Artist Insight: In The Studio with Orville Wilson
The Keepsake Studio spoke with Hallmark Artist Orville Wilson about his background and shared a glimpse of an ornament he created for 2025.
Toymaker Santa
26th in the series.
2025 Sneak Peek: HCE, What’s to Come
Sixteen sneak peeks were shared during the “Sneak Peek’s & What’s to Come” seminar presented in conjunction with the KOC Days at the Hallmark Christmas Experience event.
Simone Marino
Mischievous Kittens, 27th in the series – Keepsake Artist Simone Marino will be taking over the much-loved Mischievous Kittens series. Her first design in the series will be revealed next year. It features a black and white kitten standing on a laptop computer swatting at fish on the computer screen. Tilt to see the lenticular motion of fish swimming on the computer screen.
Sweet Lil’ Sushi , Miniature – Four pieces of sushi and a pair of red chopsticks arranged on a square board.
Debra Nielsen
A Pony for Christmas, 28th in the series – A bear wearing a cowboy hat and bandana plays a guitar while riding a white pull cart horse.
Nordic Santa – Ornament features the jolly old elf dressed in nordic attire, holding a gold-colored hook to display the included reindeer ornament/toy or your own favorite miniature ornament.
Matt Johnson
LIONELVILLE®, LIONEL® Trains, 125 Anniversary, Christmas table decoration – Inspired by the 2004 Lionelville Christmas ornament by retired Hallmark artist Ken Crow. Features four different trains.
Christmas Cooker – A snowman-themed crockpot filled with mint swirled hot cocoa.
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Emma Leturgez-Smith
Keepsake Village – An Emma Leturgez-Smith collaboration with Sharon Visker. This Christmas ornament which features a train circling the base of a castle pays homage to past and current Keepsake ornament series.
Painted Bunting, The Beauty of Birds, miniature – A bright and bold bird with metallic gold trim, sparkling gemstone accents and a small holly berry dangle.
Kristina Gaughran
A Gift from Santa – The playful penguin trio are riding a rocking horse ice sculpture.
Mythical Mermaids, 3rd in the series – The next fanciful mermaid in this enchanting series features a tail inspired by a coy fish.
Allie Robillard
Sister Share the Love – Two foxes stand next to each other cheek to cheek sharing a scarf.
Dasher, 1st in the new Eight Tiny Reindeer series. Features a little reindeer wearing a signature saddle blanket and a gold bell on a red ribbon tied around its neck.
Orville Wilson
And to All a Good Night – A cloché with a bas-relief wintery village scene on its base. Inside Santa flies around a silver tinsel tree as a train chugs along a track at the base of the tree. Press the button on the ornament to hear music from “Jolly Old St. Nicholas.”
Toymaker Santa, 26th in the series – Santa wearing goggles, flippers and a reindeer pool float while holding a toy boat that pays homage to a previous series.
Tim Bishop
1976 Chevrolet® Camaro, Bumble Bee, Transformers, 5th in The Car’s the Star series.
Mirror of Erised™, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone™ – Features an open book with a 3-D scene emerging from it.
2024 Artist Insights: Sandal the Sandman
Allie Robillard
If Keepsake Artist Allie Robillard has a favorite ornament in her Sandal the Sandman series, this Special Edition is the one! She explains, “The main reason is because this ornament introduces us to our new seagull friend, Sammi! Anyone who has been to the beach is very aware that once the seagulls show up, they never leave, so you can expect to see more of them in the future.”
Inspired by her Florida upbringing, Allie thinks back to her own childhood when imagining what Sandal will do next. “The concepting process always starts with me asking myself what I loved about going to the beach and what favorite memories I’ve kept. Then it’s about translating that joy to Sandal’s experiences. How can I make a sandman do my favorite activities and make it believable? What friends can I invite to his fun? Finally, I like to look one last time and try to add that Hallmark touch—a little something extra that elevates the scene.”
Sandal the Sandman
Special Edition
When it comes to the scene Allie set for this ornament, she has a charming story to tell. “Every ornament has a story. I’ve built a world and made a friend in Sandal. The story I imagined for this design was that Sandal and Sammi found the paddleboard left at the beach. They had seen other beachgoers using these contraptions before, so when they discovered it, they looked at each other with big eyes and wide smiles as they realized that now was THEIR chance to go play in the waves.”
This sweet Sandal the Sandman Special Edition ornament (available at the ’Tis the Season event)—don’t miss YOUR chance to add it to your tree!
Hallmark Keepsake Ornaments. “Behind the scenes with Allie Robillard about her Sandal the Sandman Special Edition Ornament!” Keepsake Ornament Club Facebook Page, December 3, 2024. https://www.facebook.com/groups/KOCMembers/posts/3816692741904055/
Local Club News: December 2024
Here is the latest Club communication.
Dear Local Club Presidents,
Happy Holidays from the Keepsake Village! We hope you are enjoying the holiday season with your family and friends. We have so many exciting plans in the works for 2025 and we cannot wait to share them all with you!
Attached you will find your Q4 2024 Local Club President update. In it, you will find the 2025 Ornament Premiere and Ornament Debut event dates, 2025 Keepsake Ornament Club membership details, info about the 2025 local club survey, sneak peeks, and more.
2025 Sneak Peek
Here are two sneak peeks from the 2025 Keepsake Ornament line featuring A Snowy Surprise by Tammy Haddix and the Snowball and Tuxedo 25th Anniversary, Special Edition by Joanne Wright.
A Snowy Surprise
Snowball and Tuxedo
25th Anniversary
Special Edition
Save the Date: 2025 Keepsake, and Retail Event Dates
We are so excited to share with you the 2025 Keepsake Ornament release event dates. Mark your calendars and be sure to save these dates! And remember, if you’re a Keepsake Ornament Club member, you can shop all ornament release events a day before anyone else!
KOC Dream Box
begin shipping
April
Ornament Premiere
July 12-20, 2025
(KOC Early Access to shop – July 11)
2025 KOC enrollment closes
July 31, 2025
Ornament Debut
October 11-19, 2025
(KOC Early Access to shop – October 10)
Holiday Open House
November 7-16, 2025
2024 Reveal: Hallmark Channel
Holiday Touchdown: A Chief’s Love Story
In celebration of the Saturday (November 30th) premiere of “Holiday Touchdown: A Chief’s Love Story” on the Hallmark Channel, Hallmark has revealed an exclusive Keepsake Ornament made just for the movie!
Artist Insights: Dream Box ornaments
From sketch to sculpt
Our Keepsake artists reimagine Hallmark artwork for the 2025 collection of Dream Box ornaments.
Jake Angell
Hallmark Keepsake Artist
“Charles Young, my art director, found a piece of artwork that was done by Hallmark illustrator Charlie Hadley and instantly knew it would make a wonderful piece for our collectors in the Dream Box. I’ve known Charlie for quite a few years, and was so happy we got to bring his artwork to life as an ornament. I wanted to be sure to capture the spirit of the original piece that’s done in a wonderful graphic style, so I took extra time to translate the triangle pattern on the tree and get the coloring just right.”
“It just so happened that Charlie also had an illustration of a festive puppy. I thought it would be the perfect mini companion piece to help the snowman decorate the tree!”
– Jake Angell
“The original design for Santa’s Favorite Treats was actually inspired by some wonderful artwork by Hallmark Artist Rick LaPierre. It was a fun challenge to capture the feel and whimsy of the original art, right down to a loose sketchiness of it. Originally, Santa was holding lots of packages, but we simplified it down to a cookie box. I thought it would be fun to (give a) nod to a few fan-favorite ornaments, so the cookies Santa holds are shaped like a train, a rocking horse and one of Joanne’s Snowtop Lodge snowmen.”
– Kristina Gaughran
Kristina Gaughran
Hallmark Keepsake Artist
Simone Mariano
Hallmark Keepsake Artist
“Sheyda Abvabi Best designed the original concept art for the beautiful,Decked Out Deer ornament. After I saw the artwork, I did quite a bit of research so I could get the sculpt just right. I compiled a lot of deer references, especially for the head. Then I drove into the sculpt, first loosely blocking in shapes, then adjusting proportions and finalizing details to capture the styling from Sheyda’s original design. It’s so fun watching 2D illustrations come to life As sculptures!”
– Simone Mariano
“From our hearts to your tree.” For Keeps 24 Fall 2024: 2-3
2025 Artist Insights: Christmas Window #23
Slice of life
Take a peek into Christmas Window #23,
Zach and Ben’s Pizzeria.
Fans of the beloved Christmas Window series know that these charming ornaments always feature an adorable kiddo bundled up and peering through a wintry shop window. But what you might not know is that the series is a reflection of some of Keepsake Artist Tammy Haddix’s favorite memories.
Christmas Windows
(Zach and Ben’s Pizzeria)
23rd in the series.
“My two sons, Zach and Ben, have inspired the series of ornaments since I began working on them. I always try to pick a theme they’re able to relate to,” Tammy says. “When they were growing up in Platte City, we ate at the local pizza shop at least once a week. It was always a favorite, so that became the theme for Christmas Window #23.”
As it turns out, this ornament series is an entire family affair. When Tammy works from home, her husband acts as equipment assistant.
“I started this project with a sketch on my iPad, then designed it on a computer program to be cut out on my CNC, which means computer numerical control. I design, then my husband Rick opens it on his computer and sends it to the router that machines it out of wood for me to work with. Once I have the structure, I add wax to it and sculpt the details,” Tammy says.
“While it gets harder every year to do something relevant that will relate to one or both of my boys. I still have a few ideas! I love getting to use my sons as inspiration–it’s almost like reliving their childhood.”
“Slice of life.” For Keeps 24 Winter 2024: 7
2025 Sneak Peek: Welcome to Elfville
Welcome to Elfville!
Rob Stanphill’s playful new series takes us to the merriest village in the North Pole.
“I grew up in Southern California, and my family would visit Disneyland® once a year–best day ever! I loved the way that each ‘land’ had its own theme and everything tried together to create an immersive experience,” Rob says. “That idea struck with me, so I decided to bring in that world-building to create a magical Christmas village populated by enchanting little elves. Welcome to Elfiviille!”
Santa’s favorite holiday helpers are the stars of this new series that will feature full-sized festive shops and miniature shop owners, sized to scale with their shop’s front door. Here’s another fun fact: As a 2024, KOC member, your Elfville collection is already in the works! This year’s Dream Box included three exclusive companions to this new series: Ollie’s Ornament Shoppe, miniature Ollie and miniature Lia, the delivery driver. In 2025, we’ll meet the newest small business owner (pun intended) in town at Candy’s Bakery.
Candy’s Bakery
Welcome to Elfville
1st in the series.
“I started by gathering some inspiration images and sketching some small pencil drawing,” Rob says, “I imagined Candy would design her bakery to reflect all the tools she loves to use and all the things she loves to bake every day, so rolling pans, oven, mitts, cinnamon bread, cookies and more all found a place in the architecture of the shop.”
After creating a rough sketch, Rob says he began fine-tuning the details and created “turnaround” drawings that show front, back and side views. Then he brought the images into his computer and created a 3D sculpt. The final result is a quaint and colorful bakery, complete with Candy in her white chef’s hat holding a delicious dessert–and there’s more sweetness where that came from!
“I’m always looking for ways to spark the imagination of kids and adults to explore the details. I’m excited to see Elfville continue to grow with new residents, interesting buildings and fun little places to visit and explore. I’m asking, ‘Who might live there and what are they creating?‘” Rob says. “There’s so much to choose from because Christmas inspires all kinds of wonderful, magical things.”
“Welcome to Elfville!” For Keeps 24 Winter 2024: 8