Coloring Book
Well, guess what I did... I put away my keyboard and tried my hand at designing coloring pages for this Newfie coloring book.
Morgan and I are part of Spirit Cove's National Newfoundland Therapy team. This Team provides love and support all 50 US states. When we joined the team I showed them the custom stickers that I design for Morgan... yes Morgan has custom stickers and a book!
You see, Children's hospital of Pittsburgh provides trading card for each of he 13 dogs on the team. The kids love and collect these cards. I knew this since Jacob, Abigail and Mackenzie have been patients, they had the honor of meeting many of the therapy dogs, which is why I wanted to do therapy dog work. I bought Morgan with the goal for her to be a Therapy dog at children's hospital. We passed testing with Alliance then started the year long Children's hospital process. We both had to pass many test. Morgan and I were determined and a solid team.
So, I knew about the trading cards. I also knew that when our first visit was scheduled, her trading card was not in yet. I went online, figure out how to create a fun image of Morgan, then figured out how to turn that image into a sticker. I took 50 sticker to her first visit, it took off from here. Now I create 50 new sticker for each visit and they are a huge hit. Patients and staff know and collect these stickers. It has become a thing at Children's hospital. I love seeing them on kids Tablets and water bottles. I smile when I spot Morgan on the wall or on a nurses name tag. Morgan is a magnet for joy!
When Lisa, from Spirit Cove saw Morgan's stickers they asked me to create images for the 2025 coloring book. I looked at the "2024 Spirit Cove coloring book" and decided YES, I can make time to do this. I thought hard about what kids, teens and adults might like to color. 2024 pages were all therapy based, so I created a seasonal/outdoor coloring image for each dog on the team. Plus a bright color front and back, it has to catch kids attention, right.
Lisa Schiller then took my images and turned them into black and white coloring sheet, adding the dogs name to each page. Lisa put the pages together and made it into a coloring book. Her and I planned and talk about this project many times during this process. It was for sure a team effort! We decided to keep the 2024 pages of the honorable therapy dogs that crossed the rainbow bridge.
~~I want to mention... Lisa's Chewie and my Maxine, inspired this coloring book. They are our OTN's (Original Therapy Newf's). Chewie loved being a therapy dog. He especially loved nurses and doctors. Fun fact: Chewie grew up with Gibbons. (Small Apes) I tried to create Chewie a page to show who he was; his love for his "kid" and Gibbons. Maxine was my girl, she focused her love on Special needs kids and provide a calming effect when they needed it. Maxine could calm a child even in the middle of a "melt down". Fun Fact: Maxine could spot and separate a new kid in a group of kids and circle that kid until she got him/her to me. I created an image of Maxine with her three kids. Maxine was all about kids! Chewie and Maxine will forever be in our hearts.
This GLORIOUS coloring book is available on Amazon and ALL proceeds from this coloring book benefit Spirit Cove National Newfoundland team. It helps provide items each teams needs. Certified therapy dogs are required to be insured (just incase someone get hurt in some way while we are with them) they are required to be fully groomed and vaccinated. This cost is paid by each handler.
Please support this team...coloring books make great Christmas gifts for adults and kids! Link attached.
Sarah Mitchell