Hallmark sat down (virtually!) with Keepsake Artist Emma Leturgez-Smith to discuss her 2020 Festive Home and Santa’s Gazebo!

Emma: “What I had to start from was a basic gazebo and house shaped shell that one of our engineer’s created. This way I already had the basic dimensions needed to contain all the lights, wires, and batteries. From there, the art director and I put our heads together to bring in the details of what goes where and which color. In my head, I pictured, of course! Christmas light shows! Where I grew up, a local group arranges a massive display of animated Christmas lights and music in December. It’s a pretty common tradition for you to grab your friends, family, or both, and get a cup of hot cocoa to keep your hands warm while you stroll the grounds. Memories of doing that floated in and out of my head as these two projects came together.”

Emma: “As far as my portion of the project, I sculpted both pieces digitally with my computer and pen tablet. [See images] This made it a breeze to send back and forth between myself and the engineers! We went through a few design stages where we tried different details here and there and sculpting digitally let me easily send the file to our engineers for review. They could make changes, then send back to me for the sculptural revisions. It was a very involved project, going back and forth a number of times until all were satisfied.”

Emma went on to add, “Turns out parrots, especially mine, love the light and sound show! They haven’t quite figured out that they can control the light show if they want, but who knows!”

These tabletop pieces are a part of Hallmark’s Sound-A-Light collection! See the Gazebo and Home respond to sound with a colorful light show where you can choose from three modes: See them respond to the music you play, let them play their own music or see them gently flicker without sound.

Community Manager. “Behind the Scenes with Emma Leturgez-Smith’s Sound-A-Light tabletop pieces.” Hallmark Keepsake Community, October 9, 2020. https://keepsakecommunity.hallmark.com/share/behind-the-scenes-with-emma-leturgez-smith-s-sound-a-light-tabletop-pieces