Ladybug's Calendars - Artist Jan Mc Craw

History of how the Treasure Boxes started :

A few years ago as I was approaching retirement age. I thought about how wonderful it would be to leave some kind of art legacy. One that could be shared with the other artists or future ones to come and at the same time have a worthy benefit to it. This is when I came up with the idea of painting "Treasure boxes" for sick children. Having been a nurse, I remember all too well how much it means to terminally ill and long term care children in hospitals, to be given some little extra TLC (tender loving care) during a scary and stressful time in their young lives.

So the idea was born to paint a box for a child to have for their very own to hold their keepsakes at their bedside. In checking out the resources on traditional treasure boxes used for the past century by kids, I discovered it had been a shoe box. As it turns out, it is the perfect shape to fit into a hospital nightstand, and they can be painted up like all other paper mache boxes. However, I did find that after painting all the empty shoe boxes I could find, I did have to purchase boxes of about the same size. All craft stores carry keepsake/photo boxes which are the same size and shape as the standard shoe box (11 x 7 inches and about 4 inches deep).

Purpose of painting the Boxes:

I have made it my goal for 2006 to paint as many "Treasure Boxes" as I can and try to get others involved into making this into a legacy that the decorative painting field can give to sick children around the world. I can't even begin to explain in words of how it feels to have a lump in your throat and a warm feeling in your heart knowing it brings such joy and a big smile to each child when they get their very own "Treasure Box". Won't you please join me in painting a "Treasure Box" to bring a smile to a sick child. It is such a worthy cause.

Information you need to know :

1 - You or any group, chapter or club, can do them. The box needs to be a shoe box or one close in size and shape (11 x 7 inches and about 4 inches deep). Hobby Lobby, AC Moore and Michael's all carry a keepsake photo box that is the perfect size and shape. The cost is about $3.99 each. The nice thing about them is that you do not have to prep the boxes as they come in cheerful colors. Only the lid has to be painted on, so in the long run they are a time saver to use.

2 - Keep in mind the designs are for children between the ages of 5 and 17 years of age. Children are most forgiving of the quality of the painting level, which means most anyone can paint the boxes, regardless of their painting skills. do keep in mind that children respond best to bright and cheerful colors, so when selecting colors try to remember this.

3 - Once the box(es) are painted they do need to be sealed with a clear finish to protect the design surface. so be sure to allow enough time for the sealer to dry completely before mailing them or taking them to the hospitals. They will stick together otherwise.

4 - Any design can be painted on them. It doesn't have to be your own original design, there are a few exceptions however: You can NOT use any copyrighted or trademarked figure such as Sponge Bob Square Pants, Superman, Walt Disney characters, etc. Also, I would suggest not doing angels or toddler designs. Flowers are nice, but don't think they are what a child wants, unless you are doing them in a style that a teenage girl might like.

5 - Hospital contact - several ways to handle this:

A - You can select to supply a Children's hospital near your location, by contacting the service personnel to find out how many boxes would be needed to supply them (I would recommend that this only be done by a group).

B - You can join forces with others doing boxes and send them to one of the depot locations that will be listed on another page. (This group of people have agreed to collect the boxes and deliver them to children's hospitals near their location.

C - Join the SDP (Society of Decorative Painters) in donating the boxes to Shriner's Children Hospitals across the USA, Canada and Mexico which have joined in to champion this worthy cause. An updated SDP mailing depot address will be given for the boxes on the depot page. If you are a member of an SDP chapter, this would be a great charity program for it to take on and get involved in. A special page on their web site will be posted for this as well. If you are not currently a member of this organization, now would be a great time to join. There is a link to them on my Links 1 page.

Special Designs being offered :

There will also be a free design that can be downloaded for those who are going to paint the " Treasure Boxes ". This is not the "Free Design of the Month " , they will be done just for this program, found only in this section of the web site. The plan at present is to change this design every so often, so a variety of them can be obtained throughout the year. It will not mean a new one each month, but the same one will not be here for a long time either. So it will require your coming back to check on. Besides, you will want to do that anyway to check out additional information as this program develops along.

Other artists are also going to be offering designs that can be downloaded from their sites for this program. I will provide the links to their web site on the depot page in this section.

I have also produced a special CD that has designs that can be used for the " Treasure Boxes " , since many have requested one to be done to help them with designs for boys and teenagers. However, you do NOT have to buy it or any of my designs to paint the boxes.

Please Note :

This program is not meant to be a sales pitch of my designs, nor is it a program to take away from the many who already paint memory boxes. The sole purpose of this program is to share a little bit of your TLC by painting up a box to put a smile on a sick child's face.

A Little More Information:

As you have already read the objective of this program is to provide a hand painted or decorated "Treasure box" for children who are chronically ill and patients in a hospital. However, here is a little bit of background information that might help you understand the need of a treasure box a bit more.

At the Shriner hospitals,(which is first of the hospitals to be served), the children are given small toys or prizes to divert their attention from the painful treatments or surgeries they undergo. This is one of the main reason for having a "treasure box", to hold these prize positions at their nightstand, plus the smile it gives each child to own one of their very own to take home.

Another rule that is applied at Shriner's hospitals is a simple golden rule ...each child is treated alike, regardless of race, religion, nationality, etc. So if one child gets a box, all of the children at that hospital must get one at the same time. (Example: if mother wants to bring her child cookies, she must bake enough for every child at the hospital to have cookies. Nobody is ever left out.) So this is the reason for having the depot addresses. These people have agreed to store the boxes as they are sent until enough have been collected to meet the number required for the hospital they are located by.

After the initial number has been met at each hospital, then a small supply stock will be kept to give one to each new admitted child. Once all the Shriner's hospitals have been served, other children's hospitals will be contacted for expanding the program here in North America. The program has been expanded to other hospitals in countries like England and such that do not have Shriner's children hospitals, and because of wonderful artists stepping forward to make sure the children in their countries are also being given the TLC they need.

To give you a better idea of how many boxes each Shriner's hospital needs and the locations of each, I have listed them below: (except for Mexico.)

Boston, MA	30 boxes
Canada (Montreal, Quebec)	40 boxes
Chicago, IL	60 boxes
Cincinnati, OH	30 boxes
Erie, PA	30 boxes
Galveston, TX	30 boxes
Greenville, SC	50 boxes
Honolulu, HI	40 boxes
Houston, TX	40 boxes
Lexington, KY	50 boxes
Los Angeles, CA	60 boxes
Philadelphia, PA	60 boxes
Portland, OR	40 boxes
Sacramento, CA	80 boxes
Salt Lake City, UT	40 boxes
Shreveport, LA	45 boxes
Spokane, WA	30 boxes
Springfield, MA	40 boxes
St. Louis, MO	80 boxes
Tampa, FL	60 boxes
Minneapolis, MN	40 boxes

If everyone gets busy and paints only a few boxes, it will not take long to fill the needs of the hospitals listed above and to expand the program to other sick children in hospitals and hopefully bring them a smile and a fond memory of an honorary treasure artist who gave a little bit of their time to bring some TLC into their lives. This is also an ideal program to introduce to other organizations that might be interested in learning how to do decorative painting, the possibilities of this program could bring new interest into this field by letting local news coverage know of your chapter or group activities in this program.

Please won't you join me and SDP in this worthy program....it will bring a needed smile to a sick child's face.

Ladybug

A " Treasure Box "
the most heart warming creation you'll ever paint.

Depot click here