2019 Reveal: Star Wars™: The Rise of Skywalker™
In conjunction with Triple Force Friday, Hallmark has revealed the two Star Wars™: The Rise of Skywalker™ Keepsake Ornament designs not pictured in the 2019 Dream Book.
The first, a Sith Trooper™–the stormtrooper variant that served the First Order during its war against the Resistance–will be available tomorrow, October 5.
Sith Trooper™
Star Wars™: The Rise of Skywalker™
The second, Rey™ and Kylo Ren™, Keepsake Ornament set–depicts the legendary showdown between the new protagonists and the Supreme Leader of the First Order–will be released on December 3.
Rey™ and Kylo Ren™
Star Wars™: The Rise of Skywalker™
2020 Sneak Peek: New York Comic Con (Pop Culture)
In conjunction with New York Comic Con, Hallmark provided a sneak peek of some of the pop culture ornaments that will be released in 2020. Amongst the designs shown were (13 previously divulged images and 26 newly revealed pictures.)
Harry Potter™
Albus Dumbledore™
Harry Potter™ Collection
Storytellers
Rubeus Hagrid™
Harry Potter™ Collection
Storytellers
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban™
Hagrid’s Hut
Harry Potter™
Star Wars™
A Lack of Faith
Star Wars™: A New Hope™
Red Five Rebel Pilot
Star Wars™: A New Hope™
Princess Leia™ and Chewbacca™
Star Wars™: The Empire Strikes Back™
Imperial AT-AT Walker™
Star Wars™: The Empire Strikes Back™
X-Wing Starfighter™ on Dagobah™
Star Wars™: The Empire Strikes Back™
Jedi Master Yoda™
Star Wars™: The Empire Strikes Back™
BB-8™
Star Wars™: The Force Awakens™
Han Solo™
LEGO® Star Wars™
Chewbacca™
LEGO® Star Wars™
Luke Skywalker’s X-Wing™
Star Wars™
Darth Vader’s TIE Fighter™
Star Wars™
Luke Skywalker™
Star Wars™
Darth Vader™
Star Wars™
STAR TREK™
U.S.S. Enterprise Tree Topper
STAR TREK™ Mirror, Mirror Collection
Captain James T. Kirk
STAR TREK™ Mirror, Mirror Collection
Storytellers
Lieutenant Hikaru Sulu
STAR TREK™ Mirror, Mirror Collection
Storytellers
Lieutenant Nyota Uhura
STAR TREK™ Mirror, Mirror Collection
Storytellers
Marvel
Captain America
Ant-Man
O Christmas Groot
Guardians of the Galaxy
DC Comics
The Legend Lives On
BATMAN: The Animated series™
Batmobile™
BATMAN™
Harley Quinn™
Birds of Prey™
Hall of Justice
Super Friends™
Lynda Carter as Wonder Woman™
Wonder Woman™ Rocks!
Aquaman™ and Storm
Superman™ LEGO®
DC Super Heroes™
Tim Burton’s Nightmare Before Christmas
Jack Skellington
The Nightmare Before Christmas Collection
Storytellers
Sally
The Nightmare Before Christmas Collection
Storytellers
Santa Claus
The Nightmare Before Christmas Collection
Storytellers
Transformers™
Arcade Game
Jurassic Park™
JAWS
Jazz™
Transformers™
Joust
Velociraptor Blue Raptor
LEGO® Jurassic World™
Shark Attack
Jaws
The Golden Girls
F•R•I•E•N•D•S
Rose Nylund
The Golden Girls
Central Perk Couch
F•R•I•E•N•D•S
Photos courtesy of shesfantasticmadeofplastic, Imperial Holocron, and Justin LaSalata (Jedi News)
Home & Family: DIY with Anita Marra Rogers (UPDATED)
Hallmark Keepsake Sculptor Anita Marra Rogers visits. She discusses her career as a keepsake artist and participating in Hallmarket event, an art fair for hallmark employees where employees and retirees sell their non-hallmark artwork. Anita shows you how to make DIY bleach tie dye shirts.
Tie Dye Shirts with Hallmark Keepsake Sculptor Anita Marra Rogers
UPDATE (10.15.19) – Anita shared some behind the scenes images of her time on Home & Family.
Ornament Spotlight: That’s a Wrap!
That’s a Wrap
This year Keepsake Artist Tom Best created a little deer ornament fashioned from wrapped gifts and supplies including a tape-dispenser (body), roll wrap (dangling legs), a bow (nose), and scissors and writing pens (antlers).
His dangling legs feature colorful rolls of holiday wrapping paper. The designs aren’t just random, they depict actual roll wrap designs that will be available in Hallmark Gold Crown stores this year!
From his wrapped head with gold bow nose to his gift tag tail, he is absolutely a”doe”rable.
“That’s a Wrap!” will be available this November, just in time for Open House.
Errors & Corrections: JuJu Smith-Schuster, Pittsburgh Steelers
Juju Smith-Schuster
Pittsburgh Steelers
The initial inventory of the JuJu Smith-Schuster, Pittsburgh Steelers (QXI3809) Keepsake Ornament has the Pittsburgh Steelers logo incorrectly placed on both sides of the helmet.
Additional inventory will ship to stores in October with the corrected Pittsburgh Steelers logo placement on the helmet.
NOTE: The Steelers are the only NFL team to display their logo on only one side of their helmet.
2019 In-Store Artist Appearances (UPDATED)
Two Keepsake Artist Appearances* have been announced for later this year.
During these appearances the Keepsake Artists will be showing their craft, signing 2019 ornaments, taking photos with fans, and chatting with attendees!
Anita Marra Rogers
Tom Best
Edythe Kegrize
Kristina Gaughran
Congratulations to the winning stores! Here is the information for their Artist Appearances.
October 19
10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. (Meet and Greet) and 1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. (Ornament Signing)
Winnie’s Hallmark Shop
Meridian Crossroads
1180 N. Eagle Rd., Ste. 120
Meridian, ID 83642-5001
(208) 846-8391
Artists: Anita Marra Rogers & Tom Best
Amy’s Hallmark Shop
Newmarket Square
2441 N. Maize Rd., Ste. 207
Wichita, KS 67205-7943
(316) 722-4005
Artists: Edythe Kegrize & Kristina Gaughran
*NOTE: Artist appearances were awarded as the grand prize for the Hallmark Keepsake Ornament Club (KOC) enrollment contest
Artist Journal: Robert Chad
Tuesday, September 17, 2019
Robert Chad’s Artist Sketchbook and Process.
Keepsake Artist, Robert Chad doesn’t fool around when it comes to brainstorming new ideas for his ornaments. Instead, he goes right to his sketchbook. “I’m not big on research,” he said. “I like to draw. A few of years ago, I bought an iPad with an Apple pencil, so I could start drawing digitally. It kind of got me back into drawing. There’s even a program I use that creates a video of your drawing—I’ve posted those videos on the Community web site before.”
Whether in a paper sketchbook or on his iPad, Robert’s ideas can go through quite the metamorphosis from his original concept to the actual ornament that ends up on Christmas trees in homes all over the world. “You’re always creating throughout the entire process,” he said. “Sometimes technical things get in your way, or the price. Plus, there are so many hands involved in the creation of our ornaments. That’s the truth about how things are made in Keepsakes—’it takes a village’ is not just a saying. It really does. By the end of the process, it’s become something a lot different than where it started.”
Robert remembers one ornament in particular that went through a big transformation before it became an ornament. “I worked on a hand-blown glass fox in recent years,” he said. I sketched it first, then Ken did some drawings and I really went from Ken’s insight, but in the end, it looked nothing like either of our sketches. The factory in Poland made changes to soften the look and make it work in blown glass—something we know very little about. Things changed and changed, but we ended up with a great ornament that has a ton of great detail.”
Dapper Fox
And detail is something Robert knows well. After more than 30 years of sculpting Keepsake Ornaments by hand, he still has a few tricks up his sleeve—one of them being the actual wax he uses to sculpt every day. “Years ago, Duane Unruh invented a concoction of wax that became the wax we all used,” said Robert. “The shop at Hallmark attempted to make us a wax that was similar, but never got close. You can’t get your hands on some of the original ingredients anymore. Interesting fact? I still have a big stash of the original wax that I use today. I melt down old sculpts and reuse that wax over and over and over. I’m using recycled wax from 30 years ago so every sculpt I’ve ever done is inside what I’m working on now.”
Box of recycled wax sculpts
Local Club News: September 2019
Here is the latest Club communication that was received today.
Dear Local Club Presidents,
Greetings from the Keepsake Ornament Club! Happy Fall! We hope that you’re getting excited to attend Ornament Debut to see the new line up of ornaments. We cannot wait to get to a store on October 5th to get our wish lists! We have some exciting news to share with you and we want to be sure that you’re the first to hear it.
Please see the attached for your September 2019 Local Club President updates, packed full of information about 2020 KOC, 2020 Artist Signings, and so much more!
Collector Profile: Carl J. Bedigian
Carl J. Bedigian
.
Carl Bedigian, a native New Yorker, born in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, collected Hallmark Keepsake ornaments, with a particular love for the Magic (light and motion) designs.
He loved them so much so that he dedicated a wall in his apartment to them, using early Keepsake Ornament store fixtures for his powered display.
At the time, his goal was to eventually buy a home so he could own and display even more of his magic ornaments.
Carl’s Hallmark Display (Christmas 2000)
His life story is one of heroism.
After battling leukemia as a child, Carl grew up and loved to travel. In those travels around the world he would often pick up recipes to add to a beloved hobby, cooking. He may not have realized it at the time, but his talents in the kitchen would eventually come in handy.
He loved working with his hands, building a home or designing electronic circuit boards. Those skills led him to the New York Transit Authority where he worked as an elevator engineer. However, in 1993, he found his true calling, as a New York Fireman, where his love of cooking became invaluable to daily life at the firehouse.
214 Engine Company/111 Ladder Company
Fire House Memorial
Starting at Engine Company 228, he eventually moved to 214 in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, known as the “Nuthouse,” where he would remain.
While stationed there, Carl heard of a young child in Europe who desperately needed a bone marrow transplant. No doubt having suffered from leukemia as a child helped motivate his next decision—to donate bone marrow to that unknown child across the ocean. The last time reported, that child had recovered and was thriving.
In 1998 Carl suffered a setback in his health with a spinal hemorrhage that left him paralyzed. For many this would have been a permanent, life-changing trauma. Carl, however, fought back. Within weeks he was walking again and eventually returned to serve the people of New York as a firefighter once again.
His wife said after that experience it left them both with the desire to live everyday as if it were their last.
FDNY Lieutenant Carl J. Bedigian
of Engine Company 214 in Brooklyn
Eighteen years ago today, Engine Company 214 was one of the first on scene responding to the calls for help at the World Trade Center Towers. Carl was in the South tower lobby bravely serving those in need when it fell. He was one of five members of his firehouse who never returned home. Carl, newlywed by just a year, died as a hero at 35 years of age on September 11, 2001.
Ten years after his passing, his wife Michele wrote him a posthumous letter that was published in the book, “The Legacy Letters: Messages from 9/11 Family Members.” Their story was later told on PBS Newshour.
A Wife’s Tribute to Her Husband
Citations:
Please consider:
Tunnel to Towers Foundation is a first-responders charity in honor of 9/11 hero Stephen Siller, who, while off-duty, raced on foot though the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel to get to the twin towers, where he later died. The Foundation serves surviving families of first-responders and military primarily through home building or paying off existing mortgages.
2019 Video: Artist Insights (Here Comes Sandy Claws)
Here is a link to a Keepsake Ornament video showing Sharon talking about one of the designs she created for 2019.
Check out the Pumpkin King himself, dressed like “Sandy Claws” at the reins of his coffin sleigh—from the modern classic movie, Disney Tim Burton’s “The Nightmare Before Christmas.”