

I’ve just returned from San Diego where the national Child Life Conference took place. This was my third year as a booth vendor and first year as a speaker. Annie McCall, M.A., L.M.H.C. led most of the lecture on sibling issues and highlighted several stellar programs that reach out to these under-served children. After Annie showcased several successful programs from Sibshops, SuperSib and Camp Erin, I spoke about Art with Heart’s outreach to youth in crisis through our book projects.

As we spoke to over 150 Child Life Specialists, we shared with them an overview of the needs and profiles of siblings of children with a serious illness or disability, as well as the therapeutic reasons we created “Magnificent Marvelous Me!”

Sales were brisk at our booth, especially for the new book (dubbed MMMe for ease of typing). Each time someone came up to the booth who had not heard of us before, someone else would walk up saying “Oh! I love your books! We use them all the time! Is this a new one?!” It was so encouraging to meet the folks who are bringing Oodles and Chill & Spill to the kids and working with them in the hospital setting.

May 19, 2008, 6:19 pm

ART WITH HEART DEBUTS NEW GREETING CARD LINE

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AT THE NATIONAL STATIONERY SHOW
100% proceeds benefit children in crisis

SEATTLE, WA: Nonprofit publisher, Art with Heart, creator of innovative children’s therapeutic activity books, announces its latest creation: a line of greeting cards designed to complement their Oodles of Doodles and Chill & Spill books for kids. Twenty-four popular contemporary artists – such as Mary Grand Pré, known for her captivating work on the Harry Potter books – illustrated the cards. This bright and lively collection will debut at the National Stationery Show, running May 20-23, 2007 at the Javits Convention Center in New York, showcased at Booth #1755 in the “Of Note” section. The cards retail for $2.25 each. Steffanie Lorig, author of both the Oodles and Chill & Spill books will be present to help celebrate the launch.

Among the variety of traditional greetings appropriate both for the young and the young at heart, are several designs in the Oodles line created just for hospitalized children. One such card features doctor and nurse paper dolls; another features a checklist of silly things the child will need to make their stay more pleasant, such as beef jerky and a whoopee cushion. Also of note are the Chill & Spill inspirational cards designed especially for teens and ‘tweens and illustrated by “hip and hot” artists who are known for their work in Rolling Stone, MTV, Pepsi-Co, etc.

The project is a result of a collaboration of many hearts and hands: Emerald City Graphics donated both the paper and printing, Courtney Routh of optimistlab.com donated copywriting services and Vivtiv designed the cards pro bono. Each of the artists that originally donated their work to Art with Heart’s books allowed reprinting in this form in order to benefit more children. As a result, 100% of the proceeds are able to go back to Art with Heart, whose mission is to empower youth in crisis through creativity. Each set of cards sold helps underwrite the distribution of free therapeutic books to hospitalized children or youth facing crisis.

Art with Heart is a growing nonprofit organization who has unleashed their creativity to make a difference in young lives across North America. Founded in 1996, Art with Heart has helped over 25,000 children affected by cancer and other serious illnesses.

These cards, as well as Art with Heart’s books, are available directly from Art with Heart at our online shop.