I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas

HALLMARK KEEPSAKE ARTIST

“Most ornaments are challenges, and I love a challenge,” says Keepsake Artist Jim Kemme. In his 54 years of creating at Hallmark, Jim has worked as a designer of everything from puzzles and posters to candles and ornaments. “As an artist, l’d call myself a realist. In my mind, I’m always just trying to get it right,” he says with a laugh.

HALLMARK KEEPSAKE ARTIST

Anita Marra Rogers has been a lifelong painter, but she didn’t know she could sculpt until an impromptu visit to Hallmark. A friend who worked in the Keepsake Studio invited her to stop by for lunch one day, and while the other artists were out at lunch, Anita decided sculpting was worth a try. Soon enough, she’d developed a sculpting portfolio that blew both Hallmark and her friend away and has been sculpting happily ever since.