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Waiting in the Wings (But only for KOC members!)

Fruit Dove
Member Exclusive

When Ornament Premiere arrives in July of this year, this member-exclusive design will be landing on shelves-and probably flying off them just as quickly-with good reason. Its striking features make it a jewel in the Beauty of Birds family. And that’s just how Keepsake Artist Emma Leturgez-Smith planned it.

“We always want to design something extraordinary for club members. This bird is called, appropriately, the Many-Colored Fruit Dove, and I chose it because the colors are so unique and unexpected they almost don’t look real. It was a fun challenge to interpret that into the Beauty of Birds styling.”

Emma always does her research before diving into her designs. She explains, “I research the region the birds live in, along with the local flora, and when they’re available, I like to watch YouTube videos of the birds in action. My research gives me a better idea of a bird’s behavior, which in turn helps me with the pose and all the details that go into the design.

Prior to doing my research, I had actually never heard of the Many-Colored Fruit Dove, so I’m excited to introduce this bird to our club members, because it’s so uniquely beautiful. And with its habitat being in subtropical or tropical areas, I thought it deserved a beautiful perch as well, so I chose the tropical hibiscus.”

Emma’s passion for the Beauty of Birds series isn’t going anywhere. “My lifelong love of birds and their incredible variety across the species continues to inspire me, and I hope that always shows in the ornaments I create.”

Mark your calendars for July 11, when KOC Early Shopping will first allow you to add this beauty to your ornament collection.

Dasher
Eight Tiny Reindeer
1st in the series.

Dasher and Friends Fly Again!

We couldn’t wait for you to get a look at the first ornament in our new Eight Tiny Reindeer series-and who else would it be but Dasher? Keepsake Artist Allie Robillard is spilling the tea on the inspiration behind her series and all the fun it has in store.

“The idea for this series started 4-5 years ago, when I saw some artwork from The Twelve Days of Christmas that’s now a series Gregor Benedetti has created. And it got me to thinking, ‘How do I put my spin on some classic Christmas content?’ That thinking led me to Santa’s reindeer. So I started throwing that idea around, and it lived as a maybe for about 4 years. Then my Art Director Charles Young and I went back to it and decided to develop it further. We saw a good opportunity to take the nostalgic feel of Santa’s eight reindeer and mash it with a modern vintage look. We felt like its time had come, and we were ready to unleash those little reindeer on the world.”

But before you can unleash a series, you have to look ahead to how it will develop and how you’ll create its story. For Allie, “that’s the really fun part,” she says.

“I like to build my series ideas off the characters and creating a world for them. I think about how they would interact with their environment, how they would be having fun and what their day-to-day lives are like. Who is this Dasher character and what is he thinking?

Dasher sketch

“Collaborating with Charles and Editorial Director Lindsay Evans, we decided to go in the order of the poem, so I started with sketches of Dasher. We wanted a look that mashes up the cuteness I’m known for with a vintage feel. And we decided to give each reindeer its own unique personality inspired by its name. We worked to be sure that every single detail is intentional. For example, they’ll each have a different blanket with unique colors and their names on them. And maybe it’s Mrs. Claus making those blankets and bringing a homemade quality to them, embroidering them with her own technique, so she’s part of their world. These are the kinds of ideas we share, and then they get honed and tightened into a cohesive story that we can build out over time.

“It’s important to us that our collectors go on the journey with us to see the love and care that goes into each ornament in the series. There’s so much that happens in planning before the ornaments get to anyone’s hands. And when it does reach you, we want it to be exciting. When you pick it up, we hope you’ll feel a little flutter of ‘Oh, this is so cute!'”

It’s clear that Allie is passionate about this series and, just for club members, she’s revealing an extra detail you’ll know before anyone else.

“We decided to add special birthmarks to every single reindeer that will tie in with their personalities. I hope you’ll have fun finding them!”

Mark October 10 on your calendar for Ornament Debut Early Shopping, when club members can be first to pick up Dasher and start your own Eight Tiny Reindeer series. she says.

A 2025 Keepsake Studio collaboration

Nothing says Christmas like baking-and eating holiday treats. And that’s just what Sharon Visker had in mind when she created the concept for this year’s collaborative studio ornament.

Baking Up Some Fun sketch

“Baking is a favorite tradition for so many people during the holiday season, it seemed like a natural fit.”

But when it comes to having 20 or so cooks in the kitchen, things can get complicated. Sharon explains, “In the past someone designed one piece, and then everyone else would go sign up for what they wanted to do, so the sooner you got there, the better. Last year we started a new process with one artist who would concept the ornament design and then another who would sculpt it. The concept artist identifies what pieces they’d like to use from other artists and then they tie everything together in their own style.”

So far, it’s a recipe for success. Sharon continues, “Basically, we wanted to do a mash-up that took into consideration a lot of different series ornaments and what each artist is known for. So, I did a little research to look at all the different series and then did a concept sketch that pulled in as many artists as possible. For example, Gregor Benedetti is known for his fun Gnome for Christmas series, Kristina Gaughran’s Playful Penguins are always a hit and everyone loves Tammy Haddix’s snowmen. There are 19 artists who have work included on this ornament. Not every single item refers to a series but most of them do.

“Once we had our baking concept nailed down, I reached out to each artist to let them know how they’d be represented and ask them for a sketch of their characters in their own artistic style. Once I had all those sketches with all the different stylings, my challenge was to redraw them all in my style. Our goal was to tie them all together, so it comes from one artistic point of view that represents every artist in the studio.

Baking Up Some Fun digital sculpt

Sharon had all the ingredients mixed together just right and now the piece needed to be baked to perfection. That’s when Orville Wilson stepped in to collaborate by doing the sculpting.

“Orville is a digital sculptor, so he pulled some files for some of the pieces and, for the rest, he just looked at the pictures and sculpted from scratch! He sculpted the whole thing, and we just went back and forth throughout the process. The engineers also helped us simplify some things to keep cost down. It was a really different, fun process for me because I’m normally doing hands-on sculpting but, in this case, I’m working with another sculptor to make sure everything is incorporated.

“We also needed to pay close attention to the color palette. For instance, we looked at what colors Gregor uses on his gnomes and pulled those in on other elements, using the most common colors of greens and reds. We wanted to keep a very Christmassy feel, so we simplified down to 10 or 12 colors.”

Season’s Treatings is a series Sharon is well known for, and this ornament pays homage to that by showing off so many goodies, from cookies, cupcakes and cocoa to all the supplies needed to mix them up. She appreciated all the collaboration it took to bring it to life. “There’s a ton of detail in this ornament, and I hope club members will have fun identifying all the different series and artists that are represented here,” she says.

As for her favorite part? “I really like the rodents. The one that’s icing the cookie is adorable. Terri Steiger did that. She took over the Cute as a Button series from Nina Aubé. I thought that was really charming, along with the mouse on the bottom that was done by Adan Chung.”

And we couldn’t wrap this up without asking Orville what his favorite part of the process was as well. Hе loved the artistic freedom he had, explaining, “I work on a lot of licensed ornaments, so when I get a chance to work on non-licensed projects, there aren’t as many rules. I can put my artist hat on and sculpt it the way I think it should look. That’s what’s so fun about it and I really enjoyed working on these.” (Orville shares more in the 2025 Dream Book.)

Behind the scenes of your 2025 Dream Book